Dover International Speedway | The Monster Mile |
| Facility statistics |
---|
Location | 1131 North Dupont Highway, Dover, Delaware, 19903 | Broke ground | 1966 | Opened | 1969 | Owner | Dover Motorsports | Operator | Dover Motorsports | Construction cost | ?? USD | Architect | Melvin Joseph | Former names |
---|
| Major events |
---|
NASCAR Nextel Cup Neighborhood Excellence 400 presented by Bank of America, Dover 4002005 NASCAR Busch Series StonebridgeRacing.com 200, Dover 200 2005 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series AAA Insurance 200 | Seating capacity |
---|
140,000 (NASCAR) | Current dimensions |
---|
Track shape | Oval | Track length | 1 mile | Track banking | Turns - 24° Straights - 9° |
Dover International Speedway (nickname: The Monster Mile) is a NASCAR race track located near Dover, Delaware. It is unusual in several respects. It is a concrete track; most NASCAR tracks are asphalt. It is co-located with a horse racing track, Dover Downs, and in fact is sometimes also referred to by this name. It is also exactly one mile long; technically this means that it is neither a superspeedway nor a short track. The speedway is also notoriously hard on cars, and its standard nickname is The Monster Mile. The horse track is part of an extensive entertainment complex including other forms of gambling; at one time both it and the speedway were owned by the publicly-traded Dover Downs Entertainment, but they have since been split into two separate enterprises, partly at the encouragement of NASCAR. At one time the Winston Cup races held here were 500 miles long until a NASCAR rules change limited 500 mile races to being held only at tracks over a mile in length; the current Nextel Cup races here are 400 miles long. Dover also hosted Indy Racing League races in 1998 and 1999 won by Scott Sharp and Greg Ray. The same company owning Dover Downs also owns several other racetracks, including Nashville Superspeedway; it has been suggested that one of the two current Cup races held there could be shifted to Nashville but this seems unlikely as both current Cup races at Dover are easily sold out. The Dover ownership is one of only three publicly-held ownership groups of NASCAR tracks, the other two being International Speedway Corporation, controlled by NASCAR's founding France family and owners of the Talladega and Daytona tracks, among others, and Speedway Motorsports, Inc., led by Bruton Smith and H. A. "Humpy" Wheeler, which owns Lowe's Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, among others. Aside from these three ownership groups, NASCAR tracks are privately held by one or a few individuals.
The Dover MonsterThe speedway has a brand new mascot called the Dover Monster in 2004 hence the track's nickname, "The Monster Mile", the "monster" does not officially have a name but many people just refer to it as the Dover Monster or "Miles". It is featured on the winner's trophy and the track tickets and memorabilia. See also: List of NASCAR race tracks
Current races- NASCAR Nextel Cup - Neighborhood Excellence 400 presented by Bank of America
- NASCAR Nextel Cup - Dover 400
- NASCAR Busch Series - StonebridgeRacing.com 200
- NASCAR Busch Series - Dover 200
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series - AAA Insurance 200
Records- NASCAR Nextel Cup Qualifying: Jeremy Mayfield, 22.288 sec. (161.522 mph), 2004
- NASCAR Nextel Cup Race: Mark Martin, 132.719 mph, September 21, 1997
- NASCAR Busch Series Qualifying: David Green, 22.797 sec. (157.915 mph), 2004
- NASCAR Busch Series Race: Brian Vickers, 133.154 mph, September 20, 2003
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying: David Starr, 22.846 sec. (157.577 mph), 2005
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Race: Ted Musgrave, 104.545 mph, May 31, 2002
|