MIAMI (AP) — NASCAR asked its fans where they would prefer seeing championship weekend held, and the majority of those who responded picked Homestead-Miami Speedway.

And NASCAR listened.

The 2026 NASCAR season will end in South Florida, with stock car racing’s championship weekend returning to Homestead-Miami next year. It’ll be the first time since 2019 that the title-winners will be crowned there and will start a rotation where NASCAR will move its final weekend around various tracks.

How that’ll work in 2027 and beyond remains unclear. But in 2026, Homestead is the spot.

“I like that we move it around,” said reigning NASCAR champion Joey Logano, who won the crown last fall at Phoenix — this year’s title-deciding spot as well — and the first of his three titles at Homestead-Miami in 2018. “That was one of the things that I always thought would be a great idea if we were able to pull it off, right? The Super Bowl doesn’t stay in the same place every year. Why should our Super Bowl, our championship race, stay in same place every year?”

NASCAR made the announcement Tuesday, and it was not exactly a stunner. (“I’m sure everyone was surprised to see this coming,” Logano said, smiling.) 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.” Phoenix will be part of that rotation, somehow, but NASCAR isn’t ready to say which other tracks may be involved and when all that will be announced.

“We have a lot of confidence, when we go to Homestead-Miami Speedway, it’s going to deliver from a racing product perspective,” NASCAR executive vice president Ben Kennedy said. “It’s also going to create a good amount of unpredictability for many of our fans that come to that race or tune in on TV just going to a different championship venue and having it on the line. We’re excited to see all that.”

Part of NASCAR’s commitment to Homestead-Miami, Kennedy said, includes a capital investment to “make sure it is a championship-caliber facility when we show up next year.”

NASCAR routinely makes tweaks to schedules and now will tinker again with where seasons end, but one non-negotiable appears to be the start of the season: Daytona will remain the first points race for the foreseeable future, Kennedy said.

“We ran a survey a couple years ago, and it was over 95% of our fan base wants to see their first points race be the Daytona 500,” Kennedy said. “That was a statistic that was strong enough for us to say we’re not even going to explore that for now.”

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 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.

“If you’re asking drivers, it’s about the track, right? The environment obviously is really cool. It’s different being in Miami. That’s a neat thing,” Logano said. “But the drivers, what we care about is the racing, right? Can we move around the racetrack, can we do different things, are the tires falling off, is that fun. To us, yeah, that’s fun.”

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 after that decision, and then things moved to Phoenix starting in 2020.

Kennedy said racing in early November isn’t exactly possible at all of the tracks on the NASCAR schedule, meaning that the series would prefer a warm-weather climate for its finish — something that Phoenix and Homestead-Miami provide. And Homestead-Miami’s history isn’t lost on NASCAR, either.

“Homestead has put on some of the most phenomenal finishes, especially when we had the championship there,” Kennedy said. “But even since then, and we’ve crowned so many legends and Hall of Famers over the past 15 years when we did have the championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. So, competition is a part of it, variability, and I think diversity in where you’re crowning the champion was another consideration.”

Jayson Alexander, who made his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut last season at The Milwaukee Mile, is set to return for the May 17 Window World 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The 22-year-old racer will pilot the No. 02 Chevrolet Silverado for Young’s Motorsports with primary sponsorship from longtime partner Constant Contact.

“I would not be in this position without the support of our amazing partner Constant Contact, who are back on board as our primary partner for our current 2025 campaign,” Alexander explained.

According to a press release, Alexander will compete in three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events this season with Constant Contact as the primary sponsor.

In Alexander’s debut race a season ago, he drove for the now-defunct Floridian Motorsports. This time around, he’ll be driving for an organization that has two victories over a 14-year stretch in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ranks.

“I am super excited to be joining such a storied organization in Young’s Motorsports,” Alexander said in a press release. “I cannot thank Tyler Young and the entire Young’s family for giving me the opportunity to drive for them.”

Alexander finished 36th in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut a season ago, he’ll look to better that by quite a bit this time around.

The North Carolina native has two top 10 finishes in three ARCA Menards Series East starts and a best finish of 13th in three ARCA Menards Series starts.

NASCAR’s championship weekend is coming back to South Florida next year. In a statement this week, NASCAR announced its three series races will take place in November 2026, at the Homestead-Miami Speedway track.

It’ll be the first time since 2019 the title winners are crowned at the South Florida speedway.

But, it isn’t a permanent return. NASCAR will be rotating championship weekend events across marquee venues and key markets in coming years.

READ MORE: A merging of cultures is happening in Miami, where F1’s circuit has become a beach vacation

This is a News In Brief report. Visit WLRN News for in-depth reporting from South Florida and Florida news.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Unleashes Fury on NASCAR for Controversial Rule Favoring Texas Trouble-Maker

In the high-octane world of NASCAR, clashes are inevitable, but when a rule becomes the center of the storm, all hell breaks loose. The echoes of past confrontations on the track reverberate through history, reminding us of the fiery passion that drives these athletes. From the infamous Daytona 500 showdown in 1979 to the recent chaos at Texas, where Kris Wright found himself embroiled in yet another controversy, NASCAR has seen it all.

The Texas Xfinity race should have been a showcase of skill and speed, with reigning champ Justin Allgaier leading the charge. However, fate had a different plan when Allgaier’s race was abruptly ended by a collision with the much slower Kris Wright. As fans and experts questioned Wright’s presence on the track, it was Dale Earnhardt Jr. who roared the loudest against NASCAR’s minimum speed policy.

Earnhardt Jr., a revered voice in the sport, didn’t mince his words, labeling the minimum speed rule as “ridiculous” and “egregiously lenient.” His frustration stemmed from the rule’s failure to maintain a competitive and safe environment on the track. The enforcement of the rule, known as the 100% rule, has left many scratching their heads, as cars several laps down can still meet the minimum speed requirements without being truly competitive.

The growing discontent among drivers towards NASCAR’s officiating standards is palpable, with issues ranging from unclear track boundaries to inconsistent penalty enforcement. The Damaged Vehicle Policy has also come under fire for causing confusion and unfair penalties, adding to the frustration bubbling within the racing community.

As NASCAR stands at a crossroads, the clamor for a balance between safety, fairness, and entertainment grows louder. Can the sport address the drivers’ concerns and quell the rising dissent, or are we headed towards a full-blown rebellion on the race track? The stakes are high, and the clock is ticking for NASCAR to restore order and harmony in the world of racing.

Homestead-Miami Speedway hosted NASCAR’s championship weekend every year from 2002 through 2019 before the finale shifted to Phoenix Raceway for 2020 onwards.

But calls from both drivers and fans to return to the popular intermediate track in Southern Florida have only grown louder in recent years, and now it’s finally happening. Homestead will again host the title-decider for the NASCAR Cup, Xfinity, and Truck Series in 2026.

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But perhaps equally important to this is the fact that NASCAR has officially announced plans to rotate championship weekend, moving it to various tracks every year. The goal, per a release, is “to ensure that the season’s exciting conclusion is shared amongst NASCAR’s marquee venues and key markets. Similar to other major sports championships, NASCAR will showcase its championship weekend on the new rotating model to provide greater exposure for its season’s finale in multiple markets.”

The future of Phoenix

In the Next Gen era, Team Penske have been undefeated for three consecutive seasons in the title-decider, winning the championship every year. Phoenix will maintain two Cup dates on the 2026 schedule with NASCAR confirming that it will have a race in the Round of 8. It’s unclear what track it will replace in the penultimate round of the playoffs.

“Homestead-Miami Speedway has a history of competitive, championship racing that will provide nostalgia for veteran drivers and fans and exhilaration for NASCAR’s new generation,” said Ben Kennedy, EVP, Chief Venue & Racing Innovation Officer. “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.”

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Guillermo Santa Cruz, who was appointed track president at Homestead-Miami Speedway late last year, said of the news: “As we celebrate our 30th season, it is fitting we will start our next decade returning to our championship roots at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The 2026 NASCAR Championship Weekend will offer the brightest young stars of the sport the opportunity to join the illustrious 18-year history of championship racing in South Florida alongside veteran fan-favorite drivers.”

Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Chris Graythen – Getty Images

The host track of NASCAR’s finale changed often in its early years. It wasn’t until the 1970s when the series began to see some sort of consistency with Ontario Speedway hosting the final race from 1974 to 1980, and then Riverside International Raceway until 1986. From 1987 through the year 2000, the season concluded at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

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2001 was an outlier year due to the cancelled New Hampshire race following the tragic events of 9/11, which moved that race to the very end of the season. But Homestead hosted it for the longest consecutive period (18 years) before the shift to Phoenix for the 2020s.

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The winners and losers from a wreck-filled NASCAR Cup race at Texas

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HAMPTON, Ga. – We’re still more than a month away from the Quaker State 400 taking over Atlanta Motor Speedway — but this morning, a top NASCAR driver spent a little time down in Hampton, visiting with local students and giving a new meaning to “speed reading.”

NASCAR driver Erik Jones visited Henry County’s Rocky Creek Elementary School, reading to students and helping re-stock the book vending machine installed there by his nonprofit, The Erik Jones Foundation. The driver’s foundation encompasses several missions — including promoting early cancer detection and care and animal welfare — but a chief cause for Jones is encouraging kids to read. And what better way to get kids interested in books than by filling an eye-popping vending machine with books and placing them in schools?

Jones teamed up with Speedway Children’s Charities Atlanta and Atlanta Motor Speedway back in 2023 to install the so-called “Bookworm” machine at Rocky Creek Elementary School. And no quarters or dimes are needed for this vending machine; students buy books using tokens, which they earn at school through hard work and positivity. 

Along with filling up the machine with new books, Jones was on-hand as Atlanta Motor Speedway announced the return of a reading initiative through the Henry County library system: kids (up to 18 years old) who meet their quarter milestone reading goal get two free race tickets to NASCAR weekend in June!

We love NASCAR here at Good Day Atlanta, and we love books, too — so, we didn’t hesitate to head down to Rocky Creek Elementary School to catch up with Erik Jones and students. Click the video player to check it out, and click here for more information on The Erik Jones Foundation.