Daytona International Speedway will not be among the tracks considered for NASCAR’s Championship Weekend, a senior executive said Tuesday.
So, no, the season won’t start and end at Daytona for those who suggest it.
But what tracks could be considered for the season finale?
NASCAR announced Tuesday that Homestead-Miami Speedway, a 1.5-mile track, will host the season finale for Cup, Xfinity and the Craftsman Truck Series on Nov. 6-8, 2026. Homestead hosted Championship Weekend from 2002-19.
NASCAR will begin rotating sites for the championship race in 2026.
Phoenix, which has hosted the title races since 2020, will be among the tracks that will rotate to host the season finale.
Ben Kennedy, NASCAR executive vice president, chief venue & racing Innovation officer, said not to expect Daytona International Speedway to be among the tracks in the rotation for the Championship Weekend. He said the focus is on short tracks and intermediate tracks where NASCAR will crown its champions.
“Never say never, but I think we’ve unanimously agreed that (the title race) needs to look and feel like what we would expect traditional NASCAR racing to look and feel like,” Kennedy said. “So short tracks, intermediate tracks, mile tracks are all on the board. Superspeedways, I think, we all feel right now we wouldn’t consider that as a championship venue, not that Daytona isn’t a championship-caliber venue.
“… We want to make sure that when we go to Homestead-Miami or Phoenix or wherever it might be in the future, that there is a lot of strategy and that a lot of our championship drivers are also contending for the victory at the end of that race.”
From Jimmie Johnson’s record-tying seventh Cup title to Chase Elliott becoming the youngest Xfinity champion, Homestead has witnessed much through the years.
Kennedy also noted that road courses fall into a similar category as superspeedways in not being a candidate to host a championship event.
That would eliminate the following tracks from consideration: Daytona, Talladega (superspeedway), Atlanta (Superspeedway-style racing), Circuit of the Americas (road course), Sonoma (road course), Watkins Glen (road course), Charlotte Roval (road course) and Mexico City (road course). This is the third and final year of the current contract for the Chicago Street Race and no extension has been announced.
NASCAR will look at other factors in selecting its host for the championship weekend.
“As you think about a championship race, ideally a warm weather kind of climate location,” Kennedy said. “You can’t race everywhere in the world, especially in early November, so there’s a handful of venues and properties that we tend to gravitate towards.”
Other tracks likely eliminated because of weather or some other factor would be Michigan, New Hampshire, Pocono, Dover, Indianapolis, Iowa, Richmond and World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis.
Darlington likely would not be considered because the Southern 500 is traditionally held on Labor Day weekend. NASCAR knows the wrath of fans with taking that race off that weekend and won’t repeat that.
Nashville Superspeedway, a 1.33-mile concrete track, could tap into the city’s excitement but the track is about 30 miles from the city and also could use additional facilities.
A look at the winners and losers from Sunday’s Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Martinsville would be intriguing but weather could be an issue and the limited number of suites at the historic track, along with not being in a major city, would be factors.
Bristol has the facility to host a championship race but the weather in early November could be a question.
If the NASCAR season could end in mid-October, then that could give stronger consideration to Bristol — and others. But how to end the season early will be difficult in coming years, especially if the NFL adds an 18th regular-season game and moves the Super Bowl back a week into when the Daytona 500 typically is. That would affect the rest of the series schedule. NASCAR already tried mid-week races and TV viewership was not strong enough to continue that.
Among tracks, along with Phoenix and Homestead, that could be considered to host the season finale would be:
— Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile track that has hosted a playoff race since 2018 when it started having two Cup dates.
— Texas Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile track that hosted playoff races from 2005-23.
— Kansas Speedway, a 1.5-mile track that has hosted playoff races since 2004 but weather could keep it from hosting the title race unless the end of the season is moved up.
— Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile track that hosted playoff races on the oval from 2004-17 before the playoff race was moved to the track’s Roval. Any finale there would be on the oval.
