Richmond International Raceway

At Richmond International Raceway, race fans can't wait for the sun to go down. That's when the action starts at one of NASCAR's most popular short tracks.

A race under the lights at Richmond International Raceway is an experience unlike any other in NASCAR competition. The track that has undergone an abundance of changes since it opened in 1946 now produces some of the most spellbinding spectacles in stock car racing. Richmond International Raceway debuted as a half-mile dirt track, and Ted Horn won the first race held there in 1946. Though NASCAR's foremost series would not visit Richmond until 1953, Red Byron won the first NASCAR sanctioned race staged in Virginia at Richmond International Raceway on May 16, 1948. Lee Petty triumphed in the first Winston Cup event there, the Richmond 200, on April 19, 1953.

As it is presently configured, Richmond's .75-mile oval was reconstructed in 1988 on the site of the old dirt track, which had been paved in 1968. The four turns are banked at 14 degrees. The frontstretch is banked at 8 degrees, and the backstretch flattens out to 2 degrees exiting the second corner. Richmond International Raceway is located in Henrico County, just outside the Richmond city limits near the junction of I-95 and I-64.

In May of 2002, Ward Burton bettered Jeff Gordon's 1999 qualifying record of 126.499 with a lap at 127.388 during time trials for the Pontiac Excitement 400. Richard Petty is the runaway career winner at Richmond International Raceway with 13 victories to his credit. Bob Allison is a distant second with seven wins; and Rusty Wallace leads active drivers with six.

A three-quarter-mile speedway that has undergone several reconstructions and reconfigurations, Richmond lnternational Raceway is now one of the most modern tracks on the NASCAR circuit and hosts two night races each year.

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