Kyle Larson is in favor of NASCAR’s decision to rotate the season-ending championship weekend. The sanctioning body announced this week that the 2026 Championship Weekend will move back from Phoenix Raceway to Homestead-Miami Speedway, which previously hosted the season finale from 2002 through 2019. However, there’s a twist to the relocation news.
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NASCAR officials plan on rotating the season finale every year. For example, Homestead hosts the 2026 Championship Weekend, while 2027 will be at another track.
Among tracks that are expected to be in the rotating schedule are Homestead, Phoenix, Texas, Charlotte and Las Vegas.
“Yeah, I think ultimately I’m just happy to hear that it is going to rotate, I guess,” Larson said. He went on to explain that all the drivers are competitive regardless of where they race but also why he would like the venue change for himself and what the real task would be.
Larson said, “Everybody’s good everywhere, so it doesn’t matter a whole lot. But yeah, my past history would say that I would be a lot better at Homestead than Phoenix, so I like that. But still, you have to get there (to the Championship Four), and that’s really challenging to do in our format.”
Larson was also wary of one other driver’s instincts at Homestead. He said, “I feel like (Ryan) Blaney’s quietly extremely good, as he is at Phoenix, at Homestead and Vegas, if he could ever get through practice, he’d probably be dominant there, too.”
Weather woes shrink NASCAR’s finale options
This weekend’s venue, Kansas Speedway, is one of Larson’s favorite tracks. In 20 starts there, Larson has two wins, eight top-fives and 11 top-10s. But he’s no slouch at Phoenix, either: one win, 10 top-fives and 14 top-10 finishes in 22 starts.
And while he’d love to see the NASCAR Championship Weekend be held on the 1.5-mile oval at Kansas, Larson is also realistic that weather adds a layer of unpredictability.
“I would love to see this place host a championship race,” he said. “But yeah, you don’t really know what to expect, I would think, in November. You might have beautiful weather, or it could be freezing or snowing or whatever. I think it probably needs to stay at tracks where you can count on the weather being favorable.”
Larson was clear when he pointed out, “Just with a big weekend like that, you wouldn’t want any delays.”
