NASCAR drivers on Homestead climax — ‘kind of nostalgic’ — and new Chase format

Interesting admin September 1, 2026 0 Comments

NASCAR drivers on Homestead climax — ‘kind of nostalgic’ — and new Chase format

NASCAR altered its championship-deciding format for the umpteeth time in 23 seasons. NASCAR even revived calling it the “Chase for the Cup.” But, NASCAR Championship Weekend returning to Homestead-Miami Speedway for not 2026 and 2027 isn’t so much a change to current Cup series drivers as going back to the way things ought to be.

To this generation, Homestead in November — Nov. 6-8 this year — feels as right as Daytona in February and Darlington on Labor Day Weekend to previous generations.

“For me, I always think of the championship race as Homestead because that’s what I grew up always knowing,” said 23-year-old Carson Hocevar, driver of the No. 77 Spectrum Chevrolet.

For Ryan Blaney, 33-year-old driver of Team Penske’s Mendards Mustang, Homestead reminds him of family and not just his wife growing up in Fort Lauderdale.

“Growing up as a kid, watching my dad (longtime Cup Series driver Dave Blaney) race, the Championship Weekend was always in Homestead,” Blaney said. “So, that was a childhood thing for me. I enjoyed going to Pheonix for the years we did for the championship race there, but Homestead to me is where it should be.”

In the last two years of Homestead’s 2002-2019 run as Championship Weekend host, Tyler Reddick won his NASCAR Xfinity (now, O’Reilly Auto Parts) Series titles.

“Talking to everybody on the team and those I know in the industry, it’s kind of a bit nostalgic, crazy as that may sound,” Reddick, 30, said. “For so long, it’s where the NASCAR season would end. Going to Phoenix and ending the season there was nice. The weather was cooperative. But, for a lot of those in the industry, something about Homestead all these years feels so familiar.”

The drivers spoke Monday with the Miami Herald via Zoom, part of a media sweep before the latest version of NASCAR’s Chase starts this weekend with the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington.

Instead of a final four of drivers coming to Homestead in contention for the title with the best finisher of the four getting the title, the current playoff format doesn’t eliminate any of the 16 Chase drivers. Elimination has been replaced by a 10-race miniseason with wins worth 55 points instead of 40. The driver with the most points after the Homestead race gets the title.

“It’s a proper way to crown a champion,” Blaney said. “You have to have more of a sample size in motorsports. I think that’s correct Other sports have plyaoffs and, series and things like that, but this is a different sport.”

Hocevar, who starts 12th with 2,020 points, said, “You don’t get eliminated. You’re always in the fight. Even if you have two bad weeks, you can always race your way back in the other eight.”

Points get re-seeded for the start of the Chase, so regular season points leader Denny Hamlin will start with 2,100 points. Second-place Blaney starts with 2,075. After starting the season with five wins in nine races, Reddick’s Secretariat-at-Belmont, Alex Palou-in-IndyCar pace slowed, and he’ll start the Chase with 2,065 points.

The new format does leave the Chase vulnerable to being a fait accompli by the time it gets to Homestead, as happened occasionally in the early Chase years.

To do that, however, a driver would have to get hot and dominate over a diverse group of mid-ovals (1.25-mile to 1.5 milers Darlington, St. Louis, Charlotte, Las Vegas), a short track (1-mile Phoenix), bump-and-run short tracks (half-milers Bristol, Martinsville) and a superspeedway (Talladega).

“That was brought up a little bit when the format came out — ‘What if it’s wrapped up before the season finale at Homestead?’” Blaney said. “Then, you have to show respect to that group. To lock it up in nine weeks, that’s a heck of an impressive run if it does happen. If I take myself out of the racing shoes and put myself as a fan, if that happens, I would want to watch that. Even though the champion is already figured out, you’re going to want to sit there and appreciate the 400-mile race you’re seeing: What got that group there? and the other battles going on, not just for the race win, but for the other points.”