KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY - SPARTA KY
is a 1 1/2 mile tri-oval track in Sparta KY that opened in 2000. When Jerry Carroll had first talked about racing, he meant horse racing not NASCAR. "I went to my first race at the Daytona Speedway in Florida and got hooked." Carroll said. "I knew I had to get involved." Carroll had a marketing group research if the location picked would be a good spot for the track, and it was decided to proceed. In July 1998, groundbreaking ceremonies were held. On June 16, 2000, the speedway opened with a Slim Jim All Pro Series event. One day later, the speedway held its first major series, the Craftsman Truck Series, which was won by Greg Biffle. In August of the same year, Buddy Lazier won the inaugural IndyCar Series race. One year after the speedway opened, it held its first Busch Series event, with Kevin Harvick emerging as the winner. During
May 2008, the speedway announced that Speedway Motorsports Inc. bought the speedway from Jerry Carroll. Bruton Smith invested $50 million in the speedway, and planned to move a NASCAR Cup Series event to the track by 2009. The speedway continued playing host to Camping World Truck Series, Nationwide Series, IndyCar, and Firestone Indy Lights Series events through 2010. The inaugural Quaker State 400 was held on July 9, 2011. However, the race was overshadowed by numerous logistical problems. A massive traffic jam on Interstate 71 resulted in as many as 20,000 people being unable to get to the race. The traffic situation was so severe that at least one driver (Denny Hamlin) nearly missed the pre-race drivers' meeting. Many fans still en route by the halfway point of the race were asked to turn back in order to make it
easier on those leaving the race. Kyle Busch would win the race. Speedway Motorsports admitted that it had not anticipated the sheer number of fans attending the event and had not made any significant upgrades to the infrastructure in and around the facility. Speedway officials apologized for the chaos and allowed those who didn't get in to redeem their ticketsat Speedway Motorsports' other tracks for the rest of the season. In late 2011, the speedway purchased a 170-acre farm adjacent to its original property which was converted to parking. The purchase was a portion of more than 300 acres of land the speedway converted to parking. In December 2015 it was announced that in 2016 the speedway would be repaved and partially reconfigured.
turns 1 and 2 were changed, with the width of the track narrowed from 72 to 56 feet to give cars coming out of the pits a wider apron, and the banking increased from 14 to 17 degrees. Turns 3 and 4 remained 14 degrees. In the 2019 Quaker State 400, Kurt Busch became the first and currently only Chevrolet driver to win at Kentucky. On September 29, 2020, it was reported that Kentucky Speedway would not be on the 2021 schedule of any of NASCAR's three national touring series. Kentucky's race date was moved to another track. The track only hosted ten Cup races. As mentioned before Kyle Busch won the first race, then Brad Keselowski won in 2012, 2014, and 2016. Matt Kenseth would win in 2013, and Busch got his second win in 2015. Martin Truex
was the only back-to-back winner in 2017 and 2018. Kurt Busch won in 2019 and Cole Custer won the final race (to date). It is not known if the Cup Series will return to Kentucky. NASCAR seems to have invested in too many tracks built almost alike. At that time, there was many 1 1/2 mile ovals that were similar; and the move is to go to smaller tracks currently.
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