re: Jeff Gordon's last year for a championship

quote:

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No race that I know of goes 500 laps

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Bristol races go 500 laps. Martinsville races go 500 laps. Richmond races go 400 laps.

ETA: what he said up there ^^. Tracks of a mile in length or more are based on miles (Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, etc.) Depending on the size of the track, the number of laps to make up the miles will vary (200 laps at Daytona gives you 500 miles while 325 laps at Atlanta give you 500).

Short tracks (less than a mile) are based on number of laps - Bristol 500, Martinsville 500, Richmond 400. The actual distance varies based on the track size (Martinsville and Bristol are half miles so 500 laps is only 250 miles; actually a little more at Bristol because it is a little more than a half mile).

A couple of races (the two road courses and Phoenix) are listed as kilometer races. For example, the Phonix race is the Camping World 500, but is 312 laps on a 1 mile track, and 312 miles = 500 kilometers.