NASCAR insider reveals main hold-up for Championship moving to Homestead-Miami

On this past Sunday’s “Teardown” podcast, Jordan Bianchi and Jeff Gluck of The Athletic discussed at length the possibility of NASCAR moving its Championship Weekend from Phoenix Raceway back to Homestead-Miami Speedway. While momentum has been building towards a switch, there is currently no done deal.

The main holdup, Bianchi said, is that Miami-Dade County needs to kick in some cash and hasn’t done so yet. Bianchi mentioned his conversation with Homestead Vice Mayor Sean Fletcher, who told him he believes Phoenix pays NASCAR “between $5 million and $10 million” for Championship Weekend.

“The Homestead vice mayor told me a figure of what he heard of what NASCAR was getting from Phoenix. He put it at between $5 and $10 million. I have not been able to verify that at all, but that is what he says they are giving. So, I don’t know that,” Bianchi said. “And I’m kind of putting words in NASCAR’s mouth here… where NASCAR looks at this and says, ‘At the end of day, this is what’s best for business, for the product and the competitiveness of the sport and the future of this sport. We need to move this Championship around and go back to Homestead. Maybe it’s not the deal that we want, maybe not a deal at all, but the racing is too good there, it’s too good of a show.’

“There seems to be a groundswell of support. The crowd was good here today, by the way. It wasn’t a sellout, but a pretty decent crowd by Miami standards. So, maybe they ultimately do that. We don’t know the future of Chicago, so maybe all of a sudden you do have a little bit more money in the coffers because you’re not putting on a Chicago Street Course next year. Again, hypothetically. As it stands right now, the situation is Miami-Dade County is probably going to have to kick in something to make this work and right now, they haven’t done it.”

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

Homestead hosted Championship Weekend from 2002-19. Phoenix has been the site for the last five Championship races and will be once again this November. But there’s been a renewed push 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.

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. Vice Mayor Fletcher is hoping as soon as 2026. Bianchi said NASCAR prefers to have the Championship at Homestead. But NASCAR is also running a business, and it has to make sense for them financially.

“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. “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.”