NASCAR's Championship Weekend is going back to some familiar stomping grounds at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2026, NASCAR officials announced on Tuesday. All three national series will crown a champion as part of a triple-header weekend on Nov. 6-8.
This marks a return to the 1.5-mile South Florida track that previously hosted NASCAR Championship Weekend from 2002-19 before Phoenix Raceway took over in 2020 and has served as the conclusion to the NASCAR season since. The 2025 champion will once again be crowned in the Arizona desert Oct. 31-Nov. 2 before Homestead returns to its old spot on the calendar next season.
"This has been a while coming," Ben Kennedy, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Venue & Racing Innovation Officer, said. "It's been since 2019 since we've had the championship race at Homestead. We moved it out to Phoenix for the past several years, which has been great for us. It's been an amazing market. We've seen some great racing there, and we've crowned some of our biggest champions, but we're excited to go to Homestead-Miami Speedway. I can tell you from a few people that I've talked to so far across the industry, through our partners, they're over the moon about it. And from our fans, it's the No. 1 asked-about championship venue as well. So we're excited to finally get the news out there."
With the renovations to the grandstands and enhanced fan amenities, Phoenix Raceway has been an excellent host for Championship Weekend, but has failed to produce the same quality of racing seen at Homestead. The progressive banking at the 1.5-mile intermediate track typically produces multiple grooves of racing and forces drivers to search for grip, from the bottom all the way up alongside the wall. That was another reason Kennedy, who is a former racer himself, is excited about it hosting Championship Weekend once again.
"You see drivers will start in the bottom, they migrate to the middle, some of them will go to the top, so I think it's going to put on some really exciting finishes for our championship and I think it's going to be fun to see the drivers' reaction from it, too."
Homestead's return is not the only change to Championship Weekend
Homestead-Miami Speedway will crown champions in NASCAR's three national series in 2026, but it will not be the host of Championship Weekend each season. Similar to the Super Bowl and college basketball's Final Four to name a few, Championship Weekend will rotate on a variety of different tracks going forward, increasing the difficulty for drivers as they try to navigate a challenging playoff format already, only to be presented with a different track each season when they ultimately race for the championship.
When determining which tracks would be deemed suitable to host Championship Weekend, Kennedy pointed to marketing and promotion, location, the racing product and the entire industry's feedback. With the championship decided in November each season, that limits where NASCAR can go in terms of ideal weather conditions.
Homestead-Miami Speedway may lack some of the updated features that Phoenix has, but Kennedy said, "We're going to be putting a good amount of capital into Homestead as well ahead of the race," ensuring it will be ready to play host next season.
Clearly, the racing product at Homestead is a hit among the entire industry. As of now, Kennedy wants to focus on the more traditional tracks playing host to Championship Weekend and not at superspeedways or road courses, which would produce more unpredictability with a title on the line. Texas winner and three-time champion Joey Logano is a fan of the rotating model.
"When you get down to the nitty-gritty of the playoffs, especially if it's coming down to one race, like it is right now, you don't want an oddball race, you want it to be the grassroots of what our sport is built off of, which is ovals, right?" Logano said. "Whether it's a short track or mile-and-a-half, that's what our roots really are. That is what built our sport. Throwing in a road course or any other oddball type racetrack, superspeedway, it's too much by chance and it wouldn't be ideal I don't believe for our sport."
Currently celebrating is 30th anniversary season, Homestead-Miami Speedway has experienced its share of moments. It has played host to all seven of Jimmie Johnson's record-tying titles and all three of Tony Stewart's titles, including his 2011 championship via a tiebreaker against Carl Edwards.
Already considered a fan-favorite track, some facility and amenity upgrades, as well as some additional infrastructure and promotional plans, suggest Homestead-Miami Speedway will have the pieces in place for a successful Championship Weekend in 2026. Phoenix Raceway will lost it championship date next season, but will keep its two dates on the schedule and remain in the playoffs in the fall. Officials confirmed it will be included in the rotation of tracks for Championship Weekend.
Overall, this is another bold move from NASCAR as it looks to create a more challenging playoff format each season and make the path to a championship more diverse with the rotation of tracks. It should keep drivers guessing and create an exciting path to crowning a champion.