The speedway was built by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. and opened in February 1959. Before the permanent circuit existed, racing in Daytona Beach took place on the Daytona Beach Road Course, a hybrid beach-and-road layout. The new facility incorporated a 2.500 mi (4.023 km) high-speed tri-oval with 31-degree banking in the turns, alongside a road course that used portions of the infield and connected back to the banked oval. Multiple layout configurations were developed over the years, including a dedicated motorcycle road course.
The Daytona 200 is the defining motorcycle race at the facility and one of the oldest and most prestigious events in American road racing. It is held on the road course configuration, which at its primary layout measures 3.560 mi (5.729 km) and uses a portion of the banked tri-oval combined with an infield section.
The motorcycle road course layout differs slightly from the car road course. A second infield section was constructed in 2005, primarily for motorcycles, as concerns about tyre wear on the banked oval sections led to oval turns 1 and 2 being bypassed, resulting in a 2.950 mi (4.748 km) variant. However, the Daytona 200 itself uses the main road course but with a tighter motorcycle-specific version of the Pedro Rodriguez Hairpin; the standard car entry acts as an acceleration lane for bikes.
The United States motorcycle Grand Prix was held at Daytona from 1961 to 1965, giving the venue early prominence in the FIM World Championship calendar. The AMA Pro Daytona Sportbike Championship ran the Daytona 200 from 2009 to 2014. MotoAmerica, the premier North American motorcycle road racing series, subsequently took over the event.
Daytona has hosted an AMA Supercross Championship round without interruption since 1971, making it one of the longest continuously held events on the supercross calendar. The track is constructed in the infield area between the pit road and the tri-oval section during Daytona Beach Bike Week, which takes place each March. The Daytona supercross track is historically characterised by a higher proportion of sand mixed into the dirt surface compared to other rounds, producing a unique and challenging riding surface that has historically favoured certain rider styles. Track configurations from 2008 to 2013 were designed by former champion Ricky Carmichael.
A purpose-built flat track, the Daytona Flat Track, was constructed outside turns 1 and 2 of the main superspeedway in 2009, replacing flat-track motorcycle racing that had previously been held at Daytona Beach Municipal Stadium. The quarter-mile dirt track seats approximately 5,000 spectators in temporary grandstands. The AMA Grand National Championship was held there from 2010 to 2016, after which the flat-track event moved to the tri-oval section as a TT course format. Motorcycle flat-track racing has since continued as a regular feature of Speedweeks programming.
The full road course layout used by the Daytona 200 combines the banked tri-oval — where speeds reach the highest levels on the circuit — with the tight, technical infield road course section. The backstretch chicane, modified several times over the decades, provides the circuit's sharpest braking zone. The combination of high-speed banking and slow infield corners demands a very broad setup compromise from both bike and rider. The venue's lighting infrastructure, installed in 1998, allows for night-time competition, though the 24-hour endurance events held at the facility for cars typically operate the lighting at reduced capacity to keep drivers reliant on their headlights.
Daytona's motorcycle racing identity predates even the permanent speedway itself, rooted in the long tradition of beach racing and the early AMA championship events that gave the venue its reputation as the spiritual home of American motorcycle sport. The Daytona 200 retains its status as the single most important road race on the MotoAmerica calendar, and the week-long event structure of Bike Week — encompassing supercross, flat track, road racing, and festival activities — makes Daytona one of the most concentrated gatherings of motorcycle racing formats anywhere in the world.