The race for Phoenix is heating up. Sunday’s race at the Homestead-Miami Speedway saw Christopher Bell seal his ticket to Phoenix as things got intense ahead of Martinsville. Hendrick Motorsports title contender and this season’s winningest driver, William Byron, might have lost some momentum since the Round of 12. With a P7 finish at Las Vegas, Byron improved the result by a notch at Homestead.

On the other hand, the HMS #5 car had a turbulent outing. Having secured his spot in the championship four at Las Vegas, Kyle Larson sought to gather stage and race points to help him in the owner’s championship race. However, a misunderstanding on the pit road ruined his race and marked it with a P34 finish. From the looks of it, Byron and Larson will most likely race at Phoenix.

William Byron is raring to have a go in Martinsville

Byron has improved massively this season. Having to fill the big boots of Hendrick Motorsports #24 Jeff Gordon, he has resembled the four-time champion with his flamboyant style and racing. With a series-high six wins to his name, he has made a name for himself as one of the biggest threats on the grid for his fellow drivers.

Coming into the round of 8, William Byron was the one to watch out for. With an average finishing position of 1.67 and enough points as a contingency, Byron had compensated for the momentum the #24 team had lost in the Round of 16. At Las Vegas, Byron finished behind Ryan Blaney in P7 and bettered it at Homestead with a P4 finish.

Expressing his thoughts about their afternoon in Miami, Byron said after the race, “I think we’re solid. I think today was more indicative of how our season’s been, where we can run top 3 or 4 all day. “

“We’re just missing that little bit of explosiveness to get up at the front and have really kind of the short run speed and be able to hang on. Hopefully, next week, we have something that’s a little bit better. I think we’ve just progressively inched up on it this round, and we should bring the heat just next week. “

William Byron has a 30-point lead over next-placed Ryan Blaney, who is 10 points above the cutoff. Christopher Bell secured his passage to the championship after winning on Sunday, and Kyle Larson based it on last week.

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Kyle Larson apologizes for jeopardizing Blaney’s race

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In the 213th lap of the race, #12 Blaney and #5 Larson went into the pit road simultaneously. Having put his foot on the gas for longer than he should have, Larson almost hit the rear bumper of the #12 Mustang. Although Larson avoided contact with Blaney, he had a price to pay.

Panicking at the proximity of Blaney, Larson slammed his brakes hard and slid into the sand barriers protecting the pit wall. The incident triggered a red flag caution as proceedings were brought to a halt immediately. Larson felt guilty and directly conveyed it to his team on the radio, saying, “I’m sorry. I did not expect him to slow down that much.”

To summarize things, Larson was arguably the unluckiest driver at Homestead. Despite leading a race-high 96 laps, he fumbled all strength in pit lane and had to settle for a P34 finish after repair.

“I’m pretty upset at myself, more than anything. Whether he got to pit-road speed sooner than the yellow line or not, I could have just done a little bit better job judging it. I hope they are able to recover. I hope he can get a good finish or get a win and get the finish that he deserves.” stated the 31-year-old after the race.

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Ryan Blaney finished P2 behind eventual winner Bell despite having a late run-in with Denny Hamlin, who tried to take his lead away. Heading into Martinsville, Hendrick Motorsports is easily the best-placed team. William Byron has a 30-point lead to capitalize on, and Larson is already in the Championship 4. A William Byron win would increase the chances of landing a record 15th championship for Rick Hendrick and Co.