Dover International Speedway

Dover International Speedway is a NASCAR race track located near Dover, Delaware.

The Monster Mile

Dover International Speedway 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.

500 Miles Is Too Long

At one time the NASCAR 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.

Dover International Speedway Ownership

In February 2002, Dover Downs Entertainmnet changed its name to Dover Motorsports following the spin-off of its gaming operations to its existing shareholders. As a result, the name of the track was changed from Dover Downs International Speedway to Dover International Speedway.

Dover Motorsports (formerly Dover Downs Entertainment) which owns Dover International Speedway also owns several other racing facilities, 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.

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Trivia

July 6, 1969: Richard Petty finishes six laps ahead of the field to win the Mason-Dixon 300 at the new Dover Downs International Speedway. Part-time driver Sonny Hutchins finishes second.

May 20, 1979: Neil Bonnett, making his third start for the Wood Brothers, drives around Cale Yarborough with three laps remaining to win the Mason-Dixon 500 at Dover Downs International Speedway.

May 17, 1981: Jody Ridley drives the Junie Donlavey Ford to a surprise win in the Mason-Dixon 500 at Dover. It is the first NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National win for Ridley and team owner Junie Donlavey, who has been fielding cars since 1950. Controversy erupts due to a "scoring communications difficulty" that may have taken the victory away from Bobby Allison.

May 15, 1983: Bobby Allison takes the points lead with a narrow victory over Darrell Waltrip in the Mason-Dixon 500 at Dover Downs International Speedway. The race finishes under the yellow flag as a torrential downpour hits the one-mile oval.

May 20, 1984: Richard Petty drives his Mike Curb-owned Pontiac to victory in the Budweiser 500 at Dover for his 199th career NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National triumph. Petty outruns Tim Richmond by four seconds.

September 14, 1986: Ricky Rudd scores his first career speedway victory in the Delaware 500 at Dover Downs. Rudd beats runner-up Neil Bonnet by 5.08 seconds.

June 4, 1995: Kyle Petty comes from his 37th starting position to win the Miller Genuine Draft 500 at Dover Downs for his first NASCAR Winston Cup win in 60 races. Petty finishes a car length in front of runner-up Bobby Labonte.

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