page_title: Oval track racing
section_title: Superspeedway
hierarchical_section_title: Oval track racing / Track classification (size) / Superspeedway
caption_attribution_description: English: Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Deutsch: Luftbild vom Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Polski: Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 日本語: インディアナポリス・モーター・スピードウェイ. コース遠景. Italiano: Vista aerea dell'Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Suomi: Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Magyar: Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Bahasa Indonesia: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, sirkuit yang digunakan Grand Prix Amerika Serikat. Foto Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Српски / srpski: Стаза Индијанаполис на којој се вози Велика награда САД-а. Hrvatski: Staza Indianapolis Motor Speedway, staza Velike nagrade SAD. Galego: O Indianapolis Motor Speedway, que dende o ano 2000 acolle o Gran Premio de Estados Unidos. Bosanski: Staza Indianapolis Motor Speedway, staza Velike nagrade SAD. Македонски: Патеката за моторни трки во Индијанаполис. Afrikaans: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, plek waar die US Grand Prix plaasvind.
context_page_description: Oval track racing is a form of closed-circuit motorsport that is contested on an oval-shaped race track. An oval track differs from a road course in that the layout resembles an oval with turns in only one direction, and the direction of traffic is almost universally counter-clockwise. Oval tracks are dedicated motorsport circuits, used predominantly in the United States. They often have banked turns and some, despite the name, are not precisely oval, and the shape of the track can vary.
  Major forms of oval track racing include stock car racing, open-wheel racing, sprint car racing, modified car racing, midget car racing and dirt track motorcycles.
  Oval track racing is the predominant form of auto racing in the United States. According to the 2013 National Speedway Directory, the total number of oval tracks, drag strips and road courses in the United States is 1,262, with 901 of those being oval tracks and 683 of those being dirt tracks. Among the most famous oval tracks in North America are the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
context_section_description: A superspeedway is at least 2.0 miles (3.2 km) in length.  There are six active superspeedways in the United States, the most famous being Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Daytona International Speedway, both 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long.  These tracks were built in 1909 and 1959 respectively.  Indianapolis Motor Speedway was built as a facility for the automotive industry to conduct research and development.  Daytona International Speedway was built as a replacement for the Daytona Beach Road Course, which combined the town's main street and its famous beach. Daytona hosts the Daytona 500, NASCAR's most prestigious race, while the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is home to the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400.
  The longest superspeedway is the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama.  Built in 1969, it is 2.66 miles (4.28 kilometers) long, and holds the current record for fastest speed in a stock car, lapping at an average of 216.309 mph (348.116 km/h) and reaching 228 mph (367 km/h) at the end of the backstretch. Daytona and Talladega are the pinnacle of stock car superspeedway racing, where restrictor plates are mandated by the sport's ruling body to reduce the high speeds accommodated by their steep banking since 1988.
  Other superspeedways used by NASCAR include the Michigan International Speedway (2.0 miles), Auto Club Speedway (known as California Speedway prior to February 2008) (2.0 miles), and Pocono Raceway (2.5 miles). Auto Club Speedway and Michigan are often considered intermediate tracks by NASCAR due to their similarities with 1.5-mile tracks, while Pocono and Indianapolis are sometimes classified separately, as they are the only long, flat tracks on the schedule. Auto Club Speedway, which joined Indianapolis, Michigan and Pocono as the one of four superspeedways used in the Verizon IndyCar Series, was the site of Gil de Ferran's qualifying lap of 241.428 mph (388.541 km/h) in the CART FedEx Championship Series in 2000, the fastest qualifying lap recorded at an official race meeting.  Due to the low number of spectators or safety concerns by the drivers, IndyCar will no longer drive super speedways outside of Indianapolis. Michigan Speedway was part of the series from 2002 to 2007, AutoClub Speedway from 2002 to 2005 and a second time from 2012 to 2015, Pocono was used by IndyCar between 2014 and 2019. In NASCAR they are still an essential part of the racing calendar.
  The closed and partially demolished Texas World Speedway, was the original "sister track" to Michigan. The two-mile oval, with its 22-degree banking, was the site of Mario Andretti's closed-course record of 214.158 mph (344.654 km/h) which stood for 12 years. No major professional series have raced at TWS since the 1990s.
  The 2.5 mile Ontario Motor Speedway was known as the "Indianapolis of the West", but was bought by the Chevron Land Company in 1980 and partitioned for development.
caption: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
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