Miami-Dade County has been working on an attractive financial bid to reclaim its position as the host for the NASCAR season finale from Phoenix Raceway for the 2026 season, according to the sport’s insider, Jordan Bianchi.
Bianchi spoke to Jeff Gluck on The Teardown podcast and likened the bid to the Super Bowl, where the winning venue pays a huge amount to host the final championship showdown.
While many are keen on having the Homestead-Miami Speedway host the final race, it remains to be seen whether Miami can reclaim its status, having hosted season finales in the past from 2002 to 2019.
Bianchi told Gluck that a key factor in deciding the venue for the championship showdown would heavily depend on the finances involved. He explained:
Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 23, 2025 in Homestead, Florida.
Chris Graythen/Getty Images
“NASCAR wants to be here, they would like to have their championship here. But this at the end of the day is also a business decision. The city by itself can’t write the check. Look at the Super Bowl right? Cities bid on the Super Bowl. The Arizona, Phoenix community is paying NASCAR, essentially to have the championship at Phoenix Raceway.
“The community, city of Homestead, and Miami-Dade County would like to put together a financial package to entice NASCAR to have the championship at Homestead. They’re working towards that.”
“There was maybe some hope that that would have come together recently, it hasn’t though as of now. There’s still an opportunity for it to happen but as of today the championship is not set for Homestead in 2026. We don’t know where the championship is going to be.”
When asked how much Phoenix was paying NASCAR to host the championship, Bianchi said:
“The Homestead Vice Mayor told me of what he had heard NASCAR was getting from the Phoenix Community. He put it at between 5 and 10 million. I will make sure I have not been able to verify that at all.”
He added:
“As it stands right now the situation is Miami-Dade County is going to have to kick in something to kind of make this work and right now they haven’t done.”
At the 2025 Homestead Cup Series race, Kyle Larson secured victory after passing his teammate Alex Bowman at the ending stage of the race, after Bowman made contact with the outside wall.
Straight Talk Wireless 400 Cup Series Race Results
- Kyle Larson
- Alex Bowman
- Bubba Wallace
- Chase Briscoe
- Denny Hamlin
- Chris Buescher
- AJ Allmendinger
- Tyler Reddick
- Ryan Preece
- Justin Haley
- Zane Smith
- William Byron
- Austin Dillon
- Joey Logano
- Erik Jones
- Noah Gragson
- Josh Berry
- Chase Elliott
- Austin Cindric
- Michael McDowell
- Kyle Busch
- Daniel Suarez
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Ty Gibbs
- Brad Keselowski
- Ty Dillon
- Cole Custer
- Christopher Bell
- Todd Gilliland
- Ross Chastain
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Riley Herbst
- Cody Ware
- JJ Yeley
- Ryan Blaney
- Carson Hocevar
