New Hampshire Motor Speedway

The flat, 1.058-mile track in New England was built by Bob Bahre in 1990 and hosted its first NASCAR race – a Nationwide Series race – in July. The track hosted its first NASCAR Cup race in 1993, with Rusty Wallace winning the inaugural event.

The track held one Cup race per year until 1997, when Bahre and Bruton Smith purchased North Wilkesboro Speedway, and Bahre moved one of North Wilkesboro’s races to New Hampshire.

In 2008, Smith and Speedway Motorsports Inc. purchased the track from Bahre for $340 million in cash.

The New Hampshire track was the site of two fatal accidents in 2000, with Adam Petty killed in a Busch Series race in April and Kenny Irwin losing his life in practice for the Cup race in July.

After concerns about safety at the track, drivers threatened to boycott the September race there, forcing NASCAR to implement restrictor plates for the race. The plates made passing difficult, with Jeff Burton leading all 300 laps.

When the Chase For The Sprint Cup was implemented in 2004, New Hampshire hosted the first of the 10 playoff races through 2010. It played host to the second Chase race beginning in 2011.