Homestead–Miami Speedway is a

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...

track located in

Homestead, Florida Homestead is a city within Miami-Dade County in the U.S. state of Florida, between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. The population was 80,737 as of the 2020 census. Homestead is primarily a Miami s ...

. The track, which has several configurations, has promoted several series of racing, including

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and h ...

, the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

, the

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

series, and the Championship Cup Series. From 2002 to 2019, Homestead–Miami Speedway had hosted the final race of the season in all three of NASCAR's series as Ford Championship Weekend: the

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...

NASCAR Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to ...

, and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The races currently have the names

Dixie Vodka 400 The Dixie Vodka 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series race held at Homestead–Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida. The inaugural race was held in 1999 and was the final race in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2002 until 2019, as well as the final race of the ...

, Contender Boats 250, and Baptist Health 200, respectively.

History

The speedway was constructed, with the efforts of promoter Ralph Sanchez, as part of a plan to help Homestead rebound after the devastation caused by

Hurricane Andrew Hurricane Andrew was a very powerful and destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that struck the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana in August 1992. It is the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Florida in terms of structures damaged ...

. Groundbreaking began August 24, 1993, exactly one year after the hurricane. It opened in November 1995 with a

Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to ...

race, the last race of that season. The Busch Series would continue to hold its season-ending races at Homestead; in 2002 NASCAR's Winston Cup Series and Craftsman Truck Series would also hold their season-ending races at Homestead as well. From 2002 to 2019, NASCAR marketed the season-ending Homestead races as Ford Championship Weekend. In the spring of 1996, the

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

series held its first race there. The track reflects the

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

district of nearby

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which s ...

with its liberal use of colors such as aqua, purple and silver. Though the track itself has been considered to be aesthetically pleasing from the outset, initially the racing at Homestead was not considered very good. The track opened as a four-turn, rectangular-oval, based on the

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Verizon 200, and and formerly the home of the United St ...

's layout, coincidental considering that circuit and Miami Beach were developed by

Carl G. Fisher Carl Graham Fisher (January 12, 1874 – July 15, 1939) was an American entrepreneur. He was an important figure in the automotive industry, in highway construction, and in real estate development. In his early life in Indiana, despite fam ...

. However, due to its shorter distance, the track was not able to maintain the racing characteristics of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Instead, the sharp, flat turns and aprons made passing difficult and lowered overall speed. The geometry also created unfavorably severe crash angles. In 1996, track management attempted to correct the problems by widening the aprons of the turns by as much as . The movie '' Super Speedway'' was shot at the speedway before the track was reconfigured to an oval. In the summer of 1997, an $8.2 million reconfiguration project changed the turns from a rectangle to a traditional, continuous turn oval. In 2003, the track was reconfigured once again. The turns were changed from mostly flat to steep variable banking. In 2005, lights were installed to allow night racing for the first time. The renovations were praised by fans, and the track has produced a number of close finishes, including

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

's last-lap battle between

Greg Biffle Gregory Jack Biffle (born December 23, 1969) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for NY Racing Team and full-time in the ...

and

Mark Martin Mark Anthony Martin (born January 9, 1959) is a retired American stock car racing driver. He has the second most wins all time in what is now the Xfinity Series with 49. He scored 40 Cup Series wins. He finished second in the NASCAR Cup Series st ...

. On March 26, 2006,

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsor (commercial), sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American American open-wheel car racing, open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United S ...

driver Paul Dana suffered fatal injuries in the warm-up session before the race when he was involved in a high-speed collision with Ed Carpenter at over . Other drivers to suffer fatal injuries at the speedway are John Nemechek in a Craftsman Truck race on March 16, 1997, and Jeff Clinton who died in a Grand Am sports car event at the track in March 2002. In 2009, Homestead became the home to a total of five season-ending racing series events, with the GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 finale for the IRL IndyCar Series as well as the Grand-Am

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

moving to October from their traditional early season slots. The Indy Car series would discontinue its Homestead race while the Rolex Series later changed its Homestead race to a date earlier in the season. Behind the main grandstand is the Homestead RC Raceway for radio controlled cars, it was used to host the 2011 IFMAR Worlds for 1:8 IC Track cars.

Track length of paved oval

CART measured for the inaugural race in 1996 a length of . This length was referenced to the old rectangular layout. In 1998 was the track length remeasured to This length was also used for timing and scoring until the last CART race in 2000. This length was referenced to the flat paperclip-layout. The NASCAR timing and scoring use a length of . This length was used by IRL between 2001 and 2003, too. Since 2004 the IRL timing and scoring use a remeasured track length of . This length referenced to the new banked layout. NASCAR still use the 1.5 miles for new banked layout.

Track configurations

All maps use dashed gray lines for the other courses. Solid gray lines represent other pit road options for the shown course. File:Homestead-Miami Speedway track map--Speedway.svg, Speedway File:Homestead-Miami Speedway track map--Main Road Course.svg, Original Road Course File:Homestead-Miami Speedway track map--Modified Road Course.svg, Modified Road Course

Lap Records

The official race lap records at Homestead-Miami Speedway are listed as:

Racing events

Current races

**''

'' (1999–present) *

**''

Contender Boats 300 Stock car racing events in the NASCAR Xfinity Series has been held at the Homestead–Miami Speedway since the track's inauguration in 1995. For much of its history, it was the final race of the second-tier series' season. The event is currently ...

'' (1995–present) * NASCAR Camping World Truck Series **'' Baptist Health 200'' (1996–2020, 2022)

Former races

AMA Superbike Championship AMA Superbike Championship is an American motorcycle racing series that has been run every year beginning in 1976. For most of its existence it has been considered the premier motorcycle road racing series in the United States. It is sanctioned b ...

(1996, 2012) *

Atlantic Championship The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...

**'' Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami'' (1996, 1997, 2000) *

**'' Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami'' (1996–2000) * Cooper Tires U.S. F2000 National Championship powered by Mazda **

Winterfest Winterfest is the name of several winter festivals held in various locations in North America. Cedar Fair parks WinterFest is a seasonal event held at Cedar Fair amusement parks, an event that enables the parks to remain open during the months of ...

(2011) *

FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

**''Homestead 3 Hour'' (1998–1999) *

Florida Winter Series The Florida Winter Series was a single-seater racing category organised by the Ferrari Driver Academy. The series was launched on October 18, 2013 and held its inaugural and only season in 2014. The series The series held all its races in the sta ...

(2014) *

Formula 4 United States Championship The Formula 4 United States Championship is an auto racing series that is held under FIA Formula 4 regulations. The championship is sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing, the professional racing division of the Sports Car Club of America, in conjunct ...

(2016–2017, 2020) *

Formula Regional Americas Championship The Formula Regional Americas Championship powered by Honda (formerly the F3 Americas Championship powered by Honda) is an FIA Formula Regional racing series that competes in the United States, with plans in the future to race in Canada and ...

(2020) * Formula Renault North America (2003) * Grand Am

**'' Grand Prix of Miami'' (2000–2012) * IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge **'' Kia 200'' (2003–2004, 2007, 2009–2012) *

Indy Lights Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a progr ...

**'' Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka 100'' (1996–1999, 2003–2010) * NASCAR Camping World Truck Series **'' SuperTruck 25'' (1995) *

NASCAR Goody's Dash Series The ISCARS Dash Touring Series (previously known as the NASCAR Baby Grand National, Goody's Dash Series and IPOWER Dash Series among others) was a stock car racing series created by NASCAR in 1973, initially running solely at North Wilkesboro ...

(1995–1998) *

LATAM Challenge Series LATAM Challenge Series is an open-wheel racing series based in Latin America. LATAM is the replacement for Formula Renault 2000 de America. Venues In the 7 seasons, 20 venues were used, all road courses. The races were mostly held in Mexico un ...

(2014) *

NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southeast Series The NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southeast Series was a NASCAR-sanctioned amateur/semi-pro late model stock car racing series based in the Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southe ...

(1995–1998, 2000) * USAC Silver Crown Series (2006–2007) *

United States Road Racing Championship The United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC) was created by the Sports Car Club of America in 1962. It was the first SCCA series for professional racing drivers. SCCA Executive Director John Bishop helped to create the series to recover ra ...

**'' Sports Car Extravaganza'' (1998–1999) *

**''

Cafés do Brasil Indy 300 The Grand Prix of Miami refers to an intermittent series of American open wheel races held in South Florida dating back to 1926. AAA held one board track race in 1926, and then the facility was destroyed by a hurricane. The popular CART IndyCar W ...

'' (2001–2010) *

Trans-Am Series The Trans-Am Series is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types includi ...

(1996, 1998, 2014–2018)

Records

IndyCar

NASCAR

;NASCAR statistics * from minimum 4 starts. (As of 11/18/12)

Note

References

External links

Homestead–Miami Speedway – official website
* *High Resolution image fro
Google Maps
{{DEFAULTSORT:Homestead-Miami Speedway Champ Car circuits Sports venues completed in 1995 Homestead, Florida IndyCar Series tracks Motorsport venues in Florida NASCAR races at Homestead-Miami Speedway NASCAR tracks Sports venues in Miami 1995 establishments in Florida Road courses in the United States