The Return of NASCAR Championships to Homestead-Miami Speedway
Homestead-Miami Speedway is set to become NASCAR’s championship site once again. (Photo by Simon Galloway/LAT Images for Formula E)
(Simon Galloway via Getty Images)
The NASCAR title races are going back to Homestead-Miami Speedway.
According to the Athletic, NASCAR is moving its championship races back to the 1.5-mile speedway in 2026. The intermediate track hosted the final races of the season for the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Truck Series from 2002 through 2019.
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Homestead is considered one of the best tracks in NASCAR for all three series and especially for the Cup Series. The track has progressive banking in its corners that allows for multi-groove racing, and the tire wear over the course of a fuel run helps aid in passing as drivers can make moves through the field as they manage their tires.
The title races moved to Phoenix in 2020 as part of renovations to that one-mile track. Phoenix is unlike any other track on the NASCAR schedule and isn’t considered a very representative sample of what drivers face throughout the course of the season.
Homestead, meanwhile, is one of many intermediate tracks on the NASCAR schedule. Generally, if you’re good at Homestead, you’re also good at tracks like Kansas, Las Vegas, Texas and Darlington.
Kyle Busch won the final Cup Series title race at the track in 2019 for his second Cup title. NASCAR has been running a winner-take-all format in its final race for four drivers at the Cup level since 2014. In 2024, Joey Logano won his third Cup Series title when he won the season finale at Phoenix.
Besides being an obvious championship site because of the racing it produces, Homestead is also one of just a few tracks with a climate capable of hosting the final NASCAR weekend of the season because the final race weekend of the season takes place in November.