NASCAR Cup race at Homestead: How to watch, track info, starting order

Denny Hamlin will start on the pole with Joey Logano in the front row for this Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The race starts at 3:30 p.m. on FOX.

With practice and qualifying sessions limited due to the pandemic, the race starting order was determined by the same performance-metrics formula NASCAR adopted last season and updated in the latter part of the year. That formula, which emphasizes latest race performance, was also used last weekend to determine the starting order for NASCAR’s Daytona road course race, which was won by Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell.

The victory marked Bell’s first win in the Cup Series and came on the heels of Michael McDowell’s first-time Cup win at the Daytona 500. The last time the first two races in a NASCAR season were won by two first-time winners was 1950. The only other year that happened in the sport was 1949.

The first-time win streak could end at two with Hamlin starting on the pole at a track where he’s won three times (five top-five finishes) in 16 races. Hamlin is leading the series in points (104) after a fifth- and third-place finish at the the Daytona 500 and Daytona road course, respectively

Joey Logano (92), Kevin Harvick (83), Bell (82) and Chase Elliott (79) round out the top-five points leader chart with Michael McDowell (75) in sixth. After Bell’s win last weekend, No. 20 crew chief Adam Stevens said the early wins for two first-time Cup winning drivers could have some early playoff implications for teams on the fringe.

As race winners, Bell and McDowell are guaranteed two of the 16 playoffs spots. Stevens said he expected Elliott, Hamlin, Logano, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch to win a race before the playoffs.

“Some of that next batch of cars is really needing to be thinking about if they’re swinging for the fence or if they’re racing for points,” Stevens said. “Maybe one more winner that somebody didn’t expect pretty early in the season could really change the complexion.”

While BetMGM is giving Hamlin the best odds to win this weekend (5-1 odds), Homestead has also been a strong track for Tyler Reddick (25-1) and Kyle Larson (17-2). Larson was out of the playoff picture last year during his suspension from NASCAR and Reddick hasn’t won yet in the Cup Series, so either would be a new look in Victory Lane.

NASCAR this weekend: How to watch the race at Homestead

• Race: Dixie Vodka 400
• When: Sunday, Feb. 28 at 3:30 p.m.
  
  
• How to watch/listen: FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Distance: 267 laps, 400.5 miles on the 1.5-mile oval
• Stages: Laps 80, 160, 267
• Last year’s winner: Denny Hamlin
• Notable this week: On Friday, DoorDash announced a multiyear partnership with NASCAR to make it the official “on-demand delivery platform of NASCAR.” NASCAR also announced this week that Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will be the grand marshal for Sunday’s race. Fox NFL analyst Jonathan Vilma will wave the green flag.
  
  

NASCAR Cup at Homestead starting order

This story was originally published February 28, 2021 at 5:00 AM.

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