When NASCAR went to its elimination-style format where four drivers battled for the title in a championship race, it seemed unfair that NASCAR kept going back to the same track over and over.
If Homestead or Phoenix was the best or worst track for a particular driver, it skewed either in that driver’s favor or disfavor.
But now NASCAR has returned to a 10-race mini-season Chase as its postseason format.
So there seemed to be a sense last weekend that Homestead-Miami Speedway — the site of the season finale from 2002 to 2019 before Phoenix had it from 2020-2025 — could work as a permanent home.
NASCAR’s season finale moved back to Homestead in 2026. (Getty Images)
“I think it’s totally acceptable for it to stay here,” Chase Elliott told me Tuesday. “At one point in time, I was a proponent of the championship, winner-take-all thing, moving around because it had so much on the line. That made logical sense in my mind, at least, that maybe we should take this to some other tracks throughout the course of that journey, which they ultimately didn’t.
“But I think the way this is, and you having 10 weeks to kind of figure it out, I see no reason why you need to move it around. I think it’s a great fit. It has a really cool historical aspect of kind of tying a lot of years of our sport together with crowning a champion, and I think it’s a good place to do it. So I’m great with it hanging out here for however long they want.”
Chase Elliott thinks having the championship race at Homestead is “a great fit.” (Getty Images)
Elliott’s feelings represented a mutual sentiment among drivers it that it just makes sense.
But Christopher Bell has a point that it isn’t just about competition.
“I would love for it to rotate between a couple key markets,” he said. “Homestead is definitely deserving of a championship race, but I think there’s a lot of other places that are, too.
“Phoenix is a great venue. Vegas would be a great venue in November. I think change for the schedule is good, but certainly it is far less important, with it being a 10-race culmination.”
Denny Hamlin noted that a track often needs to make improvements to be championship-weekend worthy to make sure the infrastructure is what a championship weekend needs.
Of course, when doing so, the track operators don’t know whether it will be a tight points battle or one, like this year, where the champion is determined in the first stage.
Christopher Bell believes the championship should rotate between markets. (Getty Images)
Homestead just feels right to many and it might be just because the season ended there for nearly 20 years.
It is the place that has crowned so many champions in the postseason. Atlanta was often the final race prior to Homestead, but the champion was often already determined when it was a full-season points format.
It feels right to say that Homestead should just keep the championship. It produced some solid racing throughout the three national series and a late caution helped make the Cup finish breathtaking (the same could be true for the final couple of laps at Phoenix a year ago, despite the more difficulty in passing at Phoenix).
The marketing aspect, especially if a city gets behind it, though, is too big to ignore.
If it can rotate among three or four markets so that more fans can experience a championship event which could give it a more special vibe, then that would be worth it as the impact on competition is minimal.
The championship race is in Homestead next year.
And it would be more than fine if NASCAR continued to go back year after year. But just because it would be fine doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be great to still move it every few years.
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