For the first spring race of the season, NASCAR heads down south to the Homestead-Miami Speedway for yet another weekend triple-header! Kicking things off for the weekend are the always-entertaining truckers of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series! And this weekend, we have a couple of Cup guys dipping down to give the regulars a run for their money. Kyle Larson is notoriously quick at Homestead. Was he able to bring his A-game and take it to the youngsters or did the kids upset him? Also, we had Ross Chastain in the race, who is always a threat in the Niece Motorsports equipment. So, with no further ado, let’s have at it. Here are the three key takeaways from tonight’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway!
Kyle Larson had a fast hot rod tonight but he was by no means the dominant truck. In fact, that honor belonged to Corey Heim, who led the most laps as Larson’s truck faded over time. However, Larson was able to capitalize on the misfortunes of others to race his way back up through the field to score his 4th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory in 16 starts. With this win, Larson will go into tomorrow’s Xfinity and Sunday’s Cup Series races looking to sweep the weekend.
Any time Kyle Larson is behind the wheel, many fans and industry insiders are quick to call the race in Larson’s favor, even before the drop of the green flag. And, usually, that sort of reaction is somewhat justified. Kyle Larson is easily one of the most talented drivers to ever drive a NASCAR stock car (or truck) in the sport’s history. With him dipping down into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and at one of his best tracks, no less, there is a reasonable argument that he could and perhaps should run away with the victory. However, that was not the story tonight.
Kyle Larson took the lead for the first time on Lap 10, and from there, it looked as if he was going to run to the end of the stage with the race lead. However, despite passing and clearing polesitter Corey Heim, he wasn’t able to get too far away from him. In fact, the entire top 3 broke away from the rest of the pack and were virtually under a blanket. Larson led a bulk of the laps in the first stage but, as the laps wound down, it became clear that Larson’s Silverado was wicked loose. Losing the handling of his truck, with three laps remaining in the stage, Corey Heim retook the lead with Layne Riggs not far behind him. Though Larson battled back on the inside, he was not able to unseat Heim from the lead.
Corey Heim won the opening stage, his first of the season despite his two wins. Larson was the overwhelming favorite heading into tonight’s race but in the opening stage of the race, it was still Heimtime.
As the race went on the 07 of Larson continued to fade. He was running in 4th when he spun after getting lose beneath Layne Riggs. He was able to keep it off the wall but was forced to restart the race in the back.
As the race restarted, Larson started charging through the pack. Initially, it looked as though he would not be able to catch the leaders before the end of the race. However, Corey Heim experienced some mechanical issues, costing him the race. Larson was able to chase down Lanye Riggs in the last three laps to win the truck race at Homestead.
After two straight years of coming up short in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season finale, 2025 looks like it could really be Corey Heim’s year to win it all. The generational talent has already gone to victory lane twice this year, making the statement that Heimtime is Now! Not only was he in contention to win early on in this race, he put the smackdown on Kyle Larson to sweep the stages. These two stage wins were the first for him in 2025 and he was looking early on to be the favorite to win the race. Even after adjustments were made, Larson still didn’t have anything for Heim in stage 2. By the end of the second stage, he had led a total of 46 laps. Heading into the final stage, he was looking to continue riding his wave of momentum to victory down in Miami.
Despite having the dominant truck of the night, Corey Heim suffered a bizarre electrical issue as the field took the Craftsman 20 To Go. His number 11 truck shut off completely and Layne Riggs and Ross Chastain were able to get by him. He fell down to third, almost 2 seconds behind the lead. He cycled through and got the engine refired. Then, he set his sights back on the lead. The truck oddly continued to shut off and on through to the end of the race. But the sheer speed the number 11 Tundra packed was out of this world. Despite this issue, he was able to chase Ross Chastain and Layne Riggs back down a retake the lead.
Unfortunately, with 4 laps to go, the truck shut off again. This allowed a hard-charging Larson to pass him second as Layne Riggs assumed the lead. Heim never recovered and ended the race in the 3rd position.
Ever since a stern talking to from Rick Hendrick following Darlington of 2023, Ross Chastain has been a shell of his former self. It seemed as though he was nowhere near as aggressive as he once was, a driving style that quickly became his signature at Trackhouse. Tonight, however, we saw flashes of the old Ross Chastain and we saw them right off the bat. As the field took the green flag to start the race, Chastain forced a four-wide situation heading into turn 1. This left no room for the number 17 of Giovanni Ruggiero who ended up spinning out. This brought out the first caution of the race.
Chastain was a part of controversy yet again when he pulled a late block on a hard-charging Kyle Larson. This led to Larson spinning around, forcing him to go to the back of the pack.
Not only did we once again see some of the Melon Man’s signature aggression, we also got to see him lead a decent number of laps. Chastain, by no means, had the fastest truck of the night. However, he was able to capitalize on the misfortunes of others. He also had a pretty decent truck on the short run but that was his ultimate demise. He finished the race in the sixth position.
That does it for us, Daily Downforce readers! What did you think of that race? It had somewhat of a slow start and a sagging middle, in my opinion, but the ending made up for it. Did you go in thinkinbg Kyle Larson would win? Or did you think Heimtime would continue? Let us know what you think!
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