NASCAR has announced that Homestead-Miami will take on its position as a championship decider in 2026 as part of the planned rotation system.
The 1.5-mile Florida truck will host the final round of the 2026 season from November 6th-8th, after being moved from the existing slot in March. This change applies to all three national series hosted by NASCAR, including the Cup Series.
Homestead-Miami has performed the final rounds of all NASCAR seasons from 2002 to 19, and remains a popular venue among fans, even after being removed from the playoffs.
Phoenix, which took over the honor of holding a championship race in 2020, will continue to host two races next year. Although the exact date has not been revealed, NASCAR said the fall race will take up a prominent place in eight rounds.
“This has been here for a while,” said Benkennedy, executive vice president of NASCAR and top chairman of Venue & Racing Innovation Office. “We have been moving to Phoenix for the past few years since 2019 after we held a championship race at Homestead, which has been great for us, and it was a great market.
“We’ve seen great races there, we’ve won the biggest champion, but we’re excited to go to the Speedway at Homestead Miami. From people we’ve spoken so far across the industry, through our partners, they’re over the moon about it.
NASCAR said the new rotation system will be kicked next year. There will be venues where title winners shift between a handful of tracks.
Miami and Phoenix are already selected under the new rotation system, with more trucks expected to be announced at a later date.
According to the Championship, the other circuits considered come from a combination of ownership groups, including Speedway Motorsport and NASCAR itself.
“If you’ve seen many other sports properties that move from place to place every year, part of that is increasing the demand for pent-ups,” Kennedy said.
“But part of that is volatility in many markets, and a bit of it is that we have something differentiated because what we talked about is related to competition and racing products as well.
“What makes the playoffs unpredictable each year is that the venues for the championship are somewhere else. I think that different teams and drivers can climb as they are crowned champions.”
Describing what determines the track is a good fit for the final round. He added: “I think it’s four or five things.
“It’s certainly marketing and promotion and a place. We want to be in a warm weather market. Ideally, being the first week of November limits the amount of races you can run.
“I’d say the quality of the facility. In Phoenix, we put over $100 million in redeveloping that truck, which was a huge catalyst for bringing this championship to the West Coast.
“I think race products are another big part of this. And overall, it’s just industry-wide feedback on this. So we work with our team, which is broadcast partners. From our drivers, what they think, a lot of corporate partners, and ultimately our fans and fans get a perspective every year.”