Following Kyle Larson's first win of the season on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the Hendrick Motorsports driver now has two wins at the South Florida track and 30 in his NASCAR Cup Series career. He is the fourth driver to find victory lane this season.
Larson pulled away over the race's final seven laps and won by 1.2 seconds over teammate Alex Bowman and 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin were fourth and fifth, respectively. Rounding out the top 10 were Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing's Chris Buescher (sixth), Kaulig Racing's AJ Allmendinger (seventh), 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick (eighth), RFK Racing's Ryan Preece (ninth) and Spire Motorsports' Justin Haley (10th).
Updated Cup Series standings after Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami
Larson's win was not enough to vault him ahead of teammate William Byron for the points lead. Byron's consistency (five top 12s in six races) keeps him as the points leader with 244 points. Larson is close behind in second (-36), followed by Bowman (-39), Reddick (-55) and three-race winner Christopher Bell (-58). The rest of the top 10 is comprised of Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott (sixth, -63), Wallace (seventh, -78), Hamlin (eighth, -80), Buescher (ninth, -80) and Blaney (10th, -82).
Notable drivers outside the top 10 include Team Penske's Joey Logano (11th), Richard Childress Racing's Kyle Busch (17th) and RFK Racing's Brad Keselowski (30th). Keep in mind, a win will most likely guarantee a driver a playoff spot with 16 spots up for grabs. After Homestead-Miami, Byron, Bell, Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry and Larson are the season's four race winners. Currently, that 16th and final spot for postseason eligibility is a three-way tie between Preece, Busch and Legacy Motor Club's John Hunter Nemechek. Obviously, things are going to change, but that is the position drivers currently find themselves in after Homestead-Miami.
One thing to keep in mind is the importance of both regular-season points standings and playoff standings. While drivers with wins vault to the top of the points standings and guarantee themselves a playoff spot, assuming there are no more than 16 winners, the overall points are equally important. The regular-season champion by season's end will earn an additional 15 playoff points, second-place will get 10 and drivers third-10th in points will receive points in descending order all the way down to one point for 10th.