New Hampshire Motor Speedway does not look especially intimidating on paper.
It is not a superspeedway. It does not have towering banking. It does not stretch two miles around. Yet the 1.058-mile oval in Loudon has spent more than three decades building a reputation as one of the more distinctive stops on the NASCAR schedule.
There is a reason drivers treat the so-called “Magic Mile” with respect. Its relatively flat corners leave little margin for error, track position can become enormously important and a car that misses the setup by even a little can make for a very long afternoon.
NASCAR returns to New Hampshire this weekend, with the Cup Series scheduled to run the Dollar Tree 301 at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, Aug. 23, on USA Network. The race is the penultimate event of the 2026 regular season before the field heads to Daytona for the finale.
Before the green flag, here are 10 things every NASCAR fan should know about New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
1. The ‘Magic Mile’ is actually 1.058 miles long
New Hampshire’s nickname rounds things down a bit.
The main oval measures 1.058 miles, with 1,500-foot straightaways banked at just one degree. The corners feature variable banking ranging from two to seven degrees.
Those numbers help explain much of the track’s personality. New Hampshire lacks the banking that helps drivers carry speed through the corners at many other NASCAR ovals, placing a premium on braking, mechanical grip and getting a car to rotate without abusing the tires.
That combination has made Loudon a track where precision matters as much as outright speed.
2. New Hampshire Motor Speedway opened in 1990
The facility’s history is relatively young compared with NASCAR staples such as Martinsville, Darlington and Daytona.
Ground was broken on Aug. 13, 1989, and the track officially opened as New Hampshire International Speedway on June 5, 1990.
Its first professional event, the 67th annual Loudon Classic, followed on June 17.
The facility was built on the former site of Bryar Motorsports Park, with Bob Bahre developing the new speedway into what became one of the Northeast’s most important racing venues.
3. NASCAR arrived during the track’s first season
New Hampshire did not have to wait long for NASCAR.
The track hosted its first NASCAR race on July 15, 1990, little more than a month after officially opening. The Budweiser 300 was part of what is now the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
The Cup Series followed three years later.
On July 11, 1993, NASCAR’s premier series made its first trip to Loudon for the Slick 50 300.
That race marked the beginning of a Cup history at New Hampshire that now stretches across more than three decades.
4. The speedway sits on roughly 1,200 acres
The Cup oval is only one piece of a considerably larger motorsports complex.
New Hampshire Motor Speedway encompasses approximately 1,200 acres and bills itself as the largest sports and entertainment facility in New England.
Beyond the 1.058-mile oval, the property includes a 1.6-mile, 12-turn road course, a quarter-mile mini oval and a quarter-mile dirt flat track.
That helps explain why Loudon has long been more than a once-a-year Cup stop. The property has hosted everything from stock cars and modifieds to motorcycles, sports cars and grassroots racing.
5. New Hampshire made New England sports history in 2000
One of the most striking numbers connected to the track has nothing to do with lap times.
According to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the July 9, 2000, NASCAR Cup Series race became the first single-day sporting event in New England to draw more than 100,000 guests.
That is a remarkable benchmark in a region home to the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins.
It also offers some perspective on just how significant NASCAR’s New Hampshire weekends became during the sport’s turn-of-the-century boom.
6. Speedway Motorsports took ownership in 2008
The Bahre family era eventually came to an end after Speedway Motorsports founder Bruton Smith agreed to purchase New Hampshire International Speedway from Bob and Gary Bahre on Nov. 2, 2007.
The transaction officially closed on Jan. 11, 2008.
With the change in ownership came the name fans know today: New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Speedway Motorsports continues to own the facility.
7. Brad Keselowski still owns the Cup qualifying record
Drivers have been chasing Brad Keselowski’s benchmark for more than a decade.
Keselowski set the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying record at New Hampshire on Sept. 19, 2014, turning a lap at 140.598 mph in 27.090 seconds.
The Cup race record belongs to Jeff Burton.
Burton averaged 117.134 mph while winning the Jiffy Lube 300 on July 13, 1997, completing the race in 2 hours, 42 minutes and 35 seconds.
Both records remain listed by the speedway today.
8. Kyle Busch owns a pair of O’Reilly Series records at Loudon
Kyle Busch left his mark on New Hampshire in more than one NASCAR division.
Busch owns the qualifying record for what is now the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, posting a 131.916-mph lap in 28.873 seconds on July 13, 2013.
He also holds the series race record at the track after averaging 111.925 mph in his June 27, 2009, victory.
Busch’s success at Loudon is another reminder of the versatility that helped make him one of NASCAR’s most accomplished drivers across its three national series.
9. Modified racing is a huge part of New Hampshire’s identity
For NASCAR fans outside the Northeast, the Cup Series may be the first thing associated with Loudon.
Locally, Modified racing is inseparable from the place.
New Hampshire has hosted the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for decades, and the track says at least one Modified Tour event has been held there every year since 1990.
The low-slung, open-wheel Modifieds are particularly suited to the flat, fast oval, routinely producing some of the weekend’s most aggressive racing.
They will be back again Saturday for the Mohegan Sun 100 at 4:30 p.m. ET.
10. Sunday’s Cup race comes at a pivotal point in the 2026 season
New Hampshire’s place on the calendar gives this year’s race added significance.
The Dollar Tree 301 is Race No. 25 of the 26-race regular season, leaving only Daytona afterward before the 16-driver NASCAR Chase field is set.
Cup cars will first hit the track Saturday, with practice scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET and qualifying beginning at 11:40 a.m. NASCAR will then race 301 laps Sunday, with stage breaks scheduled for Laps 70 and 185 before the finish at Lap 301.
The Truck Series also has plenty at stake Saturday. Its Team EJP 175 at 1:30 p.m. ET serves as the series’ regular-season finale.
For the Cup Series, though, New Hampshire represents one of the final chances to change the complexion of the regular season.
And at a track where small mistakes tend to become big problems, that is hardly an insignificant assignment.
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