Where will Homestead-Miami Speedway wind up on the 2026 NASCAR schedule?
Mike Neff: As much as many want to see Homestead as Championship Weekend again, it isn’t going to move. While the racing is fantastic, the fan support is garbage. The amount of empty seats this year was appalling. At this point, it should be more worried about losing its date than moving back to the end of the season.
Luken Glover: According to the rumor mill, Homestead appears destined to return to a fall date next year. Whether that comes in the form of hosting Championship Weekend once again remains to be seen, but there are strong indicators that is the direction it’s heading. Ryan Blaney hinted at the possibility at a tire test at Charlotte Motor Speedway last week, and other drivers have clearly been hearing those conversations. Homestead’s date on the calendar was head-scratching when NASCAR revealed the 2025 schedule, but it could stand there for a reason. Should the track return as the host of the season finale, it does need some facility updates to return to that slot. Giving the track over a year to sort that out could be a sign of a highly desired return to November racing.
Christopher Hansen: Homestead will return to its traditional fall date on the 2026 calendar. There’s no question the racing at the 1.5-mile track has ramped up in intensity whether the track hosts the season finale or is one of the final races to determine the Championship 4 drivers. Homestead is a driver’s track that requires navigating the progressive banking while managing tire wear to run the fastest laps, even if it’s right up next to the outside wall. It’s racing like that that makes Homestead best suited for a fall race date.
Which is the better driver/crew chief combination in the NASCAR Cup Series: Christopher Bell/Adam Stevens or Kyle Larson/Cliff Daniels?
Jake Altmayer: Based on the results Kyle Larson and Cliff Daniels have put up over the past four years, it’s hard to argue that they aren’t the current best driver/crew chief pairing in the Cup Series. Together, the two have won 23 races in just 141 starts, meaning that they’ve found victory lane in nearly one out of every six races they’ve competed in, a very impressive feat in this era of parity. While Christopher Bell and Adam Stevens have yet to put up the massive win total of Larson and Daniels, they could have a huge year in 2025 based on their performance so far.
Neff: Statistically speaking, Larson/Daniels is slightly better. That could be due to the fact that Larson is the better driver. It seems like the No. 5 team usually starts the weekend better than the No. 20 team and continues to stay faster. Bell has started this season with more wins, but Larson has the better average finish. They are both in the top five duos in the sport right now, but Larson/Daniels have a slight edge.
Glover: That’s almost a toss-up, but the advantage has to go to Larson and Daniels, as no team has won more races in the Next Gen era than the No. 5 group. The duo has also snagged 24 wins in less than five years, as well as the 2021 Cup title. Daniels also has an outspoken way about motivating Larson in uphill battles, which has allowed him to expand to new horizons. That takes no credit away from Stevens, who might actually have the advantage of getting more out of his driver. Remember, Stevens won two titles with Kyle Busch as one of the best driver-crew chief pairings in the 2010s. Bell has also been in the Cup Series six years less than Larson, and Stevens has assisted in his development to become a perennial championship contender, as well as the current top dog at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Kaulig Racing is winless in the NASCAR Xfinity Series so far this season. Which of its three drivers is most likely to break through and turn things around?
Hansen: Two of Kaulig’s current full-time drivers are rookies in the Xfinity Series, but Christian Eckes will be the first to truly break out after a slow start. In the first six races, Eckes has recorded one top-five result and a pair of top 10s. Rookie teammate Daniel Dye has also recorded two top 10s in the opening six races, and he is one position higher in the standings than Eckes. However, Eckes has shown just a bit more consistent speed than Dye and will start to settle in before too long.
Altmayer: Eckes. While he hasn’t had a spectacular start to his rookie campaign in the Xfinity Series, he has managed to score two top 10s and four top-15 finishes in his six starts this year, which is respectable given the high level of competition in the series. Based on Eckes’ recent performance in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, he has proven to be a very consistent driver who knows how to maximize the day and take care of his equipment. If he can translate that over to the Xfinity Series, he’ll put together a solid rookie season with Kaulig.
Neff: Let’s be honest, Eckes has the strongest pedigree at Kaulig. The organization has been struggling a bit in the series, and it is across the board. When it does figure it out, Eckes will be the first to show out.
Who will be the first Truck regular not named Corey Heim to find victory lane this season?
Glover: Layne Riggs has an immediate opportunity to join Heim as Truck regulars to win. He has a pair of top fives at intermediate tracks the past two weeks, including coming up just short of the win at Homestead. Now the series heads to Martinsville Speedway, Riggs’ bread and butter. He finished 15th and sixth at the Paperclip last year, but we are witnessing a faster, more confident Riggs now. Keep an eye, too, on Ty Majeski and Grant Enfinger, savvy veterans who are also short-track aces in their own right and know how to get the job done.
Hansen: At this moment, Riggs and his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team have the best chance to win next. He is coming off of back-to-back top-five finishes in Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Homestead, with a chance to win at the latter before Larson’s incredible late-race rally to score the win. Riggs finished strong in the last 10 races of 2024, winning two races and putting together solid results. He’s had the speed and results, and a win is just around the corner for the No. 34.
Altmayer: While Corey Heim has been seemingly unstoppable as of late, the first Truck regular to join him in victory lane will be Majeski. He has had a solid start to the 2025 season, with two top fives and three top-10 finishes, and he ranks only behind Heim in the series standings. Given the speed Majeski has shown at short tracks throughout his career and the fact that four of the next six races on the schedule are at tracks of 1 mile or less in length, I fully expect to see him find victory lane at least once in the coming weeks.
Jake Altmayer joined the Frontstretch team in 2025, assisting as a news writer and contributing to other weekly columns and articles, such as Friday Faceoff and Xfinity Breakdown. A 2024 graduate of DePaul University, Altmayer has closely followed NASCAR's national series (Cup, Xfinity and Trucks) for nearly a decade and has attended more than a dozen races over the course of that time. In his free time, he enjoys cycling, spending time with his loved ones, and listening to his favorite band, the Beach Boys.
What is it that Mike Neff doesn’t do? Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He's also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Entering his fifth year with Frontstretch, Luken Glover is the author of The Underdog House, shedding light on the motivation and performance of NASCAR's dark horse teams as they strive to fight to the top. Additionally, Glover reports for the site at various events, and he contributes in the video editing department.
A 2023 graduate of the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is a middle school math and PE teacher, as well as a basketball coach. He is passionate about serving in his church, playing/coaching a wide variety of sports, and researching motorsports history.