Scary images started emerging on March 19 of grass fires spreading in Miami-Dade County, Fla., which just so happens to be where Homestead-Miami Speedway is located.
It’s also where NASCAR is racing this upcoming weekend.
Social media became abuzz with people worrying about whether the fires could reach the track or not, especially after images were posted showing the fires clearly visible from the 1.5-mile facility. I don’t know if this figure is accurate, but some said the fires were as close as just 3 miles away from the Homestead track.
I have a video as well, shot yesterday by a friend @jeff_gluck @bobpockrass #Nascar pic.twitter.com/zIQFUa1nKI
— John Haywood (@JHay97) March 20, 2025
The city of Homestead has been giving frequent updates on the situation, and as recently as 11:30 a.m. ET on March 20, the city maintained that, “The NASCAR Cup Series events at the Homestead-Miami Speedway are set to continue as scheduled.”
Frontstretch reached out to Homestead-Miami Speedway, which also confirmed that the weekend’s activities will not be impacted by the fires.
“Over the past few days, Homestead-Miami Speedway has worked closely with the Florida Forest Service, U.S. Forest Service, local fire departments and local officials to monitor the brush fire situation in the surrounding areas,” an HMS representative said. “At this time, there are no changes to the schedule or activities planned for this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. We will continue to monitor the situation and if conditions change, will provide updates as needed.
“While the brush fire is in the vicinity of the track, thanks to the efforts of responding fire personnel, the brush fire does not currently pose a threat to HMS or any other structures in the area.”
So that’s good news.
The city’s release also said the fires are 20% contained, which is certainly better than not being contained at all. But still, that number feels rather low. Eighty percent of a fire spreading uncontrollably sounds pretty dangerous. The emergency teams certainly have their work cut out for them.
More important than any racing that might happen this weekend is the people who actually live in the area. I don’t know the full impact of the fires, but I deeply sympathize with anyone who may have been harmed or faced personal damages from these fires. And I certainly hope the fires don’t get any worse than they currently are.
There’s certainly a sect of people calling for NASCAR to cancel or reschedule this weekend’s races. I’m not going to push for that. The city knows more about the situation than anyone who isn’t actually there living in it, so I have to trust its judgment for now.
So for the time being, it seems the fires won’t affect the on-track product at all. However, they have already impacted the NASCAR weekend in a roundabout way.
As noted in the post above from FOX Sports’ Jamie Little, the fires have led to a highway being shut down and have forced some going to the race to switch hotels. For those going to the track this weekend, I’d suggest trying to find out ahead of time which roads are closed. And you probably want to allow yourself a little more time for the drive in case you are rerouted. I could see road closures potentially making traffic worse at certain entrances.
Also, for those forced to swap hotels, there are two potential issues. One is that there may not be enough hotel rooms nearby for all of NASCAR nation to stay. Homestead is already in the middle of nowhere, so fans could be forced to stay in a hotel that’s quite the distance away from the track.
The other is hotel price gouging. I know if this situation popped up during a Bristol Motor Speedway race weekend; the greedy hotels around there would hike the prices up so much you’d have to take out a second mortgage on your house just to cover the costs.
(Hey, Bristol hotels, you don’t want me to take shots at you? Lower your prices.)
I really hope the hotels around Homestead don’t do the same. That’d be in such poor taste.
Another thing to note about the release from the city of Homestead is it had a health advisory included.
“Those with respiratory conditions should limit outdoor exposure,” the city said in the release.
Well, NASCAR races happen to be outdoor events. If you’ve got a respiratory condition and you have tickets for this weekend’s race, I’d suggest trying to sell them if that area is impacted by smoke. Three days outside with that smoke just miles away blowing in could do you some harm. No sporting event is worth putting yourself at risk.
HMS officials echoed the sentiment.
“Due to the smoke and changing wind patterns, there may be areas that are experiencing low air quality today, and individuals are advised to follow the recommendations of local officials if they are in those areas of concern,” they said.
Hopefully the fires subside and this weekend goes off without a hitch. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is in action at the track on Friday, March 21, so if NASCAR and Homestead are ultimately going to postpone, they’ll need to act fast.
But for now, everything at the racetrack is status quo, and it probably will stay that way.
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020.
Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.