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 two ...

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 sub ...

. 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 hi ...

, 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 of ...

, 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 The Championship Cup Series (CCS) is an American motorcycle racing sanctioning body. The American Sportbike Racing Association LLC (ASRA) is the parent company of CCS. Headquartered in New Freedom , PA , CCS has been in operation since 1984, fou ...

. 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 Since 2002, NASCAR's top three racing series have closed their season with a weekend designed to crown each series' champion, officially known as NASCAR Championship Weekend. From 2002 until 2019, the final race weekend of the season was run at ...

: the

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the 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. In 1971, ...

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 a ...

, and the

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

. 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 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 2002 until 2019 M ...

Contender Boats 250 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 ...

, and

Baptist Health 200 The Baptist Health 200 is an annual 200-mile (321.869 km) NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race held at the Homestead–Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida. The race began as a 250-mile race in 1996, but beginning with the 2002 season, the ...

, respectively.

History

The speedway was constructed, with the efforts of promoter

Ralph Sanchez Rafael Agustin Sánchez (1948 – April 1, 2013), better known as Ralph Sanchez, was a prominent Cuban-American autoracing figure, developer, and businessman. Early life Rafael Sanchez was born in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba in 1948. He spent his e ...

, as part of a plan to help

Homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept t ...

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 a ...

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

. 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 Unite ...

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 sep ...

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 State ...

'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 fa ...

. 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 ''Super Speedway'' is a 1997 documentary racing film chronicling one man's quest to get his new Champ Car Lola chassis up to speed, and another's goal of rebuilding an old 1964 roadster once driven by the legendary Mario Andretti. The film was ...

'' 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 was discovered in ...

'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 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 of ...

driver

Paul Dana Paul Dana (; April 15, 1975 – March 26, 2006) was an American racing driver in the IndyCar Series. Early life Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Dana graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Before becoming a race ...

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 John Frank Nemechek (March 12, 1970 – March 21, 1997) was an American racing driver who most notably competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Life and racing career The younger brother of four-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner Joe Neme ...

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 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 ...

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 car 'Radio-controlled cars'' (or RC cars for short) are miniature model cars, vans, buses, trucks or buggies that can be controlled from a distance using a specialized transmitter or remote. The term "RC" has been used to mean both "remote controll ...

s, 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'' (1995–present) *

**''

'' (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 ...

(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 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 ...

'' (1996, 1997, 2000) *

**''

'' (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 N ...

(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 (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 conjunction ...

(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 Mexic ...

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

**'' Grand Prix of Miami'' (2000–2012) *

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...

Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge The Michelin Pilot Challenge is a grand touring and touring car racing series run by the International Motor Sports Association. Originating from the Canadian Motorola Cup, the series was taken over by Grand-Am in 2001 to become the Grand-Am Cu ...

**'' 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 program ...

**'' Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka 100'' (1996–1999, 2003–2010) *

**'' SuperTruck 25'' (1995) * NASCAR Goody's Dash Series (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 unti ...

(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 series was formerly known as the Slim Jim All Pro Series; it was founded i ...

(1995–1998, 2000) *

USAC Silver Crown Series The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapol ...

(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'' (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 includ ...

(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