NASCAR in Miami: Schedule, watch info, picks for Homestead playoff race

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:

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)