Kansas Speedway is a

tri-oval A tri-oval is a shape which derives its name from the two other shapes it most resembles, a triangle and an oval. Rather than meeting at sharp, definable angles as the sides of a triangle do, in a tri-oval these angles are instead rounded into s ...

race track in the

Village West Village West is a $1.2 billion retail, dining and entertainment development that opened in 2002 in Kansas City, Kansas. It is located at the intersection of Interstates 70 and 435 ( from Downtown KCK). Village West is the most popular tourist dest ...

area near Kansas City,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. It was built in 2001 and it currently hosts two annual

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race weekends. The

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also held races at the venue until 2011. The speedway is owned and operated by NASCAR.

History

International Speedway Corporation began exploring the idea of building a racing facility in the midwest in 1996. Attention was turned towards the Kansas City area in 1997. Officials considered both the Missouri and Kansas side of the city but eventually settled with the Kansas side because of better funding. Architecture firm HNTB, which also designed

Chicagoland Speedway Chicagoland Speedway is a tri-oval Oval track racing, speedway in Joliet, Illinois, southwest of Chicago. The speedway opened in 2001 and actively hosted NASCAR racing including the NASCAR Cup Series until 2019. Until 2010, the speedway has als ...

, provided civil engineering and site development, landscape design, and race track design. Design firm DLR Group provided architecture and engineering of all buildings on site, and grandstand design. Firm

Turner Construction Turner Construction is an American construction company with presence in 20 countries. It is a subsidiary of the German company Hochtief. It is the largest domestic contractor in the United States as of 2020, with a revenue of $14.41 billion in ...

was selected to provide construction management. The land to be acquired required eminent domain proceedings by county officials, but the Kansas Supreme Court approved the government's taking. Construction began on the , speedway in May 1999, and in July, preferred tickets went on sale. The demand at the ticket sales prompted ISC officials to expand the planned 32 by an additional 36, expanding capacity from 75,000 to 82,000. Speedway officials were hopeful to have the track completed sometime in 2000, and possibly host a race, but construction was delayed by weather and further complicated by lawsuits from nearby land owners. In May 2000, both

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and

announced events to be held at the speedway for the 2001 season. Track paving began in September 2000, and construction of the speedway was completed in early 2001. The building of the speedway has had a significant impact on the nearby area, even before construction was finished. New commercial developments sprung up around the speedway, including a movie theater complex, an outdoor retail mall, and hotels. A 2008 survey by The Washington Economics Group revealed that Kansas Speedway brings $243 million to the state of Kansas each year. It also provides over 5000 jobs, with 4000 jobs coming directly from track operations. Additional seats have been added since initial construction. In 2003, 1,600 seats were added, and in 2005, 1,500 seats plus a concession and restroom building were added. Both expansions were headed by the track's original contractors, HNTB and Turner Construction. In 2011 Kansas Speedway and Richard Petty Driving Experience announced an exclusive agreement where visitors have the opportunity to experience the speedway from a unique point-of-view behind the wheel of a race car. The speedway constructed the $380-million Penn National Gaming Hollywood Hotel and Casino at the track. The hotel/

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live enterta ...

overlooks turn two and opened to the public on February 12, 2012. The state-of-the-art casino features a gaming floor capacity for 2,300 slot machines, 61 table games and 25 poker tables. It also features of other amenities including restaurants, clubs and nightlife attractions. The addition of the casino is estimated to bring nearly 440,000 tourists per year and create over 1,000 full-time positions; elevating the state to a first-class, year-round tourist destination. On February 17, 2010, the president of Kansas Speedway announced that Penn National Gaming will sponsor the fall NASCAR Cup race for the next ten years in the Hollywood Casino 400. Lights were installed from mid-2010 to early 2011, this comes along with the addition of a second NASCAR weekend beginning with the 2011 season. All the NASCAR races at the track are scheduled to be run during the day, with the lights being available in case of a rain delay. The first night race at the track was an ARCA race on October 7, 2011. On October 11, 2013, it was announced that Darlington Speedway's lone NASCAR event and Kansas's spring race will swap dates for 2014, with Kansas becoming a night race. The fall race at the track will remain a day event. In July 2011, the speedway announced they would reconfigure the speedway following the 2012 STP 400. Some of the changes included adding a road course in the infield, repaving the oval, and adding variable banking. On August 28–29 the track's reconfiguration of the oval took the checkered flag as the NASCAR Cup Series held a Goodyear Tire test for the upcoming October 21 Hollywood Casino 400. As a result of the project, the banking in the turns was increased from a uniform 15 degrees to a progressively 17–20 degrees, the grass on the inside of the backstretch was paved over for safety reasons, and due to the drought in Kansas, new grass on the front stretch was rolled using sod trucks. In 2013, 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 ...

announced they would come to the track for the 2013 season. On January 28, 2019, it was revealed on ISC's 2018 annual report that the speedway's track seating was reduced from 64,000 to 48,000.

Track length of paved oval

The track length is disputed by the two major series that run at Kansas Speedway. The NASCAR timing and scoring use a length of . The IRL timing and scoring used a track length of .

Lap Records

The official race lap records at Kansas Speedway are listed as:

Races

Current races

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. ...

** AdventHealth 400 ** Hollywood Casino 400 *

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 ...

** Kansas Lottery 300 * NASCAR Camping World Truck Series ** WISE Power 200 * ARCA Menards Series ** Kansas ARCA 150

Former races

* United SportsCar Championship **Grand Prix of Kansas (2013–2014) *

** RoadRunner Turbo Indy 300 (2001–2010) *

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 ...

Kansas Lottery 100 Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the we ...

(2002–2004, 2008–2009) *

Winston West **

Kansas 100 Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

(2001–2002) *

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Dayton Indy Lights Series **

(2001) * USAC Silver Crown Series ** KansasSpeedway.com 100

Track records

NASCAR Cup Series winners

Notes

* Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, and Joey Logano are all tied for most wins at the track with three wins each. *2007 : Race shortened due to rain. *2011 (fall), 2015 (fall), 2019 (both): Race extended due to a NASCAR Overtime finish. 2019 (fall) took two attempts. *2020 (spring): Race postponed from May 31 to July 23 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

Non-racing events

Since 2016, the speedway has hosted the American Royal BBQ competition.

References

External links

Kansas Speedway Official Site
*

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NASCAR.com

nbsp;– Local area information, track specs, mapping, news and more.
Richard Petty Driving Experience at Kansas Speedway
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