Knoxville Raceway

Knoxville Raceway is hallowed ground in American dirt racing, a half-mile dirt oval at the Marion County Fairgrounds in Knoxville, Iowa that has hosted racing for generations and is home to the Knoxville Nationals, the biggest sprint car event in the world. When NASCAR embraced its dirt-racing revival in the early 2020s, the Craftsman Truck Series made the pilgrimage to the sport's most famous dirt track, racing at Knoxville in 2021 and 2022. Austin Hill won the inaugural visit in July 2021, surviving a wild night where the black Iowa clay demanded throttle control and patience from drivers raised on asphalt. The trucks returned the following June for a second and final visit before the dirt experiment wound down. For a series built on pavement, racing at Knoxville was a statement of respect: this is the cathedral of American dirt track racing, a place where the grandstands rise over the front stretch like a wall and the surface changes character from the drop of the green flag to the checkered. The two Truck Series races were brief guests in a long history, but they connected NASCAR to one of the most storied venues in all of motorsport.

Written by Richard R. Glover, NASCAR Reference