For an entire generation of NASCAR racing, Homestead-Miami Speedway has become known as a place where champions are created and legacies are established. From 2002 to 2019, Homestead was the site of NASCAR's season finale and championship weekend, and all of the great moments that came with it -- from Tony Stewart prevailing in a tiebreaker with Carl Edwards for the 2011 title to Jimmie Johnson hoisting all seven of his Cup championships to tie Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most all time.
Now, Homestead has settled into being a place where championship opportunities are granted. For the third year in a row, Homestead will serve as the middle race of the Round of 8 in the NASCAR playoffs and give a driver a chance to advance to the Championship 4 in Phoenix with a victory -- and the urgency to do so has been heightened, as one Championship 4 spot was already claimed in Las Vegas in improbable fashion.
Where to watch the NASCAR playoffs at Homestead
When: Sunday, Oct. 27
Where: Homestead-Miami Speedway -- Homestead, Florida
Time: 2:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Stream: fubo (try for free)
What to Watch
If last weekend at Las Vegas proved anything, it's that Joey Logano in an even-numbered year is inevitable: With his win on fuel mileage, Logano continued his streak of making the Championship 4 every other year since 2014, and also earned a Championship 4 spot by winning the opening race of the Round of 8 for the fourth consecutive time in that streak after previously doing so in 2018, 2020, and 2022. Logano has gone on to win the Cup championship twice, but more importantly has closed off one potential Championship 4 spot.
That puts extra pressure on some drivers who have had better statistical seasons than Logano -- who has mastered the art of winning at the right time -- to validate their year-long performance with a Championship 4 spot. Barring a spectacular collapse over the next two races, that shouldn't be an issue for Kyle Larson (most wins of any driver in Cup) and Christopher Bell (most top 10 finishes and tied for most top fives), but it's already a problem for regular season champion Tyler Reddick as well as Chase Elliott (best average finish in Cup) after they as well as defending champ Ryan Blaney came to grief in a crash off turn 4 at Las Vegas.
Thanks in large part to that accident, all four drivers below the cut line are more than 25 points behind William Byron for the final Championship 4 spot, and the odds and past precedent are stacked against them. In the history of the NASCAR playoffs, only one driver -- Martin Truex Jr. in 2021 -- has managed to make the Championship 4 on points after finishing the first race of the Round of 8 more than 20 points below the cut line.
At least in Reddick's case, the good news is that he has risen to the occasion in big spots at Homestead before. Reddick won the Xfinity Series championship two years in a row in 2018 and 2019 by winning the season finale at Homestead, and he has since followed that up with three top five finishes in four appearances there in Cup.
"These things happen. It's just a part of it," Reddick said while addressing his Las Vegas crash, which saw him get sent on his roof, this week on SiriusXM. "We can go back and look at it all we want, but it's the result we got. We're gonna look ahead to Homestead and get a car ready and go down there very, very motivated to run up front all day, score stage points, and hopefully win the race."
News of the Week
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. has reunited with former sponsor Budweiser to bring back the iconic No. 8 Budweiser "King of Beers" paint scheme in a limited series of late model races, starting with next month's South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway. Earnhardt began his career in the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet paint scheme that subsequently became an iconic part of NASCAR in the 2000s, but until recently the rights to the paint scheme and the stylized No. 8 had remained with Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Junior's stepmother Teresa.
- NASCAR announced a revision to its records this week, as they have officially granted Bobby Allison his 85th career Cup Series victory after recognizing him as the winner of the 1971 Myers Brothers Memorial 250 at Bowman Gray Stadium, which for 53 years did not have an official winner due to a controversy over Allison beating standard Grand National cars with a smaller and more fuel efficient Grand American car. Allison now moves into sole possession of fourth on NASCAR's all-time wins list behind only Jeff Gordon (93), David Pearson (105), and Richard Petty (200).
- Former Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz will continue his climb through the NASCAR ranks in 2025, as it was announced he will run full-time in the Craftsman Truck Series next season for Reaume Brothers Racing. The former child star turned race car driver has spent the past several seasons climbing NASCAR's ladder system competing full-time in ARCA in 2023 and finishing fourth in the championship standings.
Pick to Win
Christopher Bell (+600) -- If Bell had only one more lap last week at Las Vegas, we're all talking right now about how he's on an incredible streak of consistent top five finishes that could propel him all the way to his first Cup championship. Instead, Bell was left as the first person shaking his head that Logano somehow out-executed everyone and somehow won the first race of the Round of 8 to make the Championship 4 yet again.
The good news is, Bell was in this exact position last year when he lost to Kyle Larson by a carlength at Las Vegas only to come back and win Homestead. And he should have a shot to do that again, although there is a bit of past precedent he's going to have to contend with: No driver has won back-to-back races at Homestead in nearly two decades, with the last to do so being Greg Biffle who won there three years in a row from 2004 to 2006.