NASCAR officials have announced a significant change to the format of the Championship Weekend, with plans to rotate the season-ending events among a select group of tracks beginning in 2026. The new model aims to showcase the championship races at various venues and markets, drawing parallels to other major league sports such as the Super Bowl, NBA or MLB All-Star Weekends, and the NCAA Final Four.
Leading the charge in this new era of NASCAR’s championship format is Homestead-Miami Speedway, which will return as the host of the title-race tripleheader in 2026. The 1.5-mile South Florida track previously hosted the season finales from 2002 to 2019 before the events moved to Phoenix Raceway from 2020 to the current season.
Ben Kennedy, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Venue & Racing Innovation Officer, explained the rationale behind the rotation model, stating, “If you’ve watched a lot of other sports properties that are moving the location around year after year, part of that is to build up pent-up demand. But part of it is that variability in a lot of the markets, and then a little bit of it is what we talked about as well is just having a little bit of differentiation as it relates to the competition and racing product as well. Having the playoffs be more unpredictable every year, the championship venue to be at a different location, I think gives you the ability to see different teams and drivers kind of rise to the occasion to be able to be crowned a champion.”
The decision to rotate the championship venue is subject to discussion by the NASCAR Playoff Committee, an assembly of industry figures tasked with shaping the postseason’s format. Kennedy outlined the key factors considered when determining suitable championship venues, including marketing and promotion, location, quality of the facility, the racing product, and feedback from the entire industry, including fans.
“I would say it’s four or five things,” Kennedy said. “It’s marketing and promotion, for sure, and it’s location. We want to be in a warm-weather market. Ideally, being in November, that first week of November, it kind of limits you to the amount of races that you can run. … I would say the quality of the facility. In Phoenix, we put over $100 million into the redevelopment of that track, and it was a big catalyst for bringing this championship to the West Coast. We’re going to be putting a good amount of capital into Homestead as well ahead of the race.”
While specific tracks beyond Homestead-Miami and Phoenix Raceway have not been announced, Kennedy confirmed that the venues under consideration come from a mixture of ownership groups, including NASCAR, Speedway Motorsports, and independents. He also noted that superspeedways and road courses are less likely to be part of the rotation, favoring traditional oval tracks that align with the roots of the sport.
Three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano, who has won titles at both Homestead-Miami and Phoenix, expressed his support for the rotation system, emphasizing the importance of bringing the championship to fans in different parts of the country. However, he agreed with Kennedy’s perspective on the type of tracks that should be considered.
“When you get down to the nitty-gritty of the playoffs, especially if it’s coming down to one race, like it is right now, you don’t want an oddball race, you want it to be the grassroots of what our sport is built off of, which is ovals, right?” Logano said. “Whether it’s a short track or mile-and-a-half, that’s what our roots really are. That is what built our sport. Throwing in a road course or any other oddball type racetrack, superspeedway, it’s too much by chance and it wouldn’t be ideal I don’t believe for our sport.”
As Homestead-Miami Speedway prepares to kick off the new rotation model in 2026, the track is set to undergo facility upgrades to enhance its amenities, infrastructure, and promotional plans. Guillermo Santa Cruz, appointed as the track’s president last July, expressed his enthusiasm for the opportunity to host the championship event and set a benchmark for other tracks to follow in future finales.
“First, it’s an honor to be chosen as the first one to be in that rotation,” Santa Cruz said. “I think that rotation is a really good model for us to move into. It’s good for the fans, it’s good for the drivers, and it’s great for everybody, and it’ll allow us to really set a lot of precedent and then work with NASCAR more broadly to see how the model is going to be executed. You know, what is it that’s going to move from one track to another? What are the things that can only be done in Miami, because Miami is a certain sort of market, and those things will remain here, but what are the things that the sort of traveling circus will take with it when it goes someplace else? So to be able to impact that from the get-go and be in those conversations from the very beginning and be the ones engaging in that respect, it’s wonderful because we’re starting out with a blank sheet of paper.”
The introduction of the rotation model for NASCAR’s Championship Weekend marks a significant shift in the sport’s approach to its season-ending events. As the series prepares to showcase its biggest races at various venues and markets, fans can look forward to a fresh and exciting format that aims to elevate the championship experience to new heights.
