Kevin Harvick's Kern Raceway (formerly Kern County Raceway Park) is a oval

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida. *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta. *Indianapolis Motor Spe ...

located on CA 43 (Enos Lane) just off

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of the ...

Kern County Kern County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield. Kern County compris ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Opened in 2013, it was built as a replacement for

Mesa Marin Raceway Mesa Marin Raceway was a paved oval race track, located near the junction of California State Route 178, CA 178 and California State Route 184, CA 184 (Kern Canyon Road), east of Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield, California. It opened ...

. Kevin Harvick's Kern Raceway hosts events with

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series The NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series (formerly the Whelen All-American Series, Winston Racing Series and the Dodge Weekly Series) is a points championship for NASCAR-sanctioned local short track motor racing, short-track motor racing in th ...

along with an

ARCA Menards Series West The ARCA Menards Series West, formerly the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, NASCAR AutoZone West Series, NASCAR Winston West Series, NASCAR Winston Transcontinental Series and NASCAR Camping World West Series, is a regional stock car racing series ow ...

race since 2013. The track has banks of 8° in the straightaways, with 14° paved corners. The track has 15,000 seats for fans, and room to expand to 17,000 seats for various events. It also contains 21 suites in the grandstand along with 18 concession stands. The property also contains a

asymmetrical Asymmetry is the absence of, or a violation of, symmetry (the property of an object being invariant to a transformation, such as reflection). Symmetry is an important property of both physical and abstract systems and it may be displayed in pre ...

clay oval track, just north of the paved oval with a seating capacity of 4,000 seats. Turns 1-2 are tighter than turns 3-4. The first event for this track was September 4, 2015. The clay oval track hosts rounds of the NARC King of the West Sprints and the USAC West Coast Sprints and Midgets.

History

The Collins family joined the DeStefani family in planning the new half-mile D-oval that replaced

. The track, located at the crossroads of

and State Route 43 (Enos Lane) along the

Kern River The Kern River is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between ...

, broke ground in February 2007. The track features a progressively banked track, similar to its neighbor in the south,

Irwindale Speedway } Irwindale is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California. The population was 1,472 at the 2020 census, 1,422 at the 2010 census. The ZIP Codes serving the area are 91010, which is shared with Duarte, 91702, which i ...

, starting at 12 degrees on the bottom and rising to 14 degrees at the top. Turns 1-2 have an uphill climb to the backstretch, ten feet higher than the pit straight, for spectator visibility. Turns 3-4 feature a ten-foot descent. A

dragstrip A dragstrip is a facility for conducting automobile and motorcycle acceleration events such as drag racing. Although a quarter mile (1320 feet, 402 m) is the best known measure for a drag track, many tracks are eighth mile (201&n ...

and a infield oval are slated. The track, completed in March 2013, had its first NASCAR–sanctioned race on October 26, 2013, with the

K&N Pro Series West The ARCA Menards Series West, formerly the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, NASCAR AutoZone West Series, NASCAR Winston West Series, NASCAR Winston Transcontinental Series and NASCAR Camping World West Series, is a regional stock car racing series ow ...

. The track held a Fan Appreciation Day on May 4, 2013 and announced the first race to be held at Kern County Raceway Park would be a 100-lap

Whelen All-American Series The NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series (formerly the Whelen All-American Series, Winston Racing Series and the Dodge Weekly Series) is a points championship for NASCAR-sanctioned local short-track motor racing in the United States and Canad ...

race on the main track. Bandoleros also competed that day on the track within the main course. Mini dwarf cars also ran on May 18, competing on the track. In 2023, the track was given new ownership to Tim and Lisa Huddleston. With the new ownership, the track was renamed as Kevin Harvick's Kern Raceway, in honor of

2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kyle Larson, the 2014 NASCAR Rookie of the Year. file:Jimmie Johnson Dale Earnhardt Jr. cars at Hendrick Engines 2014.jpg"> List_of_NASCAR_Manufacturers%27_champions">Manufacturer's championship with 20 wins & 1572 points, their 13th champi ...

champion and Bakersfield native,

Kevin Harvick Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and commentator for '' NASCAR on Fox''. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewa ...

Kern Raceway Divisions

Kern Raceway features local racing in 8 different divisions. These divisions include Pro Late Models, CITGO

Late Model Late Model stock car racing, also known as late model racing and late models, refers to a type of auto racing that involves purpose-built cars simultaneously racing against each other primarily on oval tracks. This type of racing was early-on ...

, Spec-Mods, Street Stock, Mini Stock,

Legends car racing Legends car racing is a style of auto racing designed primarily to promote exciting racing and to keep costs down (as of 2022, a brand-new Legends car could be purchased in the USA for $17,500 USD). The race car bodyshells are 5/8-scale replicas ...

Bandolero racing Bandolero car racing is a type of entry-level racing in the United States and Canada. Many bandolero car drivers move into Legends car racing, Legends racing. Cars can reach in excess of 70 mph, but do not accelerate very quickly. The most wi ...

and Mini-Dwarfs. During the 2013 season, Kern County Raceway also hosted a drifting exhibition, Super Trucks and Thunder Roadsters.

2013 season

The 2013 Season at Kern Raceway included the return of the

SRL Southwest Tour The StockCar Racing League is a late model stock car racing league operating since 2001. The series is a continuation of the Tri-Track Challenge run in California between 1997 and 2000. The series is also connected to the former Supermodified Raci ...

to Kern County for the first time in 8 years. On October 26, 2013, Kern County Raceway also hosted the

NASCAR K&N Pro Series West The ARCA Menards Series West, formerly the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, NASCAR AutoZone West Series, NASCAR Winston West Series, NASCAR Winston Transcontinental Series and NASCAR Camping World West Series, is a regional stock car racing Sto ...

race named the " NAPA Auto Parts 150."

2014 season

In addition to racing, Kern Raceway also hosted its First Annual Car Show on March 22, 2014. The track also hosted the

for 2 races including the DC's RV Center 100 on April 5 and for the CITGO Lubricants Fall Shootout on November 1. The

also made two stops with the second one being nationally televised by

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (branded on-air as FS1) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by the Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 airs an array of live sporting events, including Majo ...

. In addition, it hosted the first pavement sprint car national championship as the King Of The Wing series was at the track on November 23.

Track Champions

References

External links

Kern County Raceway Park
{{ARCA Menards Series East and West racetracks NASCAR tracks Motorsport venues in California History of Bakersfield, California Sports venues in Bakersfield, California Kern Raceway