Short track racing is defined by NASCAR as racing on a track under 1 mile long. The category includes compact paved ovals such as Martinsville, Bristol, Richmond, and Iowa, as well as historic venues with distinct layouts and long-running local traditions. The statistics below cover NASCAR track measurements, venue history, 2025 Cup Series procedures, and active paved short-track winners as reported after Chase Elliott’s March 29, 2026 Martinsville victory.
Contents
- How NASCAR defines short tracks
- The main NASCAR short-track measurements
- Historic venues and their records
- Weekly racing and track schedules
- 2025 Cup Series short-track rules
- Stage lengths and race distances
- Active drivers with the most paved short-track wins
How NASCAR defines short tracks
NASCAR defines a short track as a track under 1 mile in length, according to the [NASCAR tracks page]. NASCAR currently actively holds races at 35 different tracks across the United States and Mexico, while the Cup Series races on 29 different tracks. The Charlotte Motor Speedway oval and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval count as two separate tracks in that track listing.
That definition creates a useful boundary for comparing venues. Iowa Speedway, at 0.875 miles, remains a short track even though it is substantially longer than Martinsville’s 0.526 miles. The four commonly cited current short-track measurements in the NASCAR data are:
| Track | Length | Notable measurement |
|---|---|---|
| Martinsville Speedway | 0.526 miles | Two 800-foot straightaways |
| Bristol Motor Speedway | 0.533 miles | 24 degrees of turn banking |
| Richmond Raceway | 0.75 miles | D-shaped oval |
| Iowa Speedway | 0.875 miles | Tri-oval |
Sources: [NASCAR tracks page], [Martinsville Speedway track profile], [Bristol Motor Speedway NASCAR 101], [Richmond Raceway track profile], and [Iowa Speedway careers page].
The main NASCAR short-track measurements
Martinsville Speedway was founded in 1947 and has hosted NASCAR Cup Series races every year since 1949. Its 0.526-mile layout has two 800-foot straightaways and 11 degrees of banking in the turns. The venue has more than 60,000 seats. Those figures describe a very compact circuit whose straightaways are specifically identified alongside its corner geometry in the [Martinsville Speedway track profile].
Bristol Motor Speedway measures 0.533 miles and has 24 degrees of banking through the turns. The track’s spectator capacity is 162,000, according to [Bristol Motor Speedway NASCAR 101]. Bristol was built in 1960, and the circuit was reconfigured in 1969 to its current 0.533-mile length. It has hosted two races per year since opening. A separate [Bristol Motor Speedway was the second-shortest NASCAR track] source reported that Bristol had hosted 105 Cup races by 2013.
Richmond Raceway is now a 0.75-mile D-shaped oval. The track has hosted NASCAR racing since 1953 and has hosted more than 100 NASCAR Cup Series races, according to the [Richmond Raceway track profile]. Iowa Speedway is a 0.875-mile tri-oval designed by Rusty Wallace. It joined the NASCAR family of tracks in 2013, hosts three major race weekends per year, and has hosted NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series races since 2009. NASCAR describes Iowa as the “Fastest Short Track on the Plant,” as recorded on the [Iowa Speedway careers page].
The measurements show why “short track” does not mean one uniform racing experience. Martinsville and Bristol are separated by only 0.007 miles in the listed lengths, while Richmond is 0.217 miles longer than Martinsville and Iowa is 0.349 miles longer. Their different shapes and banking figures are part of the statistical identity of each venue.
Historic venues and their records
Bowman Gray Stadium opened in 1949, although the stadium itself was built in 1937. The quarter-mile track has no banking. Its original use was collegiate football, and trotter horse racing was later added on a 0.250-mile dirt oval around the football field. Nathalie Gray donated $30,000 toward the original $100,000 construction cost. These details come from the [Bowman Gray Stadium track profile].
Bowman Gray hosted 29 NASCAR Cup Series races from 1958 to 1971. Rex White won six of those Cup races, including four straight victories in 1961 and 1962. Junior Johnson, Richard Petty, and Glen Wood are tied for second at the venue with four Cup wins each.
The ARCA Menards Series East visited Bowman Gray five times from 2011 to 2015. Matt DiBenedetto, Corey LaJoie, Ben Rhodes, and Ben Kennedy were among the East Series winners listed in the track profile; Kennedy won the 2013 race. The NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour raced at Bowman Gray from 2005 to 2016. Burt Myers was a 10-time track champion and earned three Southern Modified Tour victories there, winning both the first series race at the venue in 2005 and the final one in 2016.
North Wilkesboro Speedway opened on May 18, 1947, with Fonty Flock winning the first race. The first NASCAR Cup Series race there took place in 1949, and Bob Flock won it. The track was paved in 1957 and sat idle for more than 20 years after the end of 1996. Speedway Motorsports revived North Wilkesboro in 2022, and NASCAR officially returned in May 2023. Kyle Larson won the 2023 NASCAR All-Star Race there and also won a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race during the same weekend. These dates and results are reported in the [North Wilkesboro Speedway track profile].
Weekly racing and track schedules
Short-track statistics also include local operating calendars, not only national-series race counts. Hickory Motor Speedway opened in 1951 and is 0.363 miles long. Its Turns 1-2 have 14 degrees of banking, Turns 3-4 have 12 degrees, and both the frontstretch and backstretch have 8 degrees. Hickory hosts weekly racing from March through October, according to the [Hickory Motor Speedway track profile].
Florence Motor Speedway has hosted local short-track racing since 1982. It is located 15 miles south of Darlington Raceway, and Steve Zacharias has operated the facility since 2020. Those location, operating, and history figures are from the [Florence Motor Speedway track profile].
Dells Raceway Park became NASCAR’s newest Weekly Series track in 2024. It hosts racing from April to October each season. Its Alive for 5 Series is a five-race miniseries that includes a championship purse, according to the [Dells Raceway Park Weekly Series article]. The schedule facts illustrate how short-track racing is organized across a season: a weekly venue, a defined operating window, and a smaller championship series can all be measured separately from Cup Series totals.
2025 Cup Series short-track rules
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series official series gear chart lists different final-drive specifications for the short-track venues. Martinsville’s gear designation is AC-MAR, with a final drive of 6.04 using fourth gear. Bristol’s final drive is 5.25, Richmond’s is 5.02, and Iowa’s is 4.46 using fourth gear. These are equipment specifications from the [2025 NASCAR Cup Series official series gear chart], not estimates of speed or lap time.
Pit-road and caution-vehicle speeds also vary by venue. The [2025 NASCAR pit-road speed chart] lists the following figures:
| Venue | Pit-road speed | Caution-vehicle speed |
|---|---|---|
| Martinsville | 30 mph | 35 mph |
| Bristol | 30 mph | 35 mph |
| Richmond | 40 mph | 45 mph |
| North Wilkesboro | 30 mph | 35 mph |
| Clash at Bowman Gray | Not listed | 20 mph caution speed |
The chart’s Bowman Gray entry specifies a 20 mph caution-vehicle speed for the Clash at Bowman Gray; it does not provide a pit-road speed in the supplied figures. The same source gives Martinsville and Bristol identical listed speeds, while Richmond’s listed pit-road and caution-vehicle speeds are each 10 mph higher.
Stage lengths and race distances
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series stage-length chart gives Martinsville stages of 80, 180, and 400 laps. Bristol’s stages are 125, 250, and 500 laps. Richmond’s stages are 70, 230, and 400 laps, while Iowa’s are 70, 210, and 350 laps. These are the listed stage lengths for the named venues in the [2025 NASCAR Cup Series stage lengths].
North Wilkesboro is listed with a 200-lap final stage and no stage breaks. The Clash at Bowman Gray is listed with a break at lap 100 and a 200-lap race distance. Because the chart reports these formats in laps, they should not be converted into miles without additional race-layout and event-distance information.
The listed formats also show that track length alone does not determine the number of laps in a stage. Bristol, at 0.533 miles, has a 500-lap final stage in the chart, while Iowa, at 0.875 miles, has a 350-lap final stage. Martinsville and Richmond both have 400-lap final stages despite their different listed lengths of 0.526 and 0.75 miles.
Active drivers with the most paved short-track wins
After Chase Elliott’s March 29, 2026 Martinsville win, NASCAR reported 12 active Cup Series drivers with at least one paved short-track victory. The [Active drivers with most short-track wins] source lists these totals and venue breakdowns:
| Driver | Wins | Venue breakdown |
|---|---|---|
| Chase Elliott | 2 | 2 Martinsville |
| Christopher Bell | 2 | 1 Bristol, 1 Martinsville |
| Austin Dillon | 2 | 2 Richmond |
| Chris Buescher | 2 | 1 Bristol, 1 Richmond |
| Alex Bowman | 2 | 1 Martinsville, 1 Richmond |
| Ryan Blaney | 3 | 1 Iowa, 2 Martinsville |
| William Byron | 4 | 1 Iowa, 3 Martinsville |
| Joey Logano | 5 | 2 Bristol, 2 Richmond |
| Kyle Larson | 6 | 3 Bristol, 1 Martinsville, 2 Richmond |
| Brad Keselowski | 7 | 3 Bristol, 2 Martinsville, 2 Richmond |
| Denny Hamlin | 15 | 4 Bristol, 6 Martinsville, 5 Richmond |
| Kyle Busch | 16 | 8 Bristol, 2 Martinsville, 6 Richmond |
Kyle Busch leads the listed group with 16 active paved short-track wins, followed by Denny Hamlin with 15 and Brad Keselowski with 7. Kyle Larson has 6, Joey Logano has 5, William Byron has 4, and Ryan Blaney has 3. Five drivers in the report—Elliott, Bell, Dillon, Buescher, and Bowman—have two each.
The venue breakdowns make the totals more specific. Hamlin’s 15 wins include six at Martinsville, five at Richmond, and four at Bristol. Busch’s 16 include eight at Bristol, six at Richmond, and two at Martinsville. Among the listed drivers, Martinsville appears in the breakdown for Elliott, Bell, Bowman, Blaney, Byron, Larson, Keselowski, Hamlin, and Busch, while Iowa appears for Blaney and Byron.