After nearly two decades of closing out the NASCAR season under the Miami sun, the sport made a change in 2020, trading the palm trees of Homestead for the desert heat of Phoenix. Now that NASCAR is moving to a rotating championship format, the finale will return to Homestead-Miami next year. But before the torch officially passes, three-time Cup champion Joey Logano feels Phoenix has earned its stripes.
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After moving to Phoenix in 2020, the short track became the final proving ground for champions, crowning two Hendrick Motorsports drivers (Chase Elliott in 2020 and Kyle Larson in 2025), while the Next Gen era (beginning 2022) has leaned heavily in Team Penske’s favor.
Ahead of the 2024 finale on November 2, Penske’s Logano praised the host city’s efforts during a pre-race interview. “I think it’s been great,” Logano said. He recalled how accustomed the sport had become to finishing the season in Miami that moving the finale west felt strange at first.
When NASCAR made the switch, Logano admitted his doubts. “I don’t know if I’m gonna like this,” he confessed. “The first couple of years it felt weird being out here, but it honestly has felt like tradition now out here since we’ve done it for so long.”
Few drivers can speak from both sides of history, and Logano is one of them. He’s lifted the championship trophy at both venues; at Miami in 2018 and Phoenix in 2022 and 2024.
“As somebody that’s been fortunate enough to win championship in both places, it’s been awesome both ways. I promise, it’s been great… The place is gonna pack out no matter where it is. It’s the championship race, so as long as it has all of that clout behind it… but I will say the fans at the racetrack here have been great. The racetrack itself has done a good job of making it feel special. That’s important.”
For Logano, what separates Phoenix is the atmosphere. “It’s only a big deal if you make it a big deal,” he noted. “I feel like they’ve done a good job of making this race feel like it’s different than all of the other races because it is, and it should be.”
Next season, the focus will shift back to South Florida, where Homestead-Miami Speedway will mark its 31st year and reclaim its championship spotlight. Tony Stewart captured all three of his titles there, including his 2011 tiebreaker win over Carl Edwards.
Homestead also served as the stage for Jimmie Johnson’s record-tying seventh title, Kevin Harvick’s breakthrough championship, and the crowning moments for Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, and Logano himself.
In many ways, Homestead remains NASCAR’s cathedral of closure, a place where champions have been made and stories find their final punctuation mark, just as Phoenix has left its mark when even a desert felt like home to the Championship 4 drivers.
