Guide to NASCAR Race Tracks
Atlanta Motor Speedway has a capacity of 124,000 and is located in Georgia. The track is a 1.54 mile oval. The Auto Club Speedway, meanwhile, is a 2 mile oval in California with 92000 seats. There’s a racetrack in Mexico, too, with the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. It is a 2.518 mile road track. One of the more famous tracks is Bristol Motor Speedway, a half-mile oval in Bristol, Tennessee with a capacity of 160,000 spectators. Another well-known track is the Chicagoland Speedway, a 1.5 mile oval track just outside of Chicago. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is in Montreal and boasts the longest lap in the Series at 2.71 miles. Darlington Raceway enjoys a good reputation, with many fans traveling to South Carolina for its annual weekend race.
The most famous racetrack is certainly Daytona International Speedway, a 2.5 mile oval track in Daytona Beach, FL. It can hold more fans than almost anywhere else, with 168,000 seats. Dover International Speedway is an oval track coming in at one mile and usually sees close races. In Illinois, Gateway International Raceway has room for a crowd of 60,000 and a growing reputation. Just called “Homestead”, the Homestead-Miami Speedway is a large oval in Florida not too far from Daytona. The Indy 500 isn’t the only event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a legendary venue with a whopping 250,000 seats. The newly-built Infineon Raceway clocks in at just under 2 miles in California. Kansas NASCAR fans have Kansas Speedway, a 1.500-mile track with lots of seats.
NASCAR is big in KY, and Kentucky Speedway is an important track in the Series, while Las Vegas Motor Speedway can hold 142,000 screaming fans in Sin City. Lowe’s Motor Speedway always has a say in the final standings, with North Carolina fans rabid about their NASCAR. Mansfield Motorsports Park and Martinsville Speedway have both seen great races in the past few years, as has Memphis Motorsports Park in Tennessee. The two-mile Michigan International Speedway oval is a favorite for drivers and always draws huge crowds, as does the famous Milwaukee Mile. Tennessee’s third track, Nashville Superspeedway, doesn’t enjoy the illustrious reputation as its bretheren, but still sees some great races.
It’s no New Hampshire Motor Speedway, though, the famous track known simply as Loudon to many die-hard fans. They also flock to O’Reilly Raceway Park, an oval track slightly longer than a half-mile in Indiana. Phoenix International Raceway should need no introduction, having seen some amazing driving in the past by its capacity crowd of 76,800. Also very well-known are Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania and Richmond International Raceway in Virginia. Texas Motor Speedway always has big crowds filling its 159,585 chairs and its liberal infield, while Watkins Glen International hosts races in Watkins Glen, NY.
That leaves Talladega Superspeedway, a 2.6 mile oval in Alabama and the subject of a Will Ferrell movie, Talladega Nights.