Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman delivered an electrifying finish to Busch Light Pole Qualifying on Saturday, clinching the top starting spot for Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Bowman’s No. 48 Chevrolet recorded a blistering lap of 168.845 mph around the 1.5-mile track, surpassing Noah Gragson of Front Row Motorsports, who had held the lead for most of the session.
Close Competition for the Pole
Following Bowman’s lap, last weekend’s Las Vegas winner Josh Berry took to the track in his No. 21 Ford for Wood Brothers Racing, narrowly missing out on pole position by just 0.073 seconds. Despite coming up short, Berry secured a strong front-row starting spot alongside Bowman.
This achievement marks Bowman’s sixth career pole and his first at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The 32-year-old Arizona native has had limited success at the venue, with only two top-10 finishes to his name. However, his best finish—seventh place—came during the most recent visit to Homestead last October.
“We were really fast in the short run and not great on the long-run stuff, so I knew qualifying was going to be really important because of that,” said Bowman. “I had a clear-cut plan for qualifying, and I thought I was able to execute it well.”
Starting Grid Highlights
Behind Bowman and Berry, Noah Gragson will start in third, followed by Daytona 500 pole-sitter Chase Briscoe in fourth and current NASCAR Cup Series points leader William Byron rounding out the top five.
“We’re still really fast, but I’ve never gotten a pole in the Cup Series,” Gragson commented. “Our Beef-a-Roo Mustang is pretty quick on the short run, so we just need to improve for the long run.”
Intermittent cloud cover cooled the 74-degree afternoon, affecting several cars that excelled in practice but underperformed in qualifying. Bubba Wallace, who led Group B practice for 23XI Racing, qualified only ninth. Similarly, Erik Jones of Legacy Motor Club, second in practice, will start back in 28th.
Conversely, some drivers made significant improvements. AJ Allmendinger, who was 25th-fastest in practice, will start in 10th. Meanwhile, Berry, who only managed 31st in practice, secured a front-row spot for the race.
Other Notable Qualifying Results
- Defending race winner Tyler Reddick qualified 20th.
- Kyle Larson, attempting to sweep all three national series races this weekend, will start 14th in the No. 5 Chevrolet.
- Christopher Bell, the season’s winningest driver with three victories, qualified 16th. He aims to become only the third driver in modern NASCAR history to win four of the first six races, joining Hall of Famers Bill Elliott (1992) and Dale Earnhardt (1987).
Bubba Wallace Leads Cup Series Practice
In the earlier practice session, Bubba Wallace set the fastest lap at 166.955 mph, followed by Erik Jones (166.826 mph) and Kyle Larson (166.713 mph). Noah Gragson (166.626 mph) and Christopher Bell (166.507 mph) rounded out the top five. Wallace also topped the 10-consecutive lap averages category, showing strong potential for Sunday’s race.
With qualifying now in the books, all eyes turn to Sunday’s race as the Cup Series competitors battle it out on one of NASCAR’s most challenging 1.5-mile tracks.
Homestead-Miami Cup Series Starting Lineup
March 23, 2025
|
POSITION
|
BEST SPEED
|
BEST TIME
|
BEHIND
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
A. Bowman#48
|
168.845
|
31.982
|
Winner
|
|
2 |
J. Berry#21
|
168.460
|
32.055
|
0.073
|
|
3 |
N. Gragson#4
|
168.219
|
32.101
|
0.119
|
|
4 |
C. Briscoe#19
|
168.140
|
32.116
|
0.134
|
|
5 |
W. Byron#24
|
168.046
|
32.134
|
0.152
|
|
6 |
R. Blaney#12
|
168.010
|
32.141
|
0.159
|
|
7 |
J. Nemechek#42
|
167.853
|
32.171
|
0.189
|
|
8 |
A. Cindric#2
|
167.738
|
32.193
|
0.211
|
|
9 |
B. Wallace#23
|
167.645
|
32.211
|
0.229
|
|
10 |
A. Allmendinger#16
|
167.629
|
32.214
|
0.232
|
|
11 |
C. Buescher#17
|
167.297
|
32.278
|
0.296
|
|
12 |
J. Logano#22
|
167.245
|
32.288
|
0.306
|
|
13 |
T. Gibbs#54
|
167.198
|
32.297
|
0.315
|
|
14 |
K. Larson#5
|
167.172
|
32.302
|
0.320
|
|
15 |
C. Hocevar#77
|
167.146
|
32.307
|
0.325
|
|
16 |
C. Bell#20
|
167.136
|
32.309
|
0.327
|
|
17 |
Z. Smith#38
|
167.095
|
32.317
|
0.335
|
|
18 |
C. Elliott#9
|
167.022
|
32.331
|
0.349
|
|
19 |
R. Herbst#35
|
167.007
|
32.334
|
0.352
|
|
20 |
T. Reddick#45
|
166.924
|
32.350
|
0.368
|
|
21 |
J. Haley#7
|
166.924
|
32.350
|
0.368
|
|
22 |
K. Busch#8
|
166.826
|
32.369
|
0.387
|
|
23 |
D. Hamlin#11
|
166.775
|
32.379
|
0.397
|
|
24 |
C. Custer#41
|
166.759
|
32.382
|
0.400
|
|
25 |
R. Chastain#1
|
166.713
|
32.391
|
0.409
|
|
26 |
M. McDowell#71
|
166.692
|
32.395
|
0.413
|
|
27 |
R. Stenhouse Jr#47
|
166.692
|
32.395
|
0.413
|
|
28 |
E. Jones#43
|
166.687
|
32.396
|
0.414
|
|
29 |
T. Gilliland#34
|
166.436
|
32.445
|
0.463
|
|
30 |
A. Dillon#3
|
166.394
|
32.453
|
0.471
|
|
31 |
R. Preece#60
|
166.359
|
32.460
|
0.478
|
|
32 |
B. Keselowski#6
|
166.098
|
32.511
|
0.529
|
|
33 |
D. Suárez#99
|
166.087
|
32.513
|
0.531
|
|
34 |
T. Dillon#10
|
166.062
|
32.518
|
0.536
|
|
35 |
S. Van Gisbergen#88
|
164.936
|
32.740
|
0.758
|
|
36 |
C. Ware#51
|
162.729
|
33.184
|
1.202
|
|
37 |
J. Yeley#80
|
158.260
|
34.121
|
2.139
|
