Questions Answered After Kyle Larson Smokes The Field At Homestead-Miami

Who… should you be talking about after the race?

If the race for second had been for the win, the Dixie Vodka 400 would have been an instant classic as Ross Chastain and AJ Allmendinger went door to door for the final laps. It was all for second place, though, because while they were battling, Kyle Larson was out for a Sunday drive.

Larson first took the lead on lap 37 and from there, the No. 5 was the class of the field. Larson led 199 of 267 laps on the day. Was it just clean air? That played a role, but at one point, when he was caught in traffic on a late restart, Larson ran down the drivers in front of him while shaving four tenths of a second off the lead in a lap.

A pit road miscue by Martin Truex Jr., who nearly missed his pit and then checked hard in front of Larson, who sent the No. 19 spinning into his pit box, gave Larson the lead on the final restart. He held off challenges from Denny Hamlin, Chastain and Allmendinger before pulling away as the latter waged a side-by-side battle for second behind him. The win secures the No. 5 team a spot in the Championship 4 for the owner’s title.

With today’s win, @TeamHendrick and @KyleLarsonRacin will battle in @phoenixraceway for the owner’s championship! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/ntWTlIdiCq

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 23, 2022

And don’t forget Truex. The pit road spin saw Truex fall from the race lead to 19th on the final restart. But instead of letting frustration take over, Truex bulldozed his way through the field to finish an impressive sixth, including a hard-fought late pass of teammate Hamlin, who’s still in the title hunt and below the cut line. Truex didn’t cut Hamlin any slack, taking the spot, and the point, away. He is absolutely a threat to win next week at Martinsville Speedway.

What… is the buzz about?

Following the suspension of Bubba Wallace for the race following an ugly on-track retaliation incident with Larson last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it appeared that NASCAR had had enough. But fans are still talking about the penalty to Wallace, with many still wondering exactly where the line is. Wallace’s move was dangerous, on a fast intermediate track and a right-rear hook designed to send Larson straight into the wall. The suspension wasn’t overly harsh.

But there have been other, equally egregious incidents that drew lesser penalties, or none at all. Perhaps the most unsettling was Ty Gibbs’ shove of Ty Dillon on an open pit road which…