Richmond Raceway

Richmond Raceway opened in 1946 as a half-mile dirt oval and has hosted NASCAR Cup Series racing since 1953, making it one of the longest-running venues on the schedule. The track in Richmond, Virginia, was reconfigured to its current 0.75-mile D-shaped asphalt layout in 1988, sitting in the unique middle ground between a short track and an intermediate. Richmond's combination of tight corners and a relatively long frontstretch produces racing that combines short-track contact with intermediate-style speeds, and three-wide racing is genuinely possible through the corners. The track hosts two Cup races each year, typically a spring night race and a regular-season cutoff event in the fall, and Richmond's position on the calendar has produced more than one playoff-shaping finish over the years.