The best drivers in the world are taking their talents to South Beach this weekend.
NASCAR will continue the playoffs at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the second race in the Round of 8. Joey Logano locked up his spot in the Championship 4 title race with his win in Las Vegas last week, leaving seven drivers to fight for the final three spots.
Homestead-Miami will present a unique challenge for the competitors, who haven’t visited the 1.5-mile oval since last October. The track has a one-of-a-kind layout for its size, making it incomparable to any other venue on the schedule.
So, who is racing in Miami? What’s the schedule for TV and streaming? And which drivers could contend for the win? Here’s everything you need to know for 2024 Straight Talk Wireless 400:
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
When is the NASCAR race in Miami?
The Straight Talk Wireless 400 is set for Sunday, Oct. 27, at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
Before the race, there will be practice and qualifying sessions on Saturday. The 38 drivers will be split into two groups (found here) with each group getting 20 minutes of free practice and then competing in two-round qualifying. Here’s how it works:
- Each driver will make one lap in the first round, with the five fastest drivers in each group advancing.
- In the final round, the remaining drivers each get one lap to set the top 10 starting order. The fastest driver overall will start on the pole, the fastest driver in the other group will start second.
- Positions 3 through 10 are set on final round times – Group A filling the even-numbered positions (4th, 6th, 8th, 10th), Group B filling the odd-numbered positions (3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th).
- Positions 11 through 38 are set based on first round times – Group A filling the even-numbered positions, Group B filling the odd-numbered positions.
What is the NASCAR TV schedule this weekend?
Leigh Diffey (play-by-play), Jeff Burton (analyst) and Steve Letarte (analyst) will be on the call for NBC with Marty Snider, Kim Coon and Dave Burns serving as pit reporters. Here’s the full TV and streaming schedule:
Saturday, Oct. 26 (streaming)
- Practice: 9:05 a.m. ET, NBC Sports app
- Qualifying: 9:50 a.m. ET, NBC Sports app
Sunday, Oct. 27 (NBC and streaming)
- Countdown to Green: 2 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports app
- Straight Talk Wireless 400: 2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports app
NASCAR Homestead-Miami entry list, drivers
Thirty-eight drivers will race at Homestead-Miami – the 34 full-timers, plus four others.
A.J. Allmendinger and Kaz Grala will continue their part-time schedules for Kaulig Racing and Rick Ware Racing, respectively. Elsewhere, J.J. Yeley will make his seventh start of the season for NY Racing Team and Chad Finchum rejoins MBM Motorsports for his second race of 2024.
Here’s the full entry list for Homestead-Miami:
| Car number | Driver | Team | Sponsor |
| 1 | Ross Chastain | Trackhouse Racing | Kubota |
| 2 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | Freightliner |
| 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Bass Pro Shops |
| 4 | Josh Berry | Stewart-Haas Racing | Panini |
| 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | HendrickCars.com |
| 6 | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing | Consumer Cellular |
| 7 | Justin Haley | Spire Motorsports | Chili's |
| 8 | Kyle Busch | Richard Childress Racing | Rebel Bourbon |
| 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | NAPA Auto Parts |
| 10 | Noah Gragson | Stewart-Haas Racing | Beef A Roo |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Mavis Tire |
| 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Menards |
| 14 | Chase Briscoe | Stewart-Haas Racing | Zep |
| 15 | Kaz Grala | Rick Ware Racing | Meat N' Bone |
| 16 | A.J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Worldwide Express |
| 17 | Chris Buescher | RFK Racing | Fastenal |
| 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Bass Pro Shops |
| 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Rheem |
| 21 | Harrison Burton | Wood Brothers Racing | DEX Imaging |
| 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Hunt Brothers Pizza |
| 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | McDonald's |
| 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Valvoline |
| 31 | Daniel Hemric | Kaulig Racing | Cirkul |
| 34 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Love's Travel Stops |
| 38 | Todd Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | gener8tor |
| 41 | Ryan Preece | Stewart-Haas Racing | Bonanza Cabernet |
| 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Legacy Motor Club | Family Dollar |
| 43 | Erik Jones | Legacy Motor Club | Dollar Tree |
| 44 | J.J. Yeley | NY Racing Team | Urban Youth |
| 45 | Tyler Reddick | 23XI Racing | Monster Energy |
| 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | JTG Daugherty Racing | Kroger/Vitamin Water |
| 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Ally |
| 51 | Corey LaJoie | Rick Ware Racing | Schluter Systems |
| 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing | Monster Energy |
| 66 | Chad Finchum | MBM Motorsports | GreenLightPP.com |
| 71 | Zane Smith | Spire Motorsports | Wellcare |
| 77 | Carson Hocevar | Spire Motorsports | Zeigler Auto Group |
| 99 | Daniel Suarez | Trackhouse Racing | Freeway Insurance |
NASCAR Homestead-Miami predictions, picks, favorites
You aren’t going to find many upset winners at Homestead, largely due to the track difficulty, tire wear and playoff stakes.
Over the 25 races held there since it first opened in 1999, all 17 drivers who have won at the track have at least 19 career victories except Byron and Bell. They have 13 and nine career victories, respectively, but they are young active drivers who are on pace to easily surpass that mark.
So, who should you look at this weekend? Larson stands out as the favorite with a series-best 625 laps led – including 295 over the past two years. Hamlin has the most Homestead wins with three and 12 top-10s in 19 career starts.
Other playoff drivers to watch include Bell (last year’s Homestead winner) and Byron (2021 Homestead winner). Bell has been more consistent than any driver in the playoffs, and a win in the next few weeks seems inevitable. Byron, likewise, has four straight top-fives over the past month.
Reddick, Blaney and Elliott, facing a points deficit, are heading to a track where they’ve all had some success. Reddick has three top-fives in four Homestead starts, Blaney led 53 laps last year while finishing second and Elliott’s 10.4 career average finish at Homestead is second only to Bell (10.0).
So, long story short, all of the heavy hitters should challenge for the win on Sunday.
NASCAR Homestead-Miami winners list, race history
Seven of the 38 drivers in the field are past winners at Homestead-Miami, including just two with multiple victories.
Hamlin leads all drivers with four Homestead-Miami wins, followed by Busch with two. The one-time winners are Truex (2017), Logano (2018), Byron (2021), Larson (2022) and Bell (2023).
NASCAR playoff standings entering Homestead-Miami
With Logano winning last week in Las Vegas, just three spots remain in the Championship 4. That leaves seven drivers at risk, though some are in a bigger hole than others. Hamlin, Reddick, Blaney and Elliott are below the cut line with Homestead-Miami and Martinsville still to go before the bottom four are eliminated.
You can find a full explanation of NASCAR’s playoff format right here.
Here’s the playoff standings entering Homestead-Miami:
| Rank | Driver | Points |
| 1. | Joey Logano | ADVANCED VIA WIN |
| 2. | Christopher Bell | 4,086 (+42 above the cut) |
| 3. | Kyle Larson | 4,079 (+35 above the cut) |
| 4. | William Byron | 4,071 (+27 above the cut) |
| 5. | Denny Hamlin | 4,044 (-27 below the cut) |
| 6. | Tyler Reddick | 4,041 (-30 below the cut) |
| 7. | Ryan Blaney | 4,024 (-47 below the cut) |
| 8. | Chase Elliott | 4,018 (-53 below the cut) |
