Kansas Speedway – Kansas City NASCAR Oval & Road Course Guide

Originally published October 2016. Last updated September 2026: expanded Tier B circuit guide, facts table, table of contents, internal links, FAQ schema, and editorial refresh while preserving legacy narrative and images.

Kansas Speedway is a 1.5-mile (2.414 km) tri-oval in Kansas City, Kansas, and a staple of the NASCAR Cup Series Midwest calendar. International Speedway Corporation (ISC) opened the track in 2001 to give NASCAR a modern intermediate between the Carolinas and the Great Plains. Two Cup races, Xfinity and Truck support, and a infield road course make it more than a single-purpose oval.

The venue matters because it anchors development west of downtown Kansas City. Hollywood Casino at Turn 2, permanent lighting from 2011, and a 2012 repave with steeper banking turned a young speedway into a year-round resort. IndyCar, sports cars, and ARCA have all raced here, but NASCAR remains the economic engine.

Kansas sits in the same intermediate-oval cluster as Charlotte Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, and Daytona International Speedway — four venues that define how Americans experience 1.5-mile stock-car racing on television and in person.

Kansas Speedway facts

Lap record note: IndyCar, NASCAR, and sports-car categories use different tyres, downforce, and session types. Compare lap times only within the same series, configuration, and year.

Aerial view of Kansas Speedway and its surroundings

ISC chose Kansas City for a Midwest hub

In 1997 the International Speedway Corporation selected land near Kansas City for a new Midwest venue. Ground was broken in 1999, construction ran through 2000, and the speedway opened in early 2001. April brought the first test laps; competitive racing followed that summer under the Kansas Speedway name.

ISC already operated Daytona, Talladega, and several other national tracks. Kansas gave NASCAR a 1.5-mile template with wide sight lines and room for hospitality suites — the same intermediate formula that dominated Cup schedules in the 2000s.

Tri-oval banking and a six-turn road course

The main oval is a tri-oval with a 1.5-mile lap distance. Original turn banking was 15 degrees; the 2012 repave steepened the corners to roughly 17–20 degrees, with shallower banking on the straights. Grandstands seat about 63,000 fans, and on-site parking accommodates more than 35,000 vehicles with free general parking on major race weekends.

An asphalt infield road course measures about 3.81 km with six turns. Parts of the infield were paved in 2012 as the road course matured. Sports-car and club events use the layout while NASCAR remains on the oval.

Map: Kansas Speedway track layout

Two NASCAR Cup races anchor each season

Kansas traditionally hosts two NASCAR Cup Series races per year — a spring event long known as the Go Bowling 400 and a fall race associated with the Hollywood Casino sponsorship. Confirm the current year’s names and playoff status on NASCAR’s official schedule; branding changes, but the twin Cup weekends have been the track’s backbone since 2001.

Support categories include the NASCAR Xfinity Series (Kansas Lottery 300) and the Craftsman Truck Series (Toyota Tundra 250). ARCA remains a familiar support bill. The intermediate distance rewards aerodynamic stability and tyre management — traits that separate Kansas from short tracks such as Bristol Motor Speedway.

NASCAR race at Kansas Speedway

IndyCar and sports cars on the same property

IndyCar raced at Kansas in the 2000s; Scott Dixon holds the oval lap record at 24.761 seconds from the 2003 IRL event. Indy Lights, the United SportsCar Championship, and other national tours have appeared on various schedules.

On the road course, Scott Pruett set a reference lap of 1:09.745 during the 2013 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series weekend. Those times are not comparable to NASCAR qualifying without noting car category and layout.

Hollywood Casino and the Kansas City economy

The speedway’s opening accelerated commercial growth in western Wyandotte County. Estimates credited the track with thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in annual regional impact. The Hollywood Hotel and Casino opened in 2012 overlooking Turn 2, adding tourism traffic and sponsoring one of the Cup races.

Hollywood Casino overlooks Turn 2 at Kansas Speedway

Night racing, repave, and SAFER barriers

Permanent lights finished installation in 2011, allowing the spring Cup race to run at night while the fall event often stayed a day race. The 2012 repave refreshed grip and banking profiles; drivers praised the smoother surface.

Kansas also claims one of the longest SAFER barrier installations in NASCAR — about 1.28 miles of energy-absorbing wall around the racing surface.

Kansas Speedway by night

Getting there, camping, and accommodation

The speedway sits at the intersection of I-435 and I-70, about 25 km west of downtown Kansas City. Race weekends bring heavy traffic; Kansas City International Airport is roughly a 30-minute drive south.

Hotels cluster near the track and across the state line in Missouri. Campers may use designated infield and campground areas such as Blue Ox Reserved Infield, Blue Ox Motor Home Terrace, and Blue Ox Richmond Campground. Overnight camping in general parking lots and tent camping on the property are not permitted.

Camping in the Kansas Speedway’s infield

Related reading

• Charlotte Motor Speedway — NASCAR’s corporate heartland oval
• Bristol Motor Speedway — the half-mile theatre of speed
• Darlington Raceway — NASCAR’s toughest oval
• Daytona International Speedway — superspeedway and 24-hour temple

Address: 400 Speedway Boulevard, Kansas City, KS 66111, United States

Phone: +1 866 460 7223

Official website: kansasspeedway.com