Homestead-Miami Speedway (formerly Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex) is a race track in Homestead, Florida, USA, southwest of Miami. It formerly played host to the Ford Championship Weekend, hosting the final races of the year in the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and the Camping World Truck Series. These races were all sponsored by Ford, taking the names Ford EcoBoost 400, Ford EcoBoost 300, and Ford EcoBoost 200, respectively.
The speedway was constructed, with the efforts of promoter Ralph Sanchez, as part of a plan to help Homestead rebound after the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Andrew. Groundbreaking began August 24, 1993, less than a year after the hurricane. It opened in November 1995 with a NASCAR Busch Series race. In the spring of 1996, the CART series held its first race there.
Former Logo of Homestead-Miami speedway (1999-2021)
The facility is considered by some to be one of the most beautiful in the country. The track reflects the art deco district of downtown Miami with its liberal use of colors such as aqua, purple, and silver, among other colors.
However, the racing at Homestead was initially not considered very good. The track opened as a four-turn, rectangular-oval, based on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's layout. The sharp, flat turns and aprons made passing difficult and lowered overall speed. The geometry also created unfavorably severe crash angles. In 1996, track management attempted to correct the problems by widening the aprons of the turns by as much as 24 feet. In the summer of 1997, an $8.2 million reconfiguration project changed the turns from a quad-oval to a traditional, continuous turn oval.
In 2003, the track was reconfigured once again. The turns were changed from mostly flat to steep variable banking. Shortly afterward, lights were installed to allow night racing for the first time. The renovations were praised by fans, and the track has produced a number of close finishes, including 2005's last-lap battle between Greg Biffle and Mark Martin.
On March 26, 2006, however, Indy Racing League driver Paul Dana suffered fatal injuries in the warm-up session before the season-opening round of the championship. He was involved in a high-speed collision, with Ed Carpenter at over 215 mph. His death is the first in the Indy Racing League since Tony Renna died at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in October of 2003, and only the 3rd ever since the series started. He also is the only other driver to suffer fatal injuries at the speedway since John Nemechek, and Jeff Clinton who died in a Grand Am sports car event at the track in March of 2002.
Records[]
- NASCAR Cup Qualifying: Brad Keselowski, 29.795 sec. (181.238 mph), 2014
- NASCAR Cup Race: Jeff Gordon, 142.245 mph, November 14, 2012
- NASCAR Xfinity Series Qualifying: Casey Mears, 30.348 sec. (177.936 mph), 2004
- NASCAR Xfinity Series Race: Joe Nemechek, 132.191 mph, November 10, 2001
- NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Qualifying: Jon Wood, 31.180 sec. (173.188 mph), 2007
- NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race: Ron Hornaday, 133.260 mph, November 15, 2002
Current events[]
- NASCAR Cup Series - 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1
- NASCAR Xfinity Series - Contender Boats 300
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series - Baptist Health Cancer Care 200
Past NASCAR Cup winners[]
External links[]
- Homestead-Miami Speedway official site
- Homestead-Miami Speedway Page on NASCAR.com
- High-Resolution image from Google Maps