Affectionately known as “The Monster Mile,” Dover International Speedway opened in 1969 as a unique dual-purpose facility, as it was designed to accommodate both horse racing and auto racing.

Richard Petty won the first Winston Cup race at the track, on July 6, 1969, just over a month before the youth of the nation gathered at Woodstock.

Dover International Raceway is unique in NASCAR in that it is a concrete track, as opposed to asphalt. The track is known for being exceptionally hard on tires and cars thanks to the concrete and its short straightaways and hard breaking.

With seating for 140,000, Dover International Speedway is the largest sporting facility in the mid-Atlantic region.

Dover Downs, the horsetrack that is co-located with the race track, is one of the more prestigious horse-racing tracks in the country, and the racing complex also includes other forms of gambling.

Cup races at Dover were 500-miles long until 1997, when NASCAR passed a rule that 500-mile races could only take place at tracks over 1 mile in length. Cup races at Dover are now 400 miles.

The way to best illustrate the early history of Dover International Speedway would be to look at the list of winners in the track's early years as a site for Cup racing. From 1969 through '80, 21 of the 22 Cup races at Dover International Speedway were won by drivers who either already had or would go on to win championships in NASCAR's top series.

The names of those winners are part of the fabric of the sport -- Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Benny Parsons and Darrell Waltrip. Allison and Petty rank first on the all-time winner's list at Dover International Speedway with seven victories apiece.

About 3,200 seats were added in 1982. Each following year until 1998, more seats were added.

In 1995, the track's surface was switched to concrete -- making it the first all-concrete superspeedway in the sport. The unique look of the white concrete surface still makes Doverýs appearance unique among the sport's bigger tracks.

Dover hosted the first Cup race held after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. Dale Earnhardt Jr. got the win that day and took a giant American flag on a victory lap.


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Track Facts:

Banking/Turns: 24
Distance: 1.0 miles
Shape: Oval

Photos:

Past Winners:

1969

• Richard Petty

1970

• Richard Petty

1971

• Bobby Alison - Spring
• Richard Petty - Fall

1972

• Bobby Allison-Mason-Dixon 500
• David Pearson-Delaware 500

1973

• David Pearson swiped both races that year

1974

• Cale Yarborough-Mason-Dixon 500
• Richard Petty-Delaware 500

1996

• Jeff Gordon swiped both races that year

1997

• Ricky Rudd-Miller 500
• Mark Martin-MBNA 500

1998

• Dale Jarrett-MBNA Platinum 400
• Mark Martin-MBNA Gold 400

1999

• Bobby Labonte-MBNA Platinum 400
• Mark Martin-MBNA Gold 400

2000

• Tony Stewart swiped both races that year

2001

• Jeff Gordon-MBNA Platinum 400
• Dale Earnhardt Jr-MBNA Cal Ripken, Jr. 400

2002

• Jimmie Johnson swpied both races that year

2003

• Ryan Newman swiped both races the year

2004

• Mark Martin-MBNA 400 "A Salute to Heroes"
• Ryan Newman-MBNA America 400

2005

• Greg Biffle-MBNA RacePoints 400
• Jimmie Johnson-MBNA RacePoints 400

2006

• Matt Kenseth-Neighborhood Excellence 400 presented by Bank of America
• Jeff Burton - Fall

2007

• Martin Truex Jr. - Spring
• Carl Edwards - Fall

2008

• Kyle Busch - Spring
• Greg Biffle - Fall

2009

• Jimmie Johnson - won both races