NASCAR: Homestead race weekend marks the end of an era

For the first time since the 2001 season, Homestead-Miami Speedway is set to host a NASCAR race that is not a season finale.

Last March, NASCAR revealed the 2020 Cup Series schedule, and it featured numerous changes to race dates despite still featuring the same 36 events at the same 24 tracks. Most notably, Homestead-Miami Speedway was replaced by Phoenix Raceway as the site of the season finale.

Then in April, the 2020 Xfinity Series and Truck Series schedules were revealed, and they also featured several significant changes.

Like the Cup Series, both of these series saw their season finales move from the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Homestead, Florida to the four-turn, 1.022-mile (1.645-kilometer) oval in Avondale, Arizona.

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Just over four months after hosting the season finales for all three of these series last November, Homestead-Miami Speedway had been scheduled to host another NASCAR race weekend for all three series in mid-March.

Of course, that had to be put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, the track is scheduled to host a Truck Series race, two Xfinity Series races and a Cup Series race this weekend, with one Xfinity Series race and the Truck Series race scheduled to take place today and the other Xfinity Series race as well as the Cup Series race scheduled to take place tomorrow.

The first Xfinity Series race is a 167-lap, 250.5-mile race which is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET and the Truck Series race is a 134-lap, 201-mile race which is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.

The second Xfinity Series race is another 167-lap, 250.5-mile race. It is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET. Finally, the Cup Series race is a 267-lap, 400.5-mile race which is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Homestead-Miami Speedway was added to the Cup Series schedule in 1999, the Xfinity Series schedule in 1995 and the Truck Series schedule in 1996, and it has never hosted more than one race per series per year. That is set to change this year due to the Xfinity Series doubleheader, although it is slated to remain the same for the other two series.

But the 2020 season is set to become the first season in nearly two decades not to feature a season finale at the track. The Cup Series season finale was held there every year from 2002 to 2019, as was the Truck Series season finale. The Xfinity Series season finale was held there for even longer, as it was contested at the track for 25 consecutive years from 1995 to 2019.

Entering the 2020 season, the last track to host a Cup Series season finale other than Homestead-Miami Speedway was New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2001, and it only did so after its initial race date was pushed back from Sunday, September 16 to Friday, November 23 due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Atlanta Motor Speedway had hosted the season finales from 1987 through 2000 and was scheduled to do so on Sunday, November 18, 2001.

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The last track to host an Xfinity Series season finale other than Homestead-Miami Speedway was Rockingham Speedway in 1994, and the last track to host a Truck Series season finale other than Homestead-Miami Speedway was Auto Club Speedway in 2001.

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