NASCAR insider reveals latest on Championship weekend moving to Homestead-Miami

Homestead-Miami Speedway hosted the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race from 2002-19. Phoenix Raceway has been the site for the last five Championship races and will be once again this November.

But there’s been a renewed push from fans to see NASCAR take its Championship back to Homestead. The 1.5-mile Homestead is lauded as one of the more entertaining tracks on the schedule, and a true test of drivers’ skillsets. According to Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic, NASCAR would prefer to have the Championship at Homestead. But NASCAR is also running a business, and it has to make sense for them financially to make the switch.

“NASCAR wants to be here [Homestead]. They want to have their Championship here, but this at the end of the day is also a business decision. … The city by itself can’t write the check. Look at the Super Bowl; cities bid on the Super Bowl,” Bianchi said on Sunday’s Teardown podcast. “The Arizona, Phoenix — that community is paying NASCAR essentially to have the Championship at Phoenix Raceway. And so, if you’re going to move the Championship from there, you’re gonna go somewhere where you’re going to get the same dollars.”

Bianchi reported last week that Guillermo Santa Cruz, named Homestead track president this past July, and elected local officials are pushing for the Championship to come back to South Florida. Homestead Vice Mayor Sean Fletcher is hoping as soon as 2026.

“We are in very high hopes that Homestead will be the Championship host for 2026,” Fletcher told Bianchi. “It’s really a big deal for the city of Homestead. I think it’s the perfect race for the drivers; they love the track. It’s really a driver’s racetrack. And that’s a great time of year [in November] to be in South Florida.”

Homestead, Miami-Dade officials pushing for NASCAR Championship race

But in order to secure the final weekend of the season, Homestead and Miami-Dade County need to put together a financial package to present to NASCAR. So far, that hasn’t happened.

“There’s kind of this underground push — not even underground it’s out there — the community, the city of Homestead and Miami-Dade County would like to put together a financial package to entice NASCAR to have the Championship at Homestead,” Bianchi said. “They’re working towards that. There was maybe some hope that would come together recently, [but] it hasn’t as of now. There’s still an opportunity for it to happen but as of today, the Championship is not set for Homestead in 2026.

“We don’t know where the Championship is going to be, but it’s not this enthusiastic, ‘Hey, this is gonna happen.’ Because we don’t know and the way things stand right now and there’s so many different events going on in the next calendar year in this community that are getting financial assistance from the community, NASCAR almost has to take a turn if you will and that’s really hard right now to find that money to make this work. And so, there’s this giant question mark of whether the Championship is gonna be here or not.”

The 2025 Championship will be decided at Phoenix. 2026 remains up for grabs, but Bianchi is optimistic Homestead will win out.

“It’s hard to say what the odds are,” Bianchi said. “The vice mayor of Homestead put it at 70/30 that it was gonna happen. I’ve heard less than that from other people, but I’ve heard more optimistic from other people. We’ll see at the end of the day if this happens. If you’re asking my opinion, I think it does, but it has to make financial sense.”