Nitrocross has unveiled the track layout for its 2024-25 season opener, which will take place at Richmond Raceway on Sept. 7-8.
The venue is the first NASCAR track to be featured on the Nitrocross schedule, and first to be used for a U.S. rallycross race since Gateway Motorsports Park hosted the second and third rounds of the 2019 Americas Rallycross championship. The likes of Charlotte Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway also previously featured during the days of Global Rallycross in the mid-to-late 2010s.
The course encompasses all four turns of the oval, with the lap beginning on the pit lane before Turn 1. Turn 2 then tightens into the infield where the first dirt section, complete with a tabletop jump, is featured. The third corner on the Nitrocross layout is a 90-degree asphalt right-hander, leading to the next dirt patch, which encompasses turns four through six.
Turns 3 and 4 on the oval are considered one big sweeping left –Turn 7 — with Turn 8 (on the exit of the oval’s Turn 4) being a subtle left kink leading onto a gap jump and the finish straight. A Joker lap — an alternative route, in this case a longer one, that must be taken once per race — forgoes the oval’s final bank, cutting onto the first half of the pit lane, then right, though the gap jump, before making a hard left to rejoin the start straight.
Richmond will be one of five venues on the upcoming Nitrocross schedule, with Utah Motorsports Campus near Salt Lake City, Utah (Oct.5-6), Firebird Motorsports Park near Phoenix, Ariz. (Nov. 15-16), the streets of Biscayne Bay in Miami (Jan. 11-12), and the Las Vegas strip (March 1-2). Each event will be a doubleheader, making a total of 10 championship rounds.