7 Ovals Every iRacer Should Own

Everyone's tried rookies ovals, but what are the best tracks to take the next step?
Thanks to ‪@GavinRopchan‬ for letting me steal some B-roll!
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[@IOwnCalculus]

Iowa is also top-tier in the [redacted]car.

[@bobjkohneSenf]

Darlington is by far the most fun track to drive for me, but I probably wouldn't put it in this list because it's hard to actually have good racing there. It's just so fun to hotlap tho

[@DJYeeJay]

I have the exact same opinion! Amazing drive, usually meh races

[@MurphysLawNZ]

Love darlington too. Just takes the most skill. So hard to have a clean race and be quick

[@bradyhill2136]

For a newer person my favorite oval races are the carburetor cup with the nextgen cars. Not exactly a track but a series. It’s a ton of fun as long as you can make it out of the first few laps with unranked wreckers

[@DJYeeJay]

I always say carb cup and pickup cup are where legends are born 🤣

[@turbo_marc]

Carb cup doesn’t use next gens, they use 2021 cars. Maybe I’m wrong about this though.

[@keegandaugherty8277]

@@turbo_marcthey use the next gen

[@turbo_marc]

@@keegandaugherty8277 oh

[@elgroxo]

Legacy Daytona is no longer included with the base subscription, it was removed and is now only available if you purchase the track.

[@computiNATEor]

Laaame. I let my subscription lapse a few months ago, was this a recent change?

[@KikiMac]

I just got into iRacing this year and loving the Ovals and Dirt Ovals, coming from GT racing in ACC. I'm suprised that the Dirt Oval at Bristol didn't get a mention, it was absolutely hilarious fun in the ARCA a few weeks back. Looking forward to the next season, and will be picking up the tracks to do a full season of ARCA, XFINITY and Next Gen, especially if any are on this list.

[@DJYeeJay]

You’re right I left out Bristol dirt! Can definitely get more for your money with that. Im a hater of arca at Bristol dirt though because wall riding was the objectively fastest way around the track which is dumb

[@the_chanman]

I'm gonna catch flak for this one, but New Hampshire is absolutely amazing. Especially in modifieds and super late models.

[@skaldlouiscyphre2453]

I've got all of these for rFactor. Gotta agree about Michigan, Michigan is awesome.

[@BScalise97]

Darlington, Rockingham, Myrtle Beach, Langley, Daytona 2008, Milwaukee, Nashville Fairgrounds, North Wilkesboro

[@law3344]

Bro thank you for the Iowa love. I’ve always loved that track so much

[@01Zipang]

I remember redactedcar had Darlington one week. I dnf'd and finished 3rd in a 22 man race

[@hi_im_sota]

I Must have repressed my rookie street stocks experience because I genuinely don’t remember much of any of it at all and I’ve only been on iracing for 2-3 years 😂

[@DDS029]

The reason the earlier (ver.2) Atlanta drives different than other "cookie cutter" tracks, is that Ver.1, the original track, built in the early 60s was a symmetrical oval, with longer, more sweeping turns than straightaways like most ovals had. A reverse Martinsville, if you will. That carried over from when they added the double dog-leg and moved the front straight to the north side. Which is no fun staring into the sun all day from the flagstand. My opinion is there are no "cookie cutter" tracks. Each one has it's own quirks. I've got real life set-up sheets that say so.

[@MurphysLawNZ]

The one I would add is Indy, I know it hardly gets used outside of indycar but it's a fantastic challenge in a Stockcar. 4 wheel drifting to get speed makes it fantastic

[@SladesShitboxGarage]

The redacted motor speedway was Indy

[@calebleach4658]

Well your at 5k now congratulations dude

[@DJYeeJay]

Thanks!!

[@v1nny12]

April fools idea: this exact title but it’s just the free tracks 😂

[@k9burnouts544]

Buy ALLL OVALLLS 😂, I almost got all the Nascar tracks, iracing is a drug, I'm poor as dirt but I own a lot of content 😂

[@rosscrashtain]

Martinsville, Kansas, Bristol, Chicagoland and Talladega

[@Averageracingfan]

I already owned all of the top 3 when i saw this video

[@JDMcHaley]

By the way... is it wrong that I really don't like the newer Phoenix? I mean... I like the cactus light lol... but it feels so different since they changed it.

[@DJYeeJay]

Legacy Phoenix is better, I agree. Too bad legacy only really gets used in arca nowadays. New Phoenix still beats most tracks though imo

[@rodneyproductions5044]

Yo J.D love your videos dude! Keep it up

[@JDMcHaley]

@@DJYeeJay I've only tried it once.. so I'll give it another chance.

[@nickking6659]

How could you not have Nashville SS on the list? Best track on the service.

[@DJYeeJay]

Nashville’s good but I’m not as high on it as some

[@nickking6659]

@@DJYeeJay I’m gonna have to protest you for that!

[@andrewsurowiec80]

Phoenix is very much a multigroove track if you're in the Indycar

[@RayBracey]

day 5 of avoiding an arca homestead road course video

[@DJYeeJay]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2Hbg32qacSVi68 I unlisted my farmer's guide here which is a good baseline. About 1 second off the aliens but that's good for me haha

[@NR_88]

Brb about to go buy Kentucky and Iracing superspeedway

[@DJYeeJay]

NO WAIT!

[@Bmaser]

The Redacted 500 lol

[@rampant5139]

Can we get a link to the Rent-A-Girlfriend livery?

[@DJYeeJay]

Unfortunately that was a scheme for the old arca body

[@GrexofFaria]

Richmond!

[@rolux4853]

I just bought a reduced one year subscription to test it out after years of driving in all the other sims and are people really buying 7 tracks at once in this game for amlost a hundred bucks? I´m not that convinced by iRacing yet and the quality of some tracks is really dissapointing to me I have to admit. My favorite Sim is Rfactor2 because it has by far the best physics and FBB and there are quite a few free mod tracks which have a much better quality than the iRacing tracks. What confuses me the most are missing bumps and ruts in the iRacing tracks who are there on the real track and in RF2 and AC also. Or is there something I´m missing, like super cheap sales websites or people getting some tracks for free? I just can´t imagine people spending hundreds of dollars a montth just to have more mediocre tracks.. The cars have really good models however (in the limited/dissapointing/bad graphics that iRacing has) so I can somehow accept the overpriced models. Especially that you don´t get the whole series of cars is just scamming people out of money in my opinion. Use the next gen cars as an example they are exactly the same, but the front, and they still want full price for every car! That´s more than lazy and disappointing!

[@DJYeeJay]

Couple things here (from entirely an oval perspective I'm not a road racer) Yes everyone has paid full price for each car and track (outside of getting discounts for buying in bulk up to 20%) iRacing's oval physics, even if flawed sometimes, are the best and nothing else is really even close besides NR2003. For road, I cannot speak as an expert but I've seen many arguments for both iracing being both good and bad. If graphics are a high priority, iracing will always be disappointing at its pricepoint. Really I would not recommend buying all this iRacing content for anybody who does not have racing online as their absolute #1 priority. The vast majority of iRacing's value in my opinion is to be able to race full races from multiple series with similarly skilled people, at any hour of the day. That offering is unmatched in the space. But if racing multiplayer is not a high priority, iracing is a huge waste of money.

[@yungsagegaming8577]

I HATE 08 ATL, no matter which game I drive it on, I never liked it. I remember playing the old NASCAR games from EA and Papyrus that had OG Atlanta and I always thought that was fun. Also I haven't had any chance to run modern Atlanta because to my knowledge, other than iRacing, the only game that has it is NASCAR Rivals on Switch. Funny story about the NH5 2022 DLC: You run old Atlanta with a Superspeedway car and it races like a Superspeedway with the old configuration. Funny way to get around adding new tracks, similar story with Indy and Sonoma. Indy (since the original NH5 used the oval) straight up doesn't exist in Season or Career and Sonoma uses the full layout like it did in 2021

[@ryanscott717]

Any one else just fuckin despise plate racing? Just doesn't feel like real racing to me

[@falconeye577]

LV is far better than Phoenix

[@DJYeeJay]

Kinda agree but I like Phoenix for the variety and usage

[@texpelt8858]

Before I even watch this video : Iowa Speedway. Watching

[@DamianVega00]

Where is darligton lol

[@Azeria]

Homestead also sees a fair amount of use in road, so if you’re someone who only dabbles in oval it’s probably extra worth picking up.

[@DJYeeJay]

Arca is at Homestead road B this week and it’s really fun actually!

[@73krazykarter]

My thoughts: 1. Bristol. Best track, most fun, every series goes there including the non-NASCAR series, such as super late models. 2. Iowa, or even Richmond. I find the two tracks drive somewhat similar, every series use them, with Richmond getting the edge because it's still a part of the cup schedule, and therefore NiS. 3. Daytona. I understand your reasoning, but if this is directed at somebody new to iRacing, those are the exact reasons it SHOULD be on this list. This would replace Michigan for me. 4. Rockingham. A ton of fun to drive, multi-groove, huge tire wear, and every series races here. All 3 NASCAR series race here during the off-season, ARCA goes here often, and even the other series visit once in a while. This replaces Phoenix for me, which I couldn't even remember was on the list. 5. I'd replace Kansas with Las Vegas. Similar tracks, with Vegas having a better (IMO) multi-groove experience, and more tire wear. 6. Atlanta, even if ONLY for the 2008 version. I am not a fan of new Atlanta, but the old version is one of the most fun places to race at, period. 7. Homestead, for all the same reasons you discussed. It's multi-groove and has high tire wear. Similar to old Atlanta, these tracks are the most fun to race on.

[@Cain1717]

Any thoughts on Pocono? As a road racer that got into ovals, it was one of my first oval tracks and still one of my favorites to this day. It's not necessarily multi-groove, but I've always noticed people have very different lines going into and out of all 3 corners that it makes racing very interesting, especially when it comes to tyre strategy and passing.

[@DJYeeJay]

Pocono falls under the “fun drive meh race” category to me. Last few times I went there were single file aero block fests, in cars like the xfinity car though it’s a fun and challenging race

[@RawGameplayStreams]

@@DJYeeJayxfinity seems to run perfect (or at least at a much higher average of “success”) at most tracks

[@Ilovefootball173]

I have been iRacing official races since August and I believe my favorite tracks have been Auto Club C fixed and Irwindale with the Arca car.

[@chrisslater9514]

i vote chicagoland, auto club, richmond, and pocono

[@Jpilgrim30]

I’ve had a blast at auto club the last couple of weeks in different series.

[@JDMcHaley]

YAY! 5K!!! Dude, your videos have helped me so much with learning how to race better. Thank you so much.

[@DJYeeJay]

Thank you!! We're on the come up :D

[@JDMcHaley]

@DJYeeJay You deserve subscribers way more than I do Justin. I'm not even on your level. You put out stuff that helps people race better. I wish I could do that.

[@DJYeeJay]

You put out stuff that makes people day better which is more important imo! I try to do that sometimes to varying degrees of success 🤣

[@JDMcHaley]

@@DJYeeJay Yeah, I need to watch your video about raising iRating. Mine has tanked lately.

[@thecodex0994]

Okay as a new comer and non American why was Indianapolis censored?

[@DJYeeJay]

Iracing lost the rights for indycar to a scam company so censoring indycar for iracing content is a big meme now

[@LennyisFast]

A lot of people don’t like phoenix because the old version was such an amazing track. I still think modern phoenix is good and unique but it is still the worse version

[@SnowburgerBeamNG]

I absolutely love Iowa speedway. It’s also one of my local tracks so I enjoy racing there a lot

[@charlesritchey5561]

Could anyone give me some ai pit strategy advice especiallyNASCAR related? I have run some Modified ai races and the leaders will often choose to pit under green instead of when they should pit during a caution when they should pit. How can I improve this and is the pit strategy better with cup trucks Xfinty???

[@karlsamson1765]

I'm missing Kansas so will need to put it in the cart. Completely agree on Iowa though, I prefer shorter tracks but that's the best one for racing in the shorter tracks.

[@strovich]

All of these were great! Everything but Bristol since lots of public lobby accidents

[@daveo2992]

All of them and they should be free since you pay an extremely expensive subscription and you still have to buy the game . . . .

[@strovich]

I love Vegas. By far my favourite!

[@SDCVT4U]

Having a lot of fun in the ARCA car at Iowa right now!

[@trevdc2450]

I personally like driving at Charlotte

[@BrianFolchetti]

Darlington should be very high on this list but I’ll forgive you for putting the GOAT at number 1

[@DJYeeJay]

Darlington was what I’d put at #8, the drive is incredible but I prefer the racing itself at most these other tracks more

[@alexanderstigall6275]

Sir, it's Kansas Speedway. NOT Kansas Motor Speedway.

[@DJYeeJay]

The motor is silent hahaha

[@MurphysLawNZ]

Iowa is good in stockcars but indycar is where it's special. Such quick laps and about managing your stuff

[@strovich]

Kansas is amazing too!

[@dkashvideos]

I personally love Chicagoland. I don’t care for Phoenix other than the cactus light

[@DJYeeJay]

Chicago is equal or better to Kansas for me, but with it not being raced irl anymore it’s gonna hurt how much it’s run on iracing schedule

[@dkashvideos]

@@DJYeeJay that’s sadly true. But they got a Moto-Cross race there this summer

[@justwiz4879]

me owning all of them

[@u-wot-n8]

Iowa stans unite!

[@williamwindex3890]

i found the high groove at iowa one day and yeah thats fun. saw it on a race before i logged in and sure it enough they all had to go high to keep up. 2nd place even messaged me like "most dont know that!"

[@crimtsun]

For the most part I only run short tracks. I find a lot of 1.5 mile tracks to be uncomfortably fast for their size, but that could just be my inexperience. I do really like running pocono tho, even if I'm still not great at it.

[@chrisstevens917]

Iowa is the most perfect oval track in the country. It's not too small but not too big and there's also plenty of room for everyone to run. It's a shame Nascar doesn't race there anymore.

[@JDMcHaley]

haha!!! first!!

[@DJYeeJay]

Instant! I was gonna put this out another day but thought I'd help fight rain delay boredom haha

[@JDMcHaley]

@@DJYeeJay I have that bell clicked sir! Oh, I knew you were very smart when it comes with racing tips... but I was unaware you had like an over 7000 iRating... thats nuts! I'm gonna be spending the day looking through your vids because I just suck these days.

[@DJYeeJay]

@@JDMcHaley 7k irating but arca farmed! I'm very 5-6kish level in everything else imo, but I'm working on it!

[@JDMcHaley]

@@DJYeeJay ARCA is one of the hardest in my opinion because there are no yellows.

[@shros]

haha!!! second!!!

[@DJYeeJay]

Would be first any other video sad!

[@shros]

​@@DJYeeJay definitely agree with what you said about homestead

[@JDMcHaley]

I won a race for once lol.

[@scottross3847]

I would have swapped Bristol for Martinsville, just because the short track series has some amazing racing at that track. I wouldnt mind if you did a short track version of this list, but then you would just be naming all the less than 1 mile ovals.