NASCAR is set to steer right back into South Florida. For the first time in six years, one of NASCAR’s biggest weekends — the Championship Races and all three series — returns to the Homestead-Miami Speedway. “Homestead Miami Speedway was defined by championship. We held it here for 18 years. Now we’re going to have it 2026 for the 19th time, and next year, the 20th time that we host championship,” said Guillermo Santa Cruz, president of the Homestead-Miami Speedway. To build excitement for the event, NASCAR held a media day to get hands-on experience with the cars and the track. NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece is among the drivers in this year’s playoffs. He won the Daytona Coke Zero Sugar 400 in August. Preece said Homestead is a track he enjoys driving on. “We get excited about Homestead because there’s options when we come here. And options as a race car driver is being able to run the bottom, the middle, the top. Honestly, restarts are pretty chaotic. You know, when you see five, you know, five wide through a corner, it’s like you’re kind of amazed, right?” Santa Cruz said the track’s unique design is a major part of what makes it special for drivers. “It’s a very special place. It was built for a very special kind of racing, and the drivers love the track. So it all starts with the drivers. After that, it grows into everybody else, and everybody gets into it and jumps on board,” he said. The main cup race will cover 267 laps around the mile-and-a-half track for the 400-mile event. To get a better understanding of what drivers experience behind th wheel, 7Sports’ Mike Dipasquale took a drive-along in a Cup car with a professional driver. During the lap, the car reached speeds of over 175 miles per hour. The Cup Series will take to the track on Nov. 8 to race for the championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Organizers expect more than 40,000 racing fans to attend. ...read more read less