Richmond International Raceway is a short, compact track located
within the city limits of Richmond, Virginia, 105 miles south of
Washington, DC, and 130
miles northeast of Raleigh, NC. The track is one of the oldest
facilities on the Nextel Cup circuit, having opened in 1946.
Richmond is one of the shortest tracks on the NASCAR circuit at only
.75 miles, and is in fact the shortest track on the Indy Racing League
circuit. The track is laid out in a D-shaped oval, with the pits
located along the rounded portion of the D. It seats over 100,000
in a fully-enclosed configuration, with no infield seating available.
RIR hosts two NASCAR Nextel Cup races each year, as well as an IRL
race. The NASCAR Busch Series races the same weekend as the
Nextel Cup, and the NASCAR Truck Series races during the fall Nextel Cup race weekend. See the NASCAR
Nextel Cup,
Busch, and
Truck, and the
IRL schedules for race dates.
Tickets are usually available right up until race day, although the
prime seats are sold out in advance. For tickets, call the ticket
office at 804-345-RACE.
There is plenty of parking around Richmond International Raceway.
Traffic is not as bad at Richmond as it is at many other NASCAR tracks
because of the proximity of the track to I-95 and I-64. However,
it is still advisable to arrive early and plan to spend some time
getting out after the race.
Although not an overly large city, Richmond has plenty of hotels that
are convenient to the track. Click
here for Richmond hotel information.
