The NASCAR Cup Series makes its third trip to the World Wide Technology Speedway (WWT), also known as Gateway. This 1.25-mile track has been a NASCAR Fan wish list for many years. It is located in Madison, Illinois, near St. Louis, Missouri. Joey Logano and Kyle Busch are the only past winners in the Cup Series, but this track has been in the Xfinity Series, Truck Series, and INDYCAR series. The track seats 57,000 fans, and the apron is painted red and white, along with turns one and two being different from three and four. WWT Speedway gives a nice nostalgic feel to the world of NASCAR.
The History of WWT Before the Cup Series
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WWT was built in 1967 originally as a drag race facility with a .125 drag strip, then extended to the full .250 mile strip in 1971. The drag strip, originally built on undeveloped swamp lands, quickly picked up the nickname “The Swamp.” In 1972, Evel Knievel performed his famous stunts, jumping ten cars on his Harley Davidson XR-750 twice.
In the 1980s Track Owner Jody Trover decided to add a road course circuit that had two different layouts one being 2.6 miles and the second configuration being 1.01 mile circuit. The track held inaugural events in 1985 for the ARCA Series, IMSA, and Trans-Am Series. The raceway also added a .05 dirt track for quarter midgets.
In 1994, the track was bought by Chris Pook, who was the promoter for the Long Beach Grand Prix, who bought the complex for $21.5 Million and demolished everything to build an oval track and a dragstrip. In 2010, Then owner Dover Motorsports closed the track but reopened by local Curtis Francois in 2013 and, over the decade, brought back NASCAR and Indycar.
NASCAR’s Return
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NASCAR’s lower series, The Xfinity Series and The Craftsman Truck Series raced at WWT annually from 1997-2010. NASCAR’s 15-time most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., won in 1998 and 1999 on his way to his two Xfinity Series Championships. Four eventual Cup Series champions won a race at WWT. Because of the growing popularity of the track, with the Truck series and the INDYCAR series, NASCAR awarded the World Wide Technology Raceway a Cup series race in 2022.
The Inaugural Race was won by two-time Cup Series Champion and 2015 Daytona 500 Champion Joey Logano. The defending winner is another two-time Cup Series Champion, Kyle Busch, winning from the pole position. Both Cup races went to overtime. In 2022 and 2023, the races produced 10 and 11 cautions, respectively.
The Strategy
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This Race is split into three stages the Coke 600 last week is the only race split into four. The first stage split drivers will not have to pit for fuel until the stage break. The second stage end will come at lap 140 the max fuel run is approximately 60 laps if stage 2 goes green the whole way drivers will have to pit once. the final stage is 100 laps and will have to pit should the race stay green.
History tells us that drivers won’t be making green flag pit stops. WWT Raceway is one of three (Miami-Homestead and Indianapolis Motor Speedway) ovals that have an access road to the pits making the time lost on pit road bigger. Therefore drivers will stretch it to the limit waiting for the seemingly caution.
Because of the long straights and wide turns we will see drivers send it deep and try to either make it stick or try the all famous slide job. The most important section for the driver to hit is the exit of turns two and four to get the momentum down the long straights.
Time and Channel
All Three of NASCAR’s top series is in action this weekend. The Truck race will be on Saturday, June 1st, at 1:30 pm Eastern time on FOX. The Xfinity Series is at the Road Course in Portland, Oregon. That race starts at 4:30 Eastern time on FS1. Sunday June 2nd the Cup Series starts at 3:00 pm Eastern on FS1.
About The Author
Dillon Hildreth is a writer for Total Apex and a lifelong fan of Football with his favorite teams being the New England Patriots and the Georgia Bulldogs. Dillon is also a fan of Motorsports Red Bull in Formula One and William Byron in NASCAR. You can catch Dillon Stream F1, NASCAR, and other video games and sidecasts on Kick.
