Should the Championship Race Return to Homestead?

Another race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, another classic finish — perhaps the greatest playoff race to date, some would say.

Granted, there have been some great playoff races there. The first playoff finale of the Chase era was pretty great, with Kurt Busch losing a wheel and having to work his way back through the pack. Greg Biffle and Mark Martin door-to-door to the finish line the following year was one of the closest finishes in history at that point.

Add William Byron vs Elliott Sadler in Xfinity and Martin Truex Jr. vs Kyle Busch in Cup, both in 2017, for the former winner’s only Cup Series title, and you start to form a compelling argument. That said, Phoenix has had its share of great finishes in the other two series in the few short years the series has had its desert classic. This week, Vito Pugliese and Luken Glover share the strengths that both tracks bring to the table in 2-Headed Monster.

Standing in a Desert Alone

Taking an unpopular position is not always an easy task. In fact, it’s often the exact opposite of that. Following Jeff Gluck’s poll following last week’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway coming in at almost 94%, this is one of those times.

But someone has to stand up for the little guy. And in this case, the little guy is Phoenix Raceway. Much maligned for its less-than-impressive Cup Series contests the last few (15 …) years, it has many lamenting for the old days of Ford Championship Weekend in South Florida. While not every race at Homestead has been a last-corner nail-biter, every championship race at Phoenix hasn’t been a snoozefest either.

The Xfinity title races in 2021 and 2022 come to mind. Daniel Hemric nudging Austin Cindric aside for his first series crown — and thus far, his only race win — was not exactly something everyone thought might be a possibility. While late restarts to decide the championship in 2016 led to Carl Edwards having a “take this job and shove it” moment, the overtime battle for the Xfinity title didn’t seem to generate the same kind of pushback.

Noah Gragson, whose rivalry and war of words with Ty Gibbs wasn’t in a vacuum, as was stalking Gibbs for the final few laps in 2022 and working lapped traffic as the race came to a close.

The Truck Series has had its share of championship finales at Phoenix that have…