In accordance to Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic, Homestead-Miami Speedway will return as the positioning of NASCAR’s championship weekend in 2026. Homestead was the positioning of NASCAR’s finale yearly from 2002 till 2019. In 2020, NASCAR’s championship weekend shifted to the Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., the place it has stayed since.
Homestead held its one NASCAR race weekend within the common season in 2020 and 2021 earlier than being added again into the playoffs in 2022. From 2022 to 2024, Homestead was featured because the second race within the penultimate spherical of the playoffs.
This 12 months, nevertheless, Homestead’s date reverted to the common season, holding its lone Cup Collection race on March 23. In hindsight, shifting the race from October to March might enable the power to renovate the venue and make numerous, much-needed adjustments regarding the comparatively sparse and outdated facilities current on the 1.5-mile monitor.
This lack of facilities is believed to be a significant purpose why Phoenix, a monitor with a much less intriguing on-track product however a lot better fan and trade facilities, was given the championship date in 2020.
In accordance with Bianchi, Homestead has solely nailed down the championship race for 2026, as NASCAR is anticipated to rotate the venue for its finale over the approaching years. Phoenix Raceway will retain two races on the Cup Collection schedule within the coming years, and is reportedly one of many tracks that will probably be featured within the rotation of the championship race.
After 5 years — and yet one more on the horizon — of comparatively lackluster championship races at Phoenix, latest barn burners at Homestead — see Tyler Reddick’s last-lap move for the win in October 2023 — have solely bolstered fan help for a return to Homestead for championship weekend.
Phoenix could also be a world-class facility from the attitude of fan facilities, however the racing product on monitor has by no means been capable of match that of Homestead. NASCAR’s Subsequent Gen automotive, which tends to race worse on quick ovals and higher on intermediates comparable to Homestead, has solely served as gas to the fireplace relating to the argument that Homestead ought to exchange Phoenix because the finale.
With Homestead now again because the finale, the query is the place NASCAR slots in a second Phoenix date for 2026. Earlier than turning into the finale in 2020, Phoenix held its second race of the 12 months within the penultimate spherical of the playoffs, serving because the elimination race for the Spherical of 8 from 2014 to 2019.
For years, Homestead’s services fell behind even whereas internet hosting NASCAR’s championship weekend. Now, the power will hopefully have loads of fashionable facilities to go well with the followers on the monitor and can nonetheless be capable of present the nice racing that it options, regardless of the place it falls on the schedule.
