Daytona International Speedway was constructed by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. and opened in 1959, replacing the former Daytona Beach Road Course as the premier venue for Daytona racing. The road course configuration was built into the facility from the outset, measuring 3.810 miles (6.132 km) in its original form. Its first major event was a three-hour sports car race, the Daytona Continental, held in 1962. That race grew progressively longer: the distance became 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) in 1964, and in 1966 it was extended to 24 hours, giving birth to the race now known as the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
The track's lighting system plays a notable role in the 24-hour event. Unlike the 24 Hours of Le Mans, held near the summer solstice, Daytona's endurance race takes place in late January, meaning a substantial portion is contested in darkness. The lighting system is deliberately limited to around 20 percent of its maximum output during the race so that cars remain reliant on their own headlights rather than ambient illumination.
The original 3.810-mile road course underwent a major reconfiguration in 1973 when a sharp chicane was added at the end of the backstretch approaching the third oval turn. In 1984 and 1985, the layout was modified further. Road course turns 1 and 2 were re-profiled and the turn now known as the International Horseshoe was relocated closer to its preceding corners. The backstretch chicane was also reworked: a new entry leg was constructed approximately 400 feet (120 m) earlier, creating a longer three-legged bus-stop shape that allowed passing inside the chicane. These changes brought the total circuit length to 3.560 miles (5.729 km).
The bus-stop chicane was modified again in 2003, with the middle leg repaved and widened so that cars entered through the first leg and exited through the second, abandoning the third leg. The cleaner entry into oval turn three that resulted was well-received, and by 2010 the third leg was demolished permanently.
In 2005, a second infield configuration was introduced primarily for motorcycle racing. To avoid tire wear on the high-banked oval sections, the layout for motorcycles bypasses oval turns 1 and 2, giving a shorter course of 2.950 miles (4.748 km). The Daytona 200 motorcycle race uses the main road course with a tighter version of the Pedro Rodriguez Hairpin.
In 2020, NASCAR raced at the Daytona road course for the first time across all three of its national series. The move was prompted by COVID-19 health restrictions in New York state that prevented the usual mid-season visit to Watkins Glen International. Before the event, the course was extended with a chicane added near the exit of Oval Turn Four, bringing the NASCAR configuration to 3.570 miles (5.745 km).
The International Horseshoe, a sweeping bend joining the infield to the banked oval, is one of the most distinctive features of the circuit. Cars transition from flat infield tarmac onto the steeply banked superspeedway turns, a combination almost unique in international road racing. The banking reaches 31 degrees in the oval turns, and managing tyre behaviour across this transition has historically been one of the technical challenges of the Rolex 24.
In January 2024, Pipo Derani set the fastest ever lap of the modern Daytona road course, recording a time of 1:32.656 driving a Cadillac V-Series.R during qualifying for the 24 Hours of Daytona. During the same qualifying session, every entrant in the IMSA GTP class broke the previous course lap record set by Oliver Jarvis in a Mazda RT24-P in 2019, reflecting the rapid pace of prototype development in that era.
The Daytona road course occupies a unique position in North American motorsport. As the home of the Rolex 24 at Daytona since 1966, it has served as the season-opening proving ground for sports car racing across numerous sanctioning bodies. Its hybrid character — oval banking merged with infield road sections — gives it a mechanical and visual identity unlike any other endurance venue in the world.