One of the most historic tracks in racing is also one of the most popular among drivers, fans and the media. Year after year, Richmond International Raceway puts on the best short track show, and arguably the best racing anywhere. Why? Richmond's unique, ¾-mile layout produces tremendous side-by-side racing, yet drivers obtain high enough speeds to give it a superspeedway feel. That rare combination still allows for the beating and banging that fans love, with the drivers’ skill playing a major role in winning. In the words of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup icon Rusty Wallace, those characteristics help make racing at the track and the experience fans have while visiting, simply "perfect."

With 30 straight NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series sellouts and tremendous crowds each season for its NASCAR Busch Series and IRL IndyCar® Series races, Richmond International Raceway is a fixture on NASCAR’s and IRL’s schedules.

The arrival and popularity of the IRL IndyCar Series at Richmond International Raceway in 2001 has been an added bonus for race fans in the Mid-Atlantic Region. With speeds nearly 50 mph faster than their NASCAR counterparts, the IRL IndyCar Series plays host to increasing, enthusiastic crowds at Richmond.

Each season, Richmond International Raceway hosts two NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races, two NASCAR Busch Series races, an IRL IndyCar Series event, a USAC Silver Crown Series event and a USAC National Sprint Car Series race.

The 2006 season marks the 60th anniversary of the track’s first race. On October 12, 1946, Ted Horn drove an open-wheel car to victory over a ½-mile dirt track at Atlantic Rural Exposition Fairgrounds. NASCAR was founded in 1948, and five years later the sanctioning body staged a race in its Grand National Division in Richmond on April 19, 1953. In 1971, the racing division became known as the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and is now known as the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series.

Since that first race in Richmond in 1953, the track has undergone three name changes, five configuration changes and one surface change, from dirt to asphalt. Lights were also added to the facility in 1991.

Additionally, Richmond International Raceway is the only track to hold all of its major events “under the lights.”