Daytona International Speedway
P.O. Box 2801
Daytona Beach, FL 32120
Phone: (386) 254-2700
Official Site: Here

Daytona International Speedway is home to the "Superbowl" of NASCAR. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home to the biggest race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, "The Great American Race", the Daytona 500. Today the facility has a seating capacity of almost 168,000 spectators. It hosts races of motor vehicles of various kinds, including go-karts, motorcycles, sports cars, modified pickup trucks, and stock cars. The track features multiple layouts including a 2.5 miles high speed tri-oval, a 3.56 miles sports car course, and a 2.95 miles motorcycle course. The track's 180-acre infield includes the 29-acre Lake Lloyd, which has hosted powerboat racing. The facility is also used for an annual spring car show and swap meet, and a Thanksgiving street rod meet, some of the largest of their kind, and various 5,000 metres races around the track, as there have been three different layouts. In 2008, the city of Daytona Beach ran its first half marathon, utilizing the track as the start and finish line, around the Daytona 500 Experience, and Bethune-Cookman University.

Daytona's warm climate lends itself to hosting the unofficial start of the racing year with Speedweeks and the 24 Hours of Daytona race in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. Then the racing begins for the Sprint Cup Series with the Budweiser Shootout and the Gatorade Duel. The ARCA RE/MAX Series Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 is held the same day as the Budweiser Shootout, a few hours prior to the Shootout. The Camping World Truck Series begins with the NextEra Energy Resources 250. The Nationwide Series begins with the Camping World 300 and then it is back to the Sprint Cup in "The Great American Race", the Daytona 500. The Sprint Cup Series also features the Coke Zero 400 in July at Daytona. It also contains an attraction called the Daytona 500 Experience. The winning car from the Daytona 500 is placed inside the attraction building each year.

Broke Ground: 1956
Opened: 1959
Distance: 2.5 miles
Construction: $3 Million

Daytona's tri-oval measures 2.5 miles long with 31° banking in the turns and 18° banking at the start/finish line. The front straightaway is 3,800 feet (1,200 m) long and the back straightaway (or "superstretch") is 3,000 feet (910 m) long. The tri-oval shape, was revolutionary at the time as it greatly improved sight lines. The shape was also necessary to fit the track onto the land that Bill France Sr. could afford.

The Daytona 500, the most important race for NASCAR's premier series, is held annually at Daytona International Speedway. It is a 200-lap, 500 mile (805 km) stock car race. The list of Daytona 500 winners dates back to the inaugural race in 1959, and includes Richard Petty, A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, and Dale Earnhardt.
Map of the speedway

NASCAR, the premier stock car organization in the United States, holds some of its most important races on this track. These include competitions in its Camping World Truck Series (where pickup trucks are raced), Nationwide Series (the stock car junior league), and Sprint Cup Series.

Lights were installed in 1998 so that the Pepsi 400 could be held at night. Musco Lighting was responsible for this event; and was officially known as "The World's Largest Single Lighted Outdoor Sports Facility"[4] before being surpassed by Losail International Circuit. However, the race was delayed until October that year due to thick smoke from wildfires that summer. The Pepsi 400 is now called the Coke Zero 400 and has been held under lights ever since.

It is one of the two tracks on the Sprint Cup Series circuit that uses restrictor plates to slow the cars down due to the high speeds, the other being Talladega Superspeedway. However, there are some differences in the racing at the two tracks, as Daytona is narrower and more handling-oriented than Talladega, which allows the huge packs to break up somewhat on long runs, which makes "the Big One" that plate tracks are famous for less frequent and usually on a start or restart, as opposed to Talladega, where such huge wrecks occurs in almost every race in almost any situation.

Over the years, the track asphalt has worn. During Sprint Cup testing in January 2008 and during the Budweiser Shootout in 2009, drivers complained about the grip of the track and the cracks and bumps on the surface. Having not been repaved since 1978, Daytona International Speedway is expected to be repaved by 2013.

The road course was built in 1962 to host a three hour sports car race called the Daytona Continental. Eventually the race was extended to a 24-hour endurance race known as the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. While the more famous 24 Hours of Le Mans is held near the summer solstice, Daytona's endurace race is held in winter (meaning that more of the race is run at night). The track's lighting system is limited to 20% of its maximum output for the race to keep cars dependent on their headlights.[5]

In 2005, a second infield road course configuration was constructed, primarily for motorcycles. Due to fears of tire wear on the banked oval sections, oval turns 1 and 2 were bypassed.[6] The course is also used for IndyCar testing. Source