Every race track has a unique origin story, even if NASCAR was not originally considered when track designers built the venue. Today, we look at every permanent NASCAR Cup Series venue not originally built for NASCAR. What brought NASCAR to these unique venues?
Phoenix Raceway was built in 1964 and was originally built to attract open-wheel racing westwards. The track hosted IndyCar by sanctioning USAC and CART from the 1960s through the 1980s. NASCAR was still a regional sport at that time, but in the late 1980s, NASCAR expanded.
As more NASCAR races began to be featured on national television, it was the perfect time to expand westward to the desert of Arizona. Phoenix has been a staple of the NASCAR calendar since 1988, adding a second race in 2005. In 2011, it was reconfigured to include progressive banking and a large asphalt apron drivers often use during the race. Since 2020, it’s been the host of NASCAR’s Championship weekend.
The 2005 U.S. Grand Prix seemingly forever scorched Formula One and the United States’ relationship, but Circuit of the Americas worked to change that. In 2012, COTA became the first race track purpose-built for Formula One in the United States. The U.S. Grand Prix has been an annual fall event ever since.
NASCAR never visited the venue during the 2010s, primarily due to its proximity to Texas Motor Speedway. However, in 2021, SMI reached a deal to lease the track for a weekend to host the NASCAR Cup Series. NASCAR has been there ever since, but it is one of only two tracks where the most prestigious annual event is not the NASCAR Cup Series race.
Sonoma Raceway was built in 1964, originally for sports cars. While the Winston West Series, a precursor to the ARCA Menards Series West, occasionally came to the venue, it was predominantly occupied by top sports car series and other road racing series. NASCAR was still a regional sport, and the most consistently visited track on the West Coast was Riverside, another road course in California.
In 1989, Riverside closed down, leaving NASCAR without a California race and down a road course. NASCAR looked north to Sonoma, and the Cup Series became a staple there. NASCAR has visited Sonoma every year since competing in the late spring or early summer.
Pocono Raceway was built in 1971, and former IndyCar driver Roger Ward designed it. With three turns patterned after popular IndyCar tracks and long straightaways to give it the same length at Indianapolis (2.5 miles), USAC saw fit to host a 500-mile race at the venue to make up the original IndyCar “Triple Crown” of 500-mile races. NASCAR came to the venue later in the decade, but IndyCar was still the country’s most popular form of motorsport at the time.
However, things began to shift in the 1980s. IndyCar and the track had a notably rocky relationship, and, as NASCAR grew, the stock car races began outdrawing IndyCars. IndyCar left the venue in 1989 for various reasons, including safety concerns, before returning from 2013 through 2019 and leaving again due to safety concerns. NASCAR has been a constant at Pocono through the turmoil surrounding IndyCar.
Indianapolis joins COTA as the only two NASCAR tracks where the most prestigious annual event is not the NASCAR Cup Series. For decades, Indianapolis hosted only one race a year, the Indianapolis 500, until NASCAR came in August of 1994. NASCAR was an instant hit, routinely bringing in 250,000 people, and high TV ratings caused some to wonder if NASCAR had overtaken IndyCar at Indianapolis.
However, the Brickyard 400 took a nosedive in the 2010s, and the Indy 500 firmly established itself as the premier event at the venue. While the novelty has worn off some, to the point where NASCAR moved the Indianapolis weekend to the infield road course from 2021 through 2023, the Brickyard 400 is still a prestigious event that every driver wants to win. The 2024 event, which drew 70,000 people, proves that.
In the 1950s, races were held on the streets of Watkins Glen, New York. A permanent road course was constructed in 1956 to move races off the streets. Watkins Glen International hosted the Formula One United States Grand Prix from 1961 through 1980 and the Six Hours of the Glen, one of the premier North American sports car races, from 1956 onwards.
NASCAR came here off and on throughout the years, but it came permanently in 1986 to give NASCAR a second road course on the calendar. The track has hosted NASCAR since, usually a late summer affair in August. However, the 2024 race will be during the NASCAR Playoffs, a first for the venue.
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