NASCAR Bucket List: Top 10 Tracks to Watch Cup Series Racing, Ranked (2024)

The track in the desert, within sight of Vegas’ huge hotel/casinos, features one of the tour’s best fan experiences. The Neon Garage is perhaps the No. 1 attraction of its sort in NASCAR, offering fans a variety of activities and some up-close looks at the driver/crew experience.

And showgirls roam the premises now and then.

A fan favorite for decades, CMS offers a pair of dramatically different Cup races: The marathon Coca-Cola 600 in May and a playoff chase on the infield “Roval” in the fall.

The level of competition can be mixed here. Kyle Busch led 327 of 400 laps in winning the 600 in 2021, but there have been some wild finishes on the 1.5-mile oval, and the move to the road course for the track’s second race of the year has added considerable uncertainty to the closing laps.

The track in the far suburbs of Atlanta (actually, Hampton, Georgia) received a big boost with a recent repave and redesign that has produced faster laps and closer competition. The change has resulted in a totally new dynamic for competitors and has made racing at the track both riskier and more rewarding.

AMS has a long history in the sport and has been through several iterations—generally for the better. Host of the second race of the year, it provides an early test for teams and drivers after the drama of Daytona.

Martinsville has had a spot on the Cup schedule since Year One.

The little track has seen changes—new grandstands, a totally revamped infield and (in an unfortunate decision) the addition of lights—but bumper-to-bumper competition on the half-mile is much as it ever was.

A dominant driver can lead many laps in front of a parade at Martinsville, but restarts are usually chaotic and tension mounts over the final 50 laps. Gaining a position can be a work of art. Car-design issues come into play here, but, on any given Sunday, so do unexpected results.

And some drivers leave the track not particularly liking some other drivers.

Home to NASCAR’s championship race for many years, Homestead’s progressively banked 1.5-mile track is a winner. Although tracks of similar size often are dismissed as “cookie cutters,” Homestead has an attractive blend of speed and strategy.

The track has fine fan amenities and is located within a few miles of two South Florida gems: Biscayne National Park and the Robert is Here Fruit Stand, a quite unusual place and home of the world’s best milkshakes (a claim many in the garage area will endorse).

Talladega is Daytona’s bigger cousin. The racing at the two monster tracks is similar, with heavy dependence on the draft, but Talladega’s wide surface opens the door for relentless three- and four-wide drafting and racing.

The track’s renowned party atmosphere (“Hey, have another beer! Here come the cars again!”) is a considerable attraction to a weekend at Talladega. Recreational vehicles, pickup trucks and drink coolers pack the infield.

For those who actually see the racing, there is competition. There were 70 lead changes in the October 2023 race (won by eventual series champion Ryan Blaney), and the April 2023 race saw four leaders over the final seven laps. Kyle Busch won with a last-lap pass.

Racing as it should be returns to Indy’s world-famous track in 2024 as NASCAR has abandoned its brief experiment on the IMS road course and will compete again on the time-honored oval.

Although the entire 2.5-mile track is visible only from above, the seating that surrounds the speedway surface offers great visibility. Sit and soak in the tradition of the world’s most famous speedplant.

Bristol is the short track that thinks it’s a superspeedway. Lightning-fast laps and high banking trigger spectacular accidents on the half-mile, and tempers normally flare.

The Last Great Colosseum, as it is sometimes known, attracted some of the biggest crowds in all of sports for many years. Those glory days have faded, but on a hot night in the eastern Tennessee mountains, BMS remains a potential hot spot for action and drama.

The Granddaddy of Them All, The Track Too Tough To Tame, the Lady in Black – the track that carries some of the sport’s most memorable nicknames is stock car racing’s Fenway Park.

At no other track can fans experience the competition of high-speed racing and a tight, unforgiving, wackily-designed track layout. Opening in 1950, Darlington was not built for the speeds of the 2000s, and few have mastered its intricacies over the years. Drivers value a win here over most others.

And, as a bonus, racing history practically drips from the place. It’s easy to find ghosts here.

When Daytona’s 2.5-mile oval replaced the nearby beach-road course on the Cup schedule in 1959, drivers were introduced to speeds none had experienced in a stock car.

The concept of drafting quickly made its way into NASCAR, and moves like the slingshot and tandem racing eventually became realities.Many of the sport’s greatest finishes – and biggest personalities – can be traced to Daytona. Rarely does the World Center of Racing have a bad race. Drafting and danger are a volatile mix.

The final lap of the annual Daytona 500 typically is one of the most exciting of the season.