Qualifying report
NASCAR Cup Homestead-Miami
Alex Bowman brings the heat on a cooling Homestead track to claim Cup pole
Disappointment for Gragson as some late cloud cover allowed the final few cars to rocket to the top of the time sheets, denying him his first career pole.
Nick DeGroot
Edited: Mar 22, 2025, 8:00 PM
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Alex Bowman is hoping to continue the trend of drivers whose surnames start with the letter 'B' winning every race this year, and he certainly improved his chances via his Saturday qualifying effort. Thanks to a helpful cloud, he was able to put the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on pole position.
Noah Gragson, who was just the fifth driver out on track, held onto the top spot for most of the session while several contenders struggled. As the track warmed up in the Florida sun, no one could match the No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford as Gragson came closer and closer to collecting his first career NASCAR Cup Series pole after 80 tries.
Perfect timing
However, as clouds moved over the track in the final few minutes, the asphalt began to cool and the last drivers out were able to capitalize on it. Bowman rocketed to P1, beating Gragson by over a tenth of a second. A visibly frustrated Gragson marched back to the garage area as Berry then claimed 2nd, displacing Gragson on the front row. Bowman ended up beating last week's race winner, Berry, by just 0.073s for the top spot, earning his sixth career Cup Series pole and his first at a 1.5-mile intermediate track.
"Looking up, looks like we got some clouds. But yeah, I feel like we struggled a little bit in practice on the long run but were really fast on the short run," said Bowman in his interview to FOX Sports 1.
"We've overcome a lot this year. I think people don't realize the amount of things we've had go wrong throughout our races ... just need to have everything go right and execute all day. I feel like we've got some work to do for tomorrow on the long run for sure, but at least we're starting up front and will have a good pit stall."
Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Photo by: Jonathan Bachman - Getty Images
Berry will start second, in his third career front row start, the best qualifying effort for the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford since winning pole at Dover in 2020. Berry is currently in the playoffs after earning his first career victory last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but now he has the chance to possibly earn the historic Wood Brothers team their first multi-win season since 1981.
"Just so happy with everyone on this No. 21 team," said Berry. "They're making me look good right now. We got really good cars. Just thank you to everyone at Wood Brothers Racing and Team Penske ... it's been a fun start to the season."
Josh Berry, Wood Brothers Racing Ford
Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images
Gragson ended up third, Chase Briscoe fourth, and William Byron fifth. Ryan Blaney, John-Hunter Nemechek, Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top-ten.
But due to the ever-changing conditions, there are various star drivers starting deeper in the pack than expected. Friday night's Truck Series winner Kyle Larson qualified 14th as he aims to complete the weekend sweep while Christopher Bell -- who has the best average finish here of all active drivers -- was 16th. Tyler Reddick, who won at Homestead just a few months ago, timed in 20th. Other notable names such as Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain, and Brad Keselowski will all have some work to do on Sunday as well.
Photos from Homestead-Miami: Practice & Qualifying
2025 Homestead-Miami - Saturday
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NASCAR Cup
39
Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Mph 1 A. BowmanHendrick Motorsports 48 Chevrolet 1
31.982
168.845 2
J. BerryWood Brothers Racing
21 Ford 1
+0.073
32.055
0.073 168.460 3 N. GragsonFront Row Motorsports 4 Ford 1
+0.119
32.101
0.046 168.219 4 C. BriscoeJoe Gibbs Racing 19 Toyota 1
+0.134
32.116
0.015 168.140 5 W. ByronHendrick Motorsports 24 Chevrolet 1
+0.152
32.134
0.018 168.046 6 R. BlaneyTeam Penske 12 Ford 1
+0.159
32.141
0.007 168.010 7 J. NemechekLegacy Motor Club 42 Toyota 1
+0.189
32.171
0.030 167.853 8 A. CindricTeam Penske 2 Ford 1
+0.211
32.193
0.022 167.738 9 B. Wallace23XI Racing 23 Toyota 1
+0.229
32.211
0.018 167.645 10 A. AllmendingerKaulig Racing 16 Chevrolet 1
+0.232
32.214
0.003 167.629 11 C. BuescherRFK Racing 17 Ford 1
+0.296
32.278
0.064 167.297 12 J. LoganoTeam Penske 22 Ford 1
+0.306
32.288
0.010 167.245 13 T. GibbsJoe Gibbs Racing 54 Toyota 1
+0.315
32.297
0.009 167.198 14 K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports 5 Chevrolet 1
+0.320
32.302
0.005 167.172 15 C. HocevarSpire Motorsports 77 Chevrolet 1
+0.325
32.307
0.005 167.146 16 C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing 20 Toyota 1
+0.327
32.309
0.002 167.136 17 Z. SmithFront Row Motorsports 38 Ford 1
+0.335
32.317
0.008 167.095 18 C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports 9 Chevrolet 1
+0.349
32.331
0.014 167.022 19 R. Herbst23XI Racing 35 Toyota 1
+0.352
32.334
0.003 167.007 20 J. HaleySpire Motorsports 7 Chevrolet 1
+0.368
32.350
0.016 166.924 21 T. Reddick23XI Racing 45 Toyota 1
+0.368
32.350
0.000 166.924 22 K. BuschRichard Childress Racing 8 Chevrolet 1
+0.387
32.369
0.019 166.826 23 D. HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing 11 Toyota 1
+0.397
32.379
0.010 166.775 24 C. CusterHaas Factory Team 41 Ford 1
+0.400
32.382
0.003 166.759 25 R. ChastainTrackHouse Racing 1 Chevrolet 1
+0.409
32.391
0.009 166.713 26 R. Stenhouse JrHyak Motorsports 47 Chevrolet 1
+0.413
32.395
0.004 166.692 27 M. McDowellSpire Motorsports 71 Chevrolet 1
+0.413
32.395
0.000 166.692 28 E. JonesLegacy Motor Club 43 Toyota 1
+0.414
32.396
0.001 166.687 29 T. GillilandFront Row Motorsports 34 Ford 1
+0.463
32.445
0.049 166.436 30 A. DillonRichard Childress Racing 3 Chevrolet 1
+0.471
32.453
0.008 166.394 31 R. PreeceRFK Racing 60 Ford 1
+0.478
32.460
0.007 166.359 32 B. KeselowskiRFK Racing 6 Ford 1
+0.529
32.511
0.051 166.098 33 D. SuarezTrackHouse Racing 99 Chevrolet 1
+0.531
32.513
0.002 166.087 34 T. DillonKaulig Racing 10 Chevrolet 1
+0.536
32.518
0.005 166.062 35 S. van GisbergenTrackHouse Racing 88 Chevrolet 1
+0.758
32.740
0.222 164.936 36 C. WareRick Ware Racing 51 Ford 1
+1.202
33.184
0.444 162.729 37 J. YeleyNY Racing Team 44 Chevrolet 1
+2.139
34.121
0.937 158.260
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