Lowe's Motor Speedway Tickets

Lowe's Motor Speedway

Lowes Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor Speedway) is a Superspeedway in Concord, North Carolina, a few miles north of Charlotte. Lowes Motor Speedway is considered home to NASCAR, with ninety percent of NASCAR teams based within 30 miles.

The speedway features a 1.5-mile long quad-oval track with 24 degrees of banking in the turns. Lowes Motor Speedway seats 167,000 people, with room for 50,000 more spectators in the infield. Along with the main oval, the speedway also has a 2.25-mile road course and a 0.6-mile kart course in the infield, a quarter-mile oval using part of the front stretch and pit road, and a 0.2-mile oval outside turn three. Also, opened in May 2000, is the Dirt Track at Lowes Motor Speedway across U.S. Highway 29.

Workers are in place in 2006 to resurface Lowes Motor Speedway for the third time since it was built. Work started Jan. 16 and will be completed prior to the NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge on Saturday night, May 20, and the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday evening, May 28. The plan is "to change the profile of the turns by smoothing them out and making the radiuses more consistent," says H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowes Motor Speedway. The idea is to increase side-by-side racing and passing while maintaining the personality of the track.

The Lowes Motor Speedway hosts the NASCAR Nextel Cup- Nextel All-Star Challenge, Coca Cola 600, UAW-GM Quality 500, as well as the NASCAR Busch Series- CARQUEST Auto Parts 300, Little Trees 300, and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series- Infineon 200. A weekly, nationally televised short-track series for Legends Cars, Bandoleros and Thunder Roadsters, and World Karting Association regional, national, and international races are also held on the various tracks of Lowes Motor Speedway.

Lowes Motor Speedway was the first speedway to host nighttime racing (in 1992) and to offer year-round residences (in 1984) with 52 condominiums now available over turn one. It is presently owned by, and is the main facility of, Speedway Motorsports. The Indy Racing League (IRL) tried open-wheel racing a few times at Lowes Motor Speedway, but this ended after an accident during the VisionAire 500 on May 1, 1999 that killed three spectators and injured eight others. A car hit the wall losing a tire, which was then propelled into the stands by another car.

With more than 380 events a year typically scheduled, Lowes Motor Speedway is considered one of the busiest sports venues in the country. Along with many races, the speedway also hosts the Food Lion Auto Fair twice a year, one the nation's largest car shows. Commercials, motion pictures such as Days of Thunder, Speedway, and Stroker Ace, and even music videos have been filmed at Lowes Motor Speedway.

In February 1999, Lowes bought the naming rights to the speedway, making it the first race track in the country with a corporate sponsor. Lowes Motor Speedway was designed and built in 1959 by current chairman O. Burton Smith and the late Curtis Turner, one of the earliest stock car racing stars. At the time Turner, a Virginian who had accumulated his money from the lumber industry, became one of the first drivers on the NASCAR circuit after the sanctioning body debuted in 1949. Burton Smith was an automobile dealer and short-track stock car racing promoter at Concord Motor Speedway and the Charlotte Fairgrounds.

On June 19, 1960, the first World 600 was run at the new facility. But the track fell into Chapter 11. Smith departed from the speedway in 1962 to pursue other business interests. He became quite successful and began to purchase shares of stock in Lowes Motor Speedway. By 1975, Smith had again become the majority stockholder in the Lowes Motor Speedway, regaining control of its day-to-day operations.

Plan your trip to arrive a couple hours before the race is scheduled to begin. WSOC-FM 103.7 will give up-to-the-minute traffic reports on race days. If possible, try to avoid exit 49 and Speedway Blvd. Good alternates are Hwy 29 from both the North and the South and Hwy 49 to Morehead Road. Reserve camp sites in advance. Trams service operates from noon to dusk. And bus shuttle service also operates on Lowes Motor Speedway property. Handicap parking spots can be purchased in advance. Unreserved handicap spots are available in the VIP parking lots in the front and back sides of the track on a first-come first-served basis.