NASCAR Cup Series: 4 drivers nobody wants to go up against at Homestead

Kyle Larson

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson entered the 2017 playoffs as one of the favorites to get to the Championship 4 after winning a series-high four races in the regular season, and had he been able to advance, he would have had just as good of a chance as anybody, if not better, to win the championship given his prowess on the high line at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

But the start of the 2017 playoffs marked an unfortunate turning point for Larson, as his most recent victory is still the 2017 regular season finale. He failed to advance past the round of 12, and then in the 2018 season, he went winless and was knocked out in the round of 12 again.

Once again, he enters the 2019 playoffs winless. If Larson can finally get the monkey off of his back and earn his first victory in more than two years, him advancing to the Championship 4 could spell danger for everybody else.

His average finish at the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Homestead, Florida is 8.50, which is the third highest among all drivers, and it includes three top five finishes in six starts. This average is this high and this track is one of his best tracks even factoring in some of the issues in which he has been involved there over the years.

Only Jeff Burton and Mark Martin have finished in the top five without winning at Homestead-Miami Speedway in more races than he has, and he has done it in just six starts. Only five drivers, all of whom have made between 13 and 19 starts at the track, have led more laps than Larson there, and none of them lead him by much in that category.