NASCAR race at Homestead-Miami: How to watch, starting lineup and predictions

NASCAR will cap a week that saw multiple milestones with a Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. On Wednesday, the sport banned the display of the Confederate flag at all NASCAR events, and later that evening, ran its first midweek night race at Martinsville Speedway. Next on the Cup circuit is the intermediate track in Homestead, Fla. at 3:30 p.m. on FOX on Sunday.

The race will provide another milestone marker since a small number of guests will return to the track as NASCAR gets closer to fully reopening its gates to fans since the coronavirus pandemic upended its season three months ago. NASCAR has invited 1,000 service members to attend its Dixie Vodka 400 race as honorary guests Sunday.

That number jumps up to 5,000 fans allowed in the frontstretch grandstands and towers at Talladega Superspeedway the following week. There will also be limited motorhome camping allowed around the track for fans. NASCAR announced Saturday that the superspeedway race will not have a practice round in advance of the official event.

“We feel the current format is working well for the industry and has created competitive racing, along with several efficiencies,” NASCAR said in a statement. Drivers will not have practice before this Sunday’s race in Florida, either.

Veteran Cup Series driver Martin Truex Jr. is coming off a win at Martinsville, but rookies Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick will be ones to watch as they make their track debuts at Homestead. Fellow 2020 Cup rookie John Hunter Nemechek raced at the 1.5-mile track last year filling in for driver Matt Tifft.

Reddick was the highest finishing rookie in the last two races at Atlanta’s intermediate track followed by the Martinsville short track. He finished 16th. Bell finished 18th and 28th, respectively, in the last two races.

While rookies remain on our radar, veterans are expected to dominate the 400-mile Homestead-Miami race. Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick all lead the field with 19 starts apiece at the track, and have all won once there. Kyle Busch, who also won Saturday’s Trucks race, won last year’s race at Homestead-Miami. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, will start on the pole this Sunday.

HOW TO WATCH NASCAR’S RACE AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI

• Race: Dixie Vodka 400

• Distance: 400.5 miles, 267 laps (stages end on laps 80, 160 and 267)

• Where: Homestead-Miami Speedway

• When: 3:30 p.m.

• TV: FOX

• Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

• 2019 Race Winner: Kyle Busch

• Worth Mentioning: The second Xfinity race at the same speedway will run at 12 p.m. Sunday on FS1

STARTING ORDER FOR HOMESTEAD-MIAMI

This story was originally published June 13, 2020 at 2:22 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription