1. What is NASCAR doing with Homestead?
As the summer stretch of NASCAR commences, the ever-wild Silly Season once again stands at the forefront of the off-track discussion.
But closely behind that, pieces of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule are slowly moving into place. While a full schedule has yet to be released, plenty of schedule locks and rumors are floating around.
The heat on schedule talks was turned up on June 23 when The Athletic‘s Jordan Bianchi revealed some moves on The Teardown podcast concerning the playoffs for next season.
The Darlington Raceway-Atlanta Motor Speedway swap this season will be short-lived, as Atlanta’s website confirms that its second date will move to June 28 as a rare Saturday night show. In return, Darlington looks all but confirmed to return to the playoffs on its traditional Labor Day weekend, a playoff race that has become popular among fans since it was moved to the postseason in 2020.
However, the other four tracks involved are intriguing, and arguably none more than Homestead-Miami Speedway … in the wrong way. According to Bianchi, the Florida track’s lone date will move to March.
For the life of me, I do not know why NASCAR keeps moving Homestead around. A unique track with multiple lane options, the facility is attractive for a playoff race, produces great racing and has weather that is desirable for the late fall.
Assuming that its date moves to March, it would not be the first time that Homestead would host an early-season race. After losing its championship date in 2020, it was initially destined to host the sixth race of the season before being pushed back to June due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was then moved to the second race of the season in 2021 before returning to the playoffs in 2022 as a Round of 8 track.
As Bianchi mentioned, the motive appears to be one where NASCAR can have a warm-weather date in March in the absence of a race in Fontana, Calif. Yet once again, it feels like Homestead is being slighted of any traction on the schedule. And if New Hampshire Motor Speedway and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway are added to the playoffs, that would put three flat tracks in the 10-race postseason. Moving Homestead to March would not be a popular move, and it would leave a lot of questions surrounding its fixture on the calendar.
Unless … there is more beyond the surface.
Many within and outside the industry have called for a return to…
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