Sprint Cup Series - Sprint Cup Series Tracks

Sprint Cup Series Tracks

Sprint Cup races are not conducted on identical tracks. The 2012 season has 21 oval tracks and 2 road courses on the schedule. Oval tracks vary in length from 0.526 miles (847 m) (Martinsville Speedway) to 2.66 miles (4.28 km) (Talladega Superspeedway). While some tracks are true ovals (Bristol Motor Speedway, Dover International Speedway), many are tri-ovals (Kentucky Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Daytona International Speedway). Other configurations are quad-oval (Charlotte Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway), D-oval (California Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Richmond International Raceway), oval with unequal ends (Darlington Raceway), triangular (Pocono Raceway), and almost-rectangular (Indianapolis Motor Speedway). Courses also differ in degree of banking on the curves, with differences in degree of banking and course length contributing to different top speeds on various courses. New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway are considered "flat" tracks as they have only 7 and 11 (respectively) degrees of banking in the turns. Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International are complex shaped road courses. While the series has a reputation for being oval centric, there has always been at least one road course on the schedule since its inception.

Race speeds vary widely based on the track. The fastest track is Talladega Superspeedway where the record race average speed is 188 mph (303 km/h) with the record qualifying lap of 212.809 mph (342.483 km/h) set by Bill Elliott in 1987. The slowest tracks are Sonoma Raceway, a road course, with a record race average speed of only 81 mph (130 km/h) and qualifying lap of 99 mph (159 km/h); and Martinsville Speedway, a very short, nearly flat "paper clip" shaped oval, with a record race average speed of 82 mph (132 km/h) and a qualifying lap of only 98 mph (156 km/h). The average speed is figured out based upon the winner's race time throughout the entire race, from the waving of the green flag to the waving of the checkered flag, including laps spent under caution, divided by the distance of the race. Time elapsed during red flag periods is not added into the calculation of the average speed.