Drawing in Circles Trivia Quiz

Answer: Daytona International Speedway

The history of racing in Daytona Beach, Florida begins five miles to the east of the current superspeedway, and on the rolling sands of Daytona Beach itself. In its formative years in the 1950s, the NASCAR Grand National Series would hold races on a street course combining the beach and city streets. Series founder Bill France Sr obtained the land in 1957 to make his dream of a closed-course banked superspeedway a reality. The first running of the Daytona 500 was held in 1959, when Lee Petty beat Johnny Beauchamp in a photo-finish that took three days to decide (Beauchamp was initially declared the winner and awarded the trophy!).

The infield road course was constructed at the same time as the speedway, and the first running of the 24 Hours of Daytona was held in 1966. The event attracts manufacturers, teams, and drivers from around the globe in one of the signature endurance races in the world. Traditionally, NASCAR stayed exclusively to the oval when using the Daytona facilities for events, but made their first appearance on the road course setup in 2020.

Answer: Bristol Motor Speedway

The half-mile (0.533 miles to be exact) track in Bristol, Tennessee was first raced on in 1960. The track is completely wrapped in grandstand seating creating a stadium atmosphere unlike any other stop on the NASCAR circuit. 162,000 fans can fit inside the stadium for a race.

The unique construction of Bristol has allowed for a few novelty events, including a 2016 college football game between Virginia Tech and Tennessee that was played on the flat infield portion of the speedway. In 2000 and 2001 the track was temporarily converted to a dirt surface to hold winged sprint car races. That tradition was brought back in 2021 in order to host NASCAR events on a dirt surface.

The 2021 race on the clay-covered speedway was the first venture on to dirt for the top level Cup Series since 1970.

Answer: Charlotte Motor Speedway

In 1960, track promoter Bruton Smith wanted to create a Memorial Day weekend event at his new 1.5 mile speedway that would serve as stock car racing's equivalent to the Indianapolis 500. The World 600 was born, a 600-mile race that was both 100 miles longer than Indianapolis and any other stock car race in the United States. In modern years, some drivers have attempted to race 500 miles in Indianapolis in the afternoon and fly to Charlotte for the 600 miler in the evenings.

Charlotte is the home base for NASCAR and all of its teams. It hosted the annual All-Star Event from 1987 to 2019. In an attempt to maintain a race at the speedway but add road courses to the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, the facility undertook a massive renovation to its infield road course to bring it up to stock car racing standards. The first race on the 17-turn layout (deemed the roval as it blended road course and oval layouts) was held in 2018.

Answer: Pocono Raceway

The Pocono Raceway is found in Long Pond, Pennsylvania in the middle of the Pocono mountains. The track takes its design from three other famous racetracks in the northeast. The broad sweeping Turn 1 is modelled after the now-defunct Trenton Speedway in Trenton, NJ.

The 90 degree Turn 2 is reminiscent of the turns at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The flatter Turn 3 was made to resemble the Milwaukee Mile. Each turn has its own characteristics and differences in banking, which presents a challenge to crews and drivers preparing a car for the racetrack. Turn 2 is known as the "Tunnel Turn" as the infield access tunnel runs directly underneath the turn.

Answer: Watkins Glen International

NASCAR began the annual tradition of racing at Watkins Glen in 1986. The circuit they use is the "short course" layout at the racetrack - a 2.45 mile course with seven turns. The longer course, a 0.9 addition with four turns, is referred to as "the boot", as its shape resembles one.

The longer course is used for other racing series at the track, most notably the IMSA sports car series, and open wheel racing. Watkins Glen was the site of a "ride swap" in 2011, as NASCAR's Tony Stewart and Formula One's Lewis Hamilton jumped behind the wheel of each other's car for an exhibition intending of renewing interest in the sport and the track.

Answer: Martinsville Speedway

Along with being one of the oldest tracks still on the NASCAR calendar, Martinsville was one of the first paved tracks on the series schedule as the series began primarily racing on dirt tracks across the American southeast. Martinsville's short straightaways are asphalt but the two tight 180 degree turns are concrete. Along with the tight and full-contact racing on the track, Martinsville is also known for its hot dogs.

The Martinsville hot dog stand is a popular spot for teams and fans. Race winners at Martinsville have historically been awarded a grandfather clock.

The tradition dates back to 1964 when track president Clay Earles wanted to create a unique trophy that recognized the local manufacturing in the town.

Answer: Talladega Superspeedway

Talladega Superspeedway is located in Talladega, AL, to the west of Birmingham. While the chaos on the racetrack would be enough to attract plenty of spectators to the race, the "Talladega Boulevard" campgrounds in the infield are must-see party atmosphere that even includes concerts and driver sightings throughout a race weekend. Due to the heavily banked and wide turns, NASCAR runs a modified rules package at the track that limits engine horsepower and keeps the cars under 200 mph by their own. Restricted horsepower creates "pack racing" where drivers draft off of each other to get an advantage on the competition.

The fast speeds and tight quarters racing mean the slightest mistake could cause carnage. Some spectacular and horrifying crashes have occurred over time.

Answer: Road America

Road America has been hosting sports car, open wheel, and motorcycle racing since the 1950s in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. NASCAR's top series raced once at the track in 1956, but did not return for a second race until 2021. Originally club races were run on public roads in the surrounding towns and countryside before being banned nationwide in 1952. Turns 9 and 10 are known as the carousel for the long sweeping right hand turn that causes some drivers to feather the throttle.

The high speed Turn 11 is known as the kink, and it leads to the winding straightaway known as "Kettle Bottoms".

The heavy-braking Turn 12 is known as Canada Corner. The turn got its name in its first season of existence. Local boy scouts were tasked with cleaning up after race weekends and found dozens of Canadian beer bottles in the grandstands in that corner.

Answer: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the largest sports facility in the world, and can seat over 250,000 fans on race day. NASCAR first held races at the oval in 1994. The inaugural running of the Brickyard 400 in 1994 set NASCAR records at the time for highest paying, most attended, and cars entered.

By the 2010s, attendance and race excitement was waning, which prompted NASCAR to begin holding the race on the 2.44 mile infield road course that was also concurrently used by the IndyCar Series and previously by Formula One. Dale Jarrett celebrated his win in the 1996 Brickyard 400 by kissing the exposed bricks at the start-finish line with his team - a tradition continued on by many winners at the racetrack.

Answer: Darlington Raceway

Impressed by a trip to the 1948 Indianapolis 500, Harold Brasington took to building a southern equivalent to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the stock car scene in the southeastern United States. A condition of his land purchase from cotton farmer Sherman Ramsay was to preserve the existing minnow farm on the property.

Its location forced Brasington to condense one end of the racetrack into sharper and steeper turns. The damage caused by drivers bouncing off the wall while racing along the outside of the track on the steepest banking is referred to as a "Darlington stripe". Darlington is known as "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame for its difficulty.