Denny Hamlin, Steve Letarte suggest rotating NASCAR championship tracks

Denny Hamlin and Steve Letarte believe it’s time for NASCAR to rotate which track holds their championship weekend from one season to the next.

Following Sunday’s Cup Series title-deciding race at Phoenix Raceway, the former crew chief turned broadcaster in Letarte joined Hamlin’s Actions Detrimental podcast for a fascinating conversation, where the two debated the current playoff format. While they both want some major changes, rotating where NASCAR’s championship weekend is held would be a good starting point.

“I would take the three race championship, maybe not every year, because I’m not sure a city can lean in, in just one year, like they do the Super Bowl,” Letarte started. “I’m not going to put us at NFL level, but I would like to see the last one of the three rotate. Same three tracks, but I think the order matters,” Letarte explained. “I’d like to do Phoenix for say, two or three years. I’d have to ask, you know, NASCAR, to have, say, ‘Hey, we need three years to kind of like, picket sale,’ you know, stuff that’s not important to us. They could decide, TV could decide.

“Then maybe the next year, but I think, you know, Martinsville, Miami and Phoenix, to my mind are three tracks that cover the gamut of what you need.”

After Hamlin threw Las Vegas into the ring, “You’ve got Vegas in there, too. It’s a good time of the year for Vegas,” Letarte also added that Charlotte Motor Speedway would be a fantastic option, “I think you could even go Charlotte at the oval. I think Charlotte oval might be one of the best races we run.”

While Phoenix would remain an option, adding Martinsville, Homstead-Miami, Las Vegas and Charlotte to the mix would be a tremendous idea. The racing at all of those tracks is arguably better than Phoenix at the moment, and it would create some unpredictability for who would hoist the trophy at the end of any given season.

It’s obvious the current playoff format needs to be shaken up, and while there’s not much NASCAR can do for 2025, with the schedule already set, a rotation of their championship tracks would be something many fans are onboard with for 2026.

Phoenix has grown a bit stale, and Denny Hamlin and Steve Letarte recognizes there’s any easy fix. Time will tell if their idea gets implemented.