“A huge mistake by NASCAR”: Fans react over recent developments regarding Homestead Miami

The NASCAR fanbase has given their take after learning that the Homestead Miami Speedway's schedule might see some unwanted development. According to insider Jordan Bianchi, the 1.5-mile oval might not be on the playoff calendar from next season onwards.

The Miami-based track held its inaugural Cup race in 1999, and since then, it has hosted a NASCAR playoff race every season without fail. The previous year marked the Oval's 24th Cup Series debacle and was swept by Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell. However, the track might be shifted to the regular season schedule.

Inclement weather conditions have plagued the NASCAR races on several occasions. This includes the delayed season-opener Daytona 500, the shortened Coca-Cola 600, and the recent New Hampshire Motor Speedway run which was halted for over two hours, among several others.

Here's where the famed Homestead Miami Speedway entered the picture. Located in Florida, the high-banked oval witnesses comparatively hotter weather with less odds of rain disrupting the schedule. Thus, it could give a week-long buffer to the tracks having more chances of rain.

Jordan Bianchi broke the news to Jeff Gluck about the potential removal of the track from the playoffs.

"I've been told they need another warm weather date. Obviously Fontana as you know is off the schedule, you only have two West Coast races now, you do not have a lot of races at the beginning of the year where weather you know isn't going to be an issue or shouldn't be an issue," Bianchi said via Dirty Mo Media on X (0.45).

"You pad it up a little bit, you add Homestead at the beginning of the year gives you Las Vegas, Phoenix, Homestead and then you can kind of get into that Bristol Martinsville stretch a little bit. This kind of gives you another week to maybe help those tracks that are so often plagued by inclement weather," he added.

Even though a schedule change could reduce the unwanted race decisions made by the officials, the fans weren't pleased with the notion. One fan highlighted NASCAR would be making a "huge mistake" if they removed Homestead-Miami from the playoffs.

"To take Homestead out of the playoffs would be a huge mistake by Nascar. that track produces some great racing. Multi-Grooved," the fan wrote.

"@HomesteadMiami should be the race for the Championship, not outside of the playoffs!" another fan added.

"What did @HomesteadMiami do to deserve this treatment from #NASCAR the last few years?????? Produce good racing??" one fan commented.

Some fans, however, sided with removing the 1.5-mile oval from the playoff calendar.

"It makes sense they need more warm weather tracks in the month of March with California Speedway out of the picture," one fan wrote.

"I think good move put Homestead as 1 the opening of season races due poor weather on east coast that time year. Then after those 3 go Atlanta it should be warm enough then come to tenn n va and hope weather best then," another fan concurred.

"Having been to Martinsville spring race 4 times and having precipitation on race day all 4 years, including snow one year, I'm quite happy with Homestead backing it up another week later and getting closer to it's traditional mid to late April date," a fan commented.

Denny Hamlin outlines the "Phoenix pays NASCAR" aspect of Homestead Miami's removal from the playoffs

From 2002 until the 2019 season, the 1.5-mile oval hosted the final NASCAR race across all three series- the Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, and the Truck Series. However, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the motorsports industry suffered a blow and several competitions were held with zero spectators in the grandstands.

As a result, Homestead-Miami Speedway was replaced by Phoenix to host the Cup Series championship race in 2020. According to the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, the response from the 1-mile oval was quite promising, and thus, NASCAR didn't return to the Miami-based Speedway for the season's final race.

Hamlin highlighted how the 1.5-mile kept "scrounging up some change," while Phoenix "pays" which resulted in the switch-up.

"Phoenix pays NASCAR. The City or the State or somebody pays NASCAR for the final race to be there. We don't see any of that money but they do and apparently Homestead was scrounging up some change to throw their name in the hat to be back part of the championship weekend," Hamlin said via Dirty Mo Media on YouTube (53.21).

So far, no concrete steps have been taken and it will be interesting to see how the shift in the schedule pans out for the community.