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HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA – MARCH 13: General view during the NASCAR Racing Experience at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 13, 2025 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Jason Koerner\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
NASCAR\u2019s championship<\/a> weekend returns to Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2026. It ends a six-year stretch where the finale ran elsewhere and restores a spot that many in the garage felt still belonged in South Florida.<\/p>\n For\u00a0Track President\u00a0Guillermo Santa Cruz<\/a>, the move is more than just a schedule shift. It ties back to what he hoped to deliver when he took on the job in 2024 and what fans had been asking for. He grew up in the area and saw how much the championship meant to the market before the event left.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mindset from the get-go was to try to bring the championship back,\u201d Santa Cruz said<\/a>. \u201cNobody told me, \u2018You have to try to bring the championship back. If you do a good job, you\u2019re going to get the championship.\u2019 There were no strings attached. I quit my job at IMG, and I took on this challenge, and I wanted to bring the championship back. Nobody told me to say that.\u201d<\/p>\n Why Homestead-Miami Was Chosen Again<\/p>\n From 2002 through 2019<\/a>, Homestead-Miami closed out the season and built a strong identity around multi-groove racing and high-pressure moments. Its layout allowed wide, competitive action and created NASCAR championship weekends that stood out year after year.<\/p>\n When the finale shifted to Phoenix in 2020 after upgrades there, NASCAR planned for a possible rotation. Fans kept asking for Homestead\u2019s return, and internal surveys showed the same trend.<\/p>\n Santa Cruz believed Homestead could be successful whether it raced in March, the playoffs, or as the finale.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we can be a very successful track no matter when we race, because racing in March is challenging for some reasons,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, having a playoff race is better from a promotional and sporting perspective, and having a championship is the ultimate. No matter what, I think we would always thrive. So, it\u2019s a good equation, but the answer is that, well, we don\u2019t have to worry about it because we\u2019ve got the championship.\u201d<\/p>\n Identity for the Future<\/p>\n Santa Cruz wants the event to reflect the area he knows, not a version of South Florida built for tourists.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to be and offer the best version of South Florida that we possibly can,\u201d he said. \u201cThe way I see it, we have to represent the South Florida I know and grew up in. Meaning it\u2019s a multicultural community and has all these influences: it\u2019s the most diverse market in NASCAR, the most cosmopolitan city in the rotation. We have to reflect that, and be welcoming and fun.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that it has become central to how the track plans the weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a guiding principle for us. Don\u2019t try to be something that you\u2019re not. We\u2019re not South Beach. We\u2019re closer to the Keys chill, relaxed, fun, and come have a good time. We put on great racing, everybody knows that. Now, come enjoy the rest of the things that we\u2019re putting out there.\u201d<\/p>\n For him, the return of the NASCAR championship is both responsibility and celebration. \u201cLike I said, it\u2019s a big responsibility, but it\u2019s also planning a big party,\u201d Santa Cruz said.<\/p>\n He added that once the weekend begins, he hopes to take in the moment. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a party. It\u2019s going to be fun. It\u2019s the championship. Once that green flag drops on Friday night of the Truck Series<\/a> race, hopefully everything at that point will have gone well and I can sit back and enjoy the ride.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDogli Wilberforce<\/a> is a sports writer who covers NASCAR, Formula 1 and IndyCar Series for Heavy Sports. With bylines at Total Apex Sports and Last Word on Sports, Wilberforce has built a reputation for delivering timely, engaging coverage that blends sharp analysis with accessible storytelling. Wilberforce has covered everything from major football transfers to fight-night drama, bringing readers the insight and context behind the headlines. More about Dogli Wilberforce<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on NASCAR\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA – MARCH 13: General view during the NASCAR Racing Experience at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-293250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}