Kansas Speedway NASCAR Races

Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas is a newer track, finished in 1999. It's located about 15 miles from downtown Kansas City, Mo., but located across the state line in Wyandotte County, Kansas. It is a 1.5 mile, D-shaped oval, intermediate race track that seats 81,687 NASCAR fanes. When construction began on the track in May 1999, drivers Rusty Wallace and Ken Schrader were there to celebrate.

It hosts races for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the NASCAR Busch Series, and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series; those respective races being the Banquet 400 in September, the Yellow Transportation 300 also in September, and the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 in April.

For one weekend each year, the Nextel Cup Series really is in Kansas. The first season at this track was in 2001.Jeff Gordon won that race and the next NASCAR Cup race at Kansas Motor Speedway. Tickets for that season went on sale on August. 17, 2000, and within a week, nearly 80 percent of the season tickets had been sold.

There's only one straight section of track at Kansas Speedway and it's on the back stretch. It is a 1.5-mile trioval that is 55 feet wide with only 15 degrees of banking in the turns. The back stretch has no banking, and the front stretch is basically flat.

About 87,000 tickets are available for races at Kansas Speedway and there’s room to add up to as many as 150,000 more NASCAR fans in the future. The original capacity was around 75,000 people.

There are plans are for a Hard Rock Hotel and Casino to be built overlooking turn two. The track has also appliedfor a second Sprint Cup race and plans to add a road course as well.