NASCAR has officially announced that the 2026 Cup Series finale will be held at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. A rotational system is expected to be implemented after that, with other venues also getting a chance to host the finale. But not the Daytona International Speedway.
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Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s executive vice president, said during the announcement that the finale would be staged only on short tracks and intermediates. The defending Cup Series champion, Joey Logano, has already said he is in favor of this approach.
Superspeedways are unpredictable venues that don’t always reward the best driver of the day. Luck plays a significant factor, and that’s the last thing fans and drivers alike want to decide who the champion is. Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott has also backed the omission of superspeedways.
“There are certainly some that don’t. You know, the speedways are off the table for sure. Atlanta would be off the table in my opinion,” said Elliott, when the press in Kansas asked him for his pick of tracks that should host the finale.
“I think, at the end of the day, they kind of have an open box on whatever they want to do,” he added.
Elliott believes that there is enough data to make an educated decision about which track will serve the purpose the best. Road courses have also been axed. These tracks aren’t what stock car racing has traditionally been about.
Fans have long wanted to see an undisputed champion crowned. And only a finale at a short or an intermediate track will provide the best setting to fulfill this desire.
Logano, meanwhile, presented valid reasons for being happy that the superspeedways are out of the picture.
What Logano said about a superspeedway hosting the finale
If there’s anyone who knows about being perceived as an undeserved champion, it is Logano. The driver came under huge fire at the end of last season despite winning the title.
He had been largely mediocre throughout the season and only won in the final minutes when it mattered the most. The tricks of the playoff format aided him greatly.
So, when he says that superspeedways aren’t suited to host the finale, there’s got to be some solid reasoning behind it.
“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,” said Logano.
It is almost a certainty that the rest of the field, even those who are the best at superspeedways, would agree with Logano and Elliott that the drafting-style tracks are too much of a gamble for deciding the champion.
