For the first time since 2019, the NASCAR Cup Series is set to wrap up its season at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2026, as Phoenix Raceway has been replaced as the host of the title decider.
Homestead-Miami had hosted the season finale each year from 2002 to 2019, a span that included the first 16 seasons of the playoff era – and the first six seasons of the Championship 4 era – before Phoenix Raceway took over for six years starting in 2020.
Homestead-Miami was moved to the regular season in 2021, brought back to the playoffs, albeit in the round of 8, from 2022 to 2024, and moved back to the regular season in 2025.
Bottom line, playoff schedule changes are nothing new for the Cup Series, and while nobody actually knows what the playoffs will look like format-wise (if they even exist) for the 2026 season ahead of Monday's planned announcement, several changes have once again been made to the playoff calendar from 2025 to 2026, and they don't stop with Homestead-Miami replacing Phoenix.
4 changes made to NASCAR playoff schedule
With Homestead-Miami back as the host of the season finale (race No. 36), Phoenix Raceway was moved back to the round of 8 – though again, note that all playoff references, specifically with regards to the rounds, are based on the four-round, 10-race format that has been in place since 2014; there is no guarantee that that format will again be used in 2026, so bear with us on that.
Phoenix Raceway replaced Las Vegas Motor Speedway as the host of the round of 8 opener (race No. 33), while Talladega Superspeedway (race No. 34) and Martinsville Speedway (race No. 35) are still set to wrap up the semifinal round.
Las Vegas, however, remains on the playoff schedule, albeit in the round of 12 as the replacement for New Hampshire Motor Speedway. However, Las Vegas, which ironically took New Hampshire's longtime playoff date back in 2018, is not set to open up the round of 12 like New Hampshire did this past year.
Instead, Kansas Speedway is set to serve as the host of the round of 12 opener (race No. 30) after hosting the middle race of the quarterfinal round in 2025. Las Vegas is set to host the middle race (race No. 31), and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval is once again set to wrap up the round (race No. 32).
No changes have been made to the round of 16 schedule; Darlington Raceway is still scheduled to kick things off (race No. 27), followed by races at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (race No. 28) and Bristol Motor Speedway (race No. 29), meaning that New Hampshire is the only race on the 2025 playoff schedule that is not on the 2026 playoff schedule.
New Hampshire, which had not hosted a playoff race since 2017 prior to its 2025 postseason event, is instead set to host the penultimate race of the regular season (race No. 25). Daytona International Speedway is still set to wrap up the regular season (race No. 26).
All things considered, it boils down to this: six of the 10 playoff races from 2025 haven't changed. But three have moved around, and thanks to the long-awaited return of Homestead-Miami as the championship decider, one track from this past season is no longer in the playoffs.
Now it's just a matter of what the playoffs actually look like – again, if they still exist.
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series regular season is scheduled to begin on Sunday, February 15 with the 68th annual Daytona 500, which is set to be shown live on Fox from Daytona International Speedway starting at 2:30 p.m. ET.