Sunday marks the final race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for 2011. Each year Homestead is home to the final race of four different race series, the Sprint Cup, the Nationwide, the Camping World Truck and the Rolex Sports Car. This racetrack was built after Hurricane Andrew nearly devastated the area in order to help promote regrowth. Originally configured as a rectangular oval with four turns, the track has been configured twice, once in 1996 to widen the turn aprons and then in 2003 when it went from a flat course to one with steep variable banking.
This 53 year old sport began on the beaches of Florida and the first ever sanctioned NASCAR (National Association For Stock Car Auto Racing) race was held on the Daytona Beach course on February 15, 1948. The first asphalt speedway, Darlington, in South Carolina opened in 1950 and by 1959 the sport abandoned its beach trace and moved into what is now the Daytona International Speedway. This track, with its 30 degree banked turns and 2.5 mile tri oval is one of the largest tracks in the world. Other track sizes range from 0.533 miles to 2.45 miles and are configured in a wide variety of shapes and banks all of which contribute to making NASCAR one of the most unpredictable and exciting sports to watch.
Where is your favorite speedway?
