MIAMI (AP) — NASCAR’s championship weekend will return to Homestead-Miami Speedway next year, marking the first time since 2019 that the title-winners will be crowned at the South Florida track.

NASCAR made the announcement Tuesday. Its three series — the truck series, the Xfinity Series and the Cup Series — will see their seasons come to a close at Homestead from Nov. 6-8, 2026.

It isn’t a permanent return, though: NASCAR said that championship weekends are going to be on a rotation “to ensure that the season’s exciting conclusion is shared amongst NASCAR’s marquee venues and key markets.”

“As we move forward, the rotating model will provide new challenges for competitors as well as opportunities for unique venues to host our loyal fans at NASCAR Championship Weekend,” NASCAR executive vice president Ben Kennedy said.

Phoenix will play host to this year’s championship weekend again, and NASCAR said it will be part of the title-deciding-location rotation in the future as well.

Homestead-Miami was the championship weekend site from 2002 through 2019. There are three active drivers who were crowned NASCAR champions at Homestead — Kyle Busch in 2015 and 2019, Brad Keselowski in 2012 and Joey Logano in 2018. Logano has also won the title at Phoenix in two of the last three seasons, including last year.

And all seven of Jimmie Johnson’s NASCAR titles came at Homestead, which has renamed a tunnel in his honor to commemorate those championships.

NASCAR decided after the 2001 season to move its truck and Cup series races to one track, in order to create a season-ending championship celebration. Homestead-Miami was the original site, and it moved to Phoenix starting in 2020.

In 22 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Kansas Speedway, Spire Motorsports has logged one top-10 and three top-20 finishes. Zane Smith earned a team-best 10th-place result in last fall's Hollywood Casino 400. Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet ZL1s in the Cup Series for Justin Haley, Michael McDowell and Carson Hocevar, respectively.
The AdventHealth 400 will be televised live on FS1, Sunday, May 11 beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The 12th of 36 points-paying races on the 2025 NCS schedule will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Justin Haley – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1

Justin Haley will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 NationsGuard Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s Advent Health 400 at Kansas Speedway.
The Winamac, Ind., racer has recorded eight Cup Series starts at Kansas Speedway. Over those eight races, Haley has logged a 28.0 average start, a 26.6 average finish and earned tallied top-20 showings.
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Last week at Texas Motor Speedway, Haley overcame multiple setbacks, to secure his fourth top-15 finish of the season.
In NASCAR Xfinity Series competition at Kansas Speedway, Haley earned a pair of venue best fourth-place finishes in October 2019 and 2021. He’s earned a 9.8 average start, a 5.3 average finish and came home no worse than seventh over four starts.
In his lone ARCA Menards Series race at Kansas, Haley started fourth and finished sixth (Oct. 2017).
Over the course of his career, the newly minted 26-year-old has collected four NASCAR Xfinity Series checkered flags and three CRAFTSMAN Truck Series wins, making him one of just 41 drivers in history to have earned wins across all three of NASCAR’s National Touring Series. 
Haley made his first start in NASCAR’s premier division for Spire Motorsports at Talladega Superspeedway on April 28, 2019 – his 20th birthday. Sunday will mark Haley’s 156th career NASCAR Cup Series start. Over the course of the last seven seasons, the 26-year-old racer has notched one win, five top fives, 17 top 10s and led 103 laps.
In total, Haley has made 52 Cup Series starts for Spire Motorsports, with the bulk of races coming during the 2021 season behind the wheel of the team’s No. 77 machine.

Justin Haley Quotes
You have to feel good about a top 15 last weekend and Spire Motorsports’ overall performance at Texas Motor Speedway. How does that buoy your optimism coming into this weekend?
“When you look at the speed Spire Motorsports has at the mile-and-a-halves and if you look at how the team performed as a whole last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, there’s no reason not to be optimistic about Kansas.”
Atop the No. 7 Box – Crew Chief Ryan Sparks

Ryan Sparks serves in a dual role as both Spire Motorsports Competition Director and crew chief for driver Justin Haley.
As a race engineer in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Sparks helped Austin Dillon to a second-place finish in 2012 at Kansas Speedway during his time with Richard Childress Racing.
The Winston-Salem, N.C., native has called 176 NASCAR Cup Series races where he’s earned three top-five and nine top-10 finishes.

Michael McDowell – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1

Michael McDowell will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 Gainbridge Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway.
In 27 NASCAR Cup Series starts at the 1.5-mile tri-oval, the 40-year-old has posted an average starting position of 25.3 and an average finish of 26.9. Over his last 10 starts at the track in the heartland of America, he has improved those numbers to an 18.1 average start and a 16.8 average finish, including four top-10 starts.
The No. 71 Chevrolet will return to its black-and-blue Gainbridge livery for Sunday’s 400-mile race.
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The father-of-five qualified eighth in last year’s spring race at Kansas Speedway, where he earned his only top-10 finish at the venue.
The 18-year Cup Series veteran has made two Xfinity Series starts and one ARCA Menards Series start at the track, highlighted by a notable 11th-place finish in the fifth race of the 2007 ARCA season.
Texas Motor Speedway was a rollercoaster for McDowell and his Travis Peterson-led team.  After a fifth-place qualifying run, the No. 71 team led a season-high 19 laps and ran up front during the closing stages. However, his strong run ended after a late-race incident left him 26th in the final rundown.
The No. 71 team has earned 11th-place results three times this season, (Daytona, Austin, Talladega) and is still in search of its first top 10 of the year.
McDowell has claimed three Xfinity Fastest Lap awards this season, clocking the fastest lap in the Daytona 500, at Phoenix Raceway, and again at Talladega Superspeedway. He stands as the only driver in the Cup Series to have secured three bonus points via the recently unveiled program.
The Arizona native secured Spire Motorsports' first Busch Light Pole Award last month at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His 28.833-second lap marks the fastest lap in NASCAR's seventh-generation Cup Series car (2022-present) at the 1.5-mile Nevada oval.
On Tuesday, it was announced that Michael McDowell is ranked in the top 10 of the All-Star Weekend Fan Vote standings at North Wilkesboro Speedway, alongside his teammate Carson Hocevar.

Michael McDowell Quote:
What are your thoughts about heading to Kansas Speedway this weekend?
“Kansas is a great track and it has a lot of lanes. Everybody migrates towards the wall, which is always high intensity. The track changes a lot throughout the weekend, it usually starts out really fast and then by the time the race comes around, it drops off and you start to slide and move around. It’s been a good track in the past. It’s hard to hit it just right, but I feel like the speed that we’ve had at Vegas and Texas this past weekend gives us a good baseline to keep building momentum and confidence, so we are coming into it with high hopes.”
Atop the No. 71 Box – Crew Chief Travis Peterson

Across two Cup Series attempts at Kansas Speedway, crew chief Travis Peterson has led McDowell to an average start of 14.8 paired with an average finish of 22.8.
As a race engineer at JR Motorsports, the West Bend, Wis., native played a key role in Regan Smith’s third-place result in 2013. After qualifying fifth, the team dominated the race and led 81 of the 200 laps en route to his seventh-of-eight top-five finishes during the 2013 season.
Prior to his time as a crew chief, the 33-year-old worked as a race engineer for Dale Earnhardt Jr., at Hendrick Motorsports where he recorded a third-place result at Kansas Speedway in 2015.

Carson Hocevar – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1

Carson Hocevar, driver of the Delaware Life Chevrolet ZL1 for Spire Motorsports, will make his fourth NASCAR Cup Series start at Kansas Speedway. The 22-year-old driver earned his first career Cup Series pole last Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway, becoming the youngest series pole sitter at the Fort Worth track.
In sixteen starts on 1.5-mile tracks, Hocevar owns one top-five and three top-10 finishes. In addition to leading laps at Texas, Hocevar also led laps in March at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Hocevar is one of the top-10 drivers in the Fan Vote standings for NASCAR's All-Star Weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway alongside teammate Michael McDowell. Hocevar was top-three in last year’s Fan Vote and finished 10th in the All-Star Open. 
The 2024 Rookie of the Year has a best finish of 20th in three Cup Series starts at Kansas.
Prior to climbing in the No. 7 Delaware Life Chevrolet Silverado RST for Saturday's CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race, Hocevar will return to the FS1 broadcast booth for Friday night’s ARCA Menards Series race. He owns seven top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in 16 starts in the series.
The Spire Motorsports driver will make his second NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start of the season on Saturday night. Hocevar owns five starts in the series at Kansas, highlighted by a one top five – a runner-up finish in 2022 – and two top 10s. He’s led a total of 60 laps at the Kansas City venue.
Hocevar led the first 22 laps in Sunday’s race and ran no worse than seventh until Lap 215 when he made his final scheduled pit stop under green flag conditions. The Portage, Mich., native was caught a lap down when a caution occurred as he was on pit road and subsequently sustained damage in a mid-pack incident. The No. 77 team recovered to finish 24th.
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Carson Hocevar Quotes
What are your expectations for Kansas after a solid weekend at Texas?
“I think we’ll have another good weekend. We seem to be heading in the right direction on our intermediate track program and it’s been a lot of fun to show people that we are improving. I felt like running the truck race at Texas was a big help as far as getting laps on track and getting into the racing mindset early in the weekend, so I’m excited to do that again at Kansas and try to make up for how last weekend ended.”
Atop the No. 77 Box – Crew Chief Luke Lambert

Crew chief Luke Lambert has called 22 Cup Series races at Kansas resulting in three top-10 finishes and claimed the pole position with driver Daniel Hemric in Oct. 2019.
In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Lambert has called two races from atop the pit box. He owns a fourth-place run with Elliott Sadler in Oct. 2012 and a win with Noah Gragson in Sept. 2022.

Spire Motorsports PR

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — It was a big weekend for motorsports, with impressive viewership across seven different racing series.

The NASCAR Cup Series led the way with the Würth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway drawing 2.56 million viewers on FS1.

The race won by Joey Logano at the 1.5-mile race track, outperformed the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix (1.598 million viewers on ABC) and IndyCar (914,000 viewers on FOX).

The event at Texas earned a 1.38 household rating on FS1, with an average of 2.6 million viewers tuned in per minute, up +7% over 2024 NCS Dover (race No. 11 in 2024) and up +9% over 2024 NCS Texas which ran as race No. 9 in mid-April last year

This is also the most-watched points race at Texas since 2020 when it was run in July on NBCSN (2.7 million).

Through 12 races (including The Clash) on the NASCAR Cup Series calendar, viewership is up 13% on FOX and 16% on FS1 YoY.

Formula 1 earned a 0.77 household rating on ABC with an average of 1.6 million viewers tuned in per minute, including pre-race coverage.

Viewership for the entire telecast was down 45% YOY, but it is important to note that the 2024 F-1 race had an NBA Playoff Game 7 as lead-in, which carried 3.9 million viewers into F-1 coverage just prior to the start of the race.

Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event from Texas Motor Speedway on the CW attracted 1.002 million viewers.

The Xfinity Series has topped one million viewers in each of its first 12 races this season – its longest streak to start the year since 2017 (13 consecutive races). The 12 Xfinity Series races have been the 12 most-watched telecasts on The CW this year.

Sunday’s IndyCar race on FOX averaged a 0.50 household rating with 914,000 viewers per minute, up 20% over this event last year which aired on NBC opposite the Dover NASCAR Cup Series race.

Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on FS1 pulled in 401,000 viewers.

Weekend Motorsports, ranked by audience size:

NCS (Texas): 2.560 million viewers on FS1

Formula 1 (Miami GP): 1.598 million viewers on ABC

NXS (Texas): 1.002 million viewers on The CW

IndyCar (Barber): 914,000 viewers on FOX

Formula E (Monaco): 765,000 viewers on CBS

Supercross (Denver): 423,000 viewers on NBC

NCTS (Texas): 401,000 viewers on FS1

All Times Eastern

NASCAR CUP SERIES

AdventHealth 400

Site: Kansas City, Kansas.

Schedule: Saturday, practice, 4:30 p.m., qualifying, 5:40 p.m.; Sunday, race, 3 p.m. (FS1).

Track: Kansas Speedway.

Race distance: 267 laps, 400.5 miles.

Last year: Kyle Larson edged Chris Buescher by .0001 seconds in a photo finish win that broke the record for closest finish in Cup Series history.

Last race: Reigning Cup champion Joey Logano earned his first win of the season in overtime at Texas after passing Michael McDowell with seven to go.

Next race: May 18, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

Online: http://www.nascar.com

NASCAR XFINITY SERIES

Last race: Kyle Larson earned his second series win this season after a late pass of Sam Mayer in a double-overtime finish at Texas.

Next race: May 24, Concord, North Carolina.

Online: http://www.nascar.com

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

Heart of America 200

Site: Kansas City, Kansas.

Schedule: Saturday, practice, 2:05 p.m., qualifying, 3:10 p.m., race, 7:30 p.m. (FS1).

Track: Kansas Speedway.

Race distance: 134 laps, 201 miles.

Last year: Dominating with a race-high 79 laps, Corey Heim survived a late surge from Zane Smith earning him his second win of the season.

Last race: Corey Heim battled Rhodes and Hemric three wide on the final lap in double overtime to hang on for the win in Texas.

Next race: May 17, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

Online: http://www.nascar.com

FORMULA ONE

Last race: Oscar Piastri took control away from Verstappen with over 40 laps to go in Miami, earning the championship leader his third-straight win and fourth of the season.

Next race: May 18, Imola, Italy.

Online: http://www.formula1.com

INDYCAR

Sonsio Grand Prix

Site: Indianapolis.

Schedule: Friday, practice, 9:30 a.m., practice, 1 p.m., qualifications, 4:30 p.m.; Saturday, warmup, 11:30 a.m., race, 4:30 p.m. (FOX).

Track: IMS Road Course.

Race distance: 85 laps, 207.32 miles.

Last year: Out of the pole position Alex Palou scored his first victory of the year after taking the lead mid-race and sending him to the top of the standings.

Last race: Palou captured his third win of the year in Birmingham, dominating nearly the entire race and leading 81 of 90 laps.

Next race: May 25, Indianapolis.

Online: http://www.indycar.com

NHRA DRAG RACING

Next race: May 18, Elwood, Illinois.

Online: http://www.nhra.com

WORLD OF OUTLAWS

Gettysburg Clash

Site: Abbottstown, Pennsylvania.

Track: Lincoln Speedway (Pa.).

HVAC Distributors Morgan Cup

Site: Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

Track: Williams Grove Speedway.

Next events: May 14 – 15, Ohsweken, Ontario, Conneaut, Ohio, Marion Center, Pennsylvania, Bedford, Pennsylvania, Cornwall, Ontario.

Online: http://worldofoutlaws.com

_____

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/apf-AutoRacing

Copyright
© 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

Tribune News Service

NASCAR Championship Weekend, which became a tradition at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November from 2002 to 2019, will return in 2026, NASCAR officially announced Tuesday morning.

NASCAR’s Cup, Xfinity and Camping World Truck series titles will be decided Nov. 6-8 of 2026 as Homestead joins a rotation of venues for the season climax that will include Phoenix, the current championship home.

“Fans have been asking about it for a long time,” said NASCAR Chief Venue & Racing Innovation Officer Ben Kennedy, who also said the drivers have been asking about returning the finale to Homestead.

“Homestead is a special place,” Homestead-Miami Speedway President Guillermo Santa Cruz said. “It’s a special track and it’s a special location for fans.”

And, the cherry on top for Miami-Dade County: even when Homestead’s not hosting championship weekend, it’s race weekend likely will remain late in the NASCAR playoffs.

Kennedy said while NASCAR doesn’t know how many or which tracks will be in the championship weekend rotation, the goal is to keep the dates for those tracks late in the season.

For fans who head for Homestead, that means races that matter in the most visible way for the season championships as compared to races in March, when NASCAR came this year. Attendance at this year’s race reached projected numbers, Santa Cruz said, but fell “a little shy” of October 2024.

READ MORE: It’s a NASCAR Weekend in Homestead. Yes, they know it’s only March

As national as NASCAR has become during the last 40 years, it’s bedrock support remains the southeast region where it evolved from moonshine running. Florida’s a long state, but Homestead’s still a shorter drive than Phoenix if you’re revving up the car, truck or RV in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia or Alabama.

For the area, that means more fans bringing in money and more media shooting visuals of sunny South Florida that can act as mini-commercials to a national audience starting to go from windbreakers to coats.

This part was important enough that the county commission backed a proposal by commission Vice Chair Kionne McGhee, who represents the area that includes Homestead, to talk about providing services and available tourism tax money for NASCAR if it brought the 2026 Championship Weekend back to Homestead.

(Asked about subsidies from Miami-Dade County, Kennedy said it was nothing NASCAR wanted to speak about at the moment.)

“It’s the end of the [NASCAR] season and we know fans stick around to go to the keys or around South Florida,” Santa Cruz said. “They’re not in a hurry to go back to where they’re from. I know, for sure, some drivers have said, ‘We like to finish at Homestead then go fishing.’”

What’s Happening?

Due to his ongoing injury, Connor Zilisch will not be able to drive Spire Motorsport’s No. 07 Craftsman Truck Series entry at Kansas Speedway. However, in his place, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron will take over duties in the truck on Saturday night.

• Last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, HMS driver Kyle Larson filled in for the injured Zilisch in the Xfinity Series race. However, according to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports, Larson claimed he might have driven the No. 07 in Kansas. However, Monday’s entry list displayed Byron as the driver.
• Zilisch injured his lower back at Talladega when he spun on the backstretch and made hard contact with the inside wall. At the time, Zilisch was second in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year standings in JR Motorsports’ No. 88.
• The No. 07 is one of two “All-Star” trucks entered by Spire. Alongside the No. 7, the No. 07 had a long list of top names behind the wheel in 2025, such as Byron, Larson, and Michael McDowell.
• Byron, an eight-time winner in the Craftsman Truck Series, has already made his one planned start in the No. 07 for Spire. The two-time Daytona 500 Champion started 13th and finished 14th at Martinsville on Mar. 28.

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