Kentucky Speedway

Located in Sparta, Ky., the 1.5-mile track opened in 2000 and played host to its first NASCAR race later that year – a NASCAR Truck Series event. It held its first NASCAR Nationwide Series race in 2001.

After unsuccessful attempts to land a NASCAR Sprint Cup race, track owner Jerry Carroll sued NASCAR and International Speedway Corp., its sister company, alleging violations of federal antitrust laws and seeking a Cup race at the track. The suit was dismissed in 2009 and Carroll and his investors sold a majority interest in the track to Bruton Smith and Speedway Motorsports Inc.

In 2010, SMI announced that it was moving one of its two Cup dates at Atlanta Motor Speedway to Kentucky in 2011 and began expanding the facility to seat 107,000 fans.

The track played host to its first Cup race on July 9, 2011, but encountered major traffic and parking problems, with several thousand fans missing the start of the race while stuck in traffic.

NASCAR and the Kentucky state government launched an investigation to look into the problems, and the speedway announced in August that it had purchased 143 acres of land across the street from the track as part of a $7.5 million infrastructure improvement plan to add more parking and improve traffic flow. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet pledged $3.6 million in improvements to supplement the track’s efforts.

Brad Keselowski won the inaugural Cup race at the track.