The facility was conceived by Grand Prix of Miami promoter Ralph Sanchez, who sought a permanent venue after years of street-course racing in Miami. After failed proposals at Amelia Earhart Park and the Munisport landfill in North Miami — the latter defeated by community opposition — Sanchez partnered with the city of Homestead, which was recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Andrew. Groundbreaking took place in August 1993, with the facility opening in November 1995 at an ultimate cost of approximately $59 million.
The original layout featured a rectangle-shaped oval alongside a 2.210-mile (3.557 km), 13-turn road course that used parts of the rectangle and the infield. NASCAR president Bill France Jr. appeared at the groundbreaking ceremony. The first race held at the complex was a NASCAR Goody's Dash Series event on November 4, 1995, followed the next day by a Busch Series race won by Dale Jarrett before 65,000 spectators.
Open-wheel racing debuted at the facility on March 3, 1996, when Jimmy Vasser won a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) race. The original road course ran until 1997, when the oval was reconfigured from a rectangle to a banked oval shape to secure a NASCAR Winston Cup date. This reconfiguration altered the road course as well.
The current road course configuration measures 2.3 miles (3.7 km) over 11 turns, described as a roval combining the oval banking with an infield section. The IndyCar Series used the oval portion of the complex for most of its visits from 1996 to 2010.
In 2025, Formula E made its debut at Homestead-Miami Speedway, racing on the facility's road course. For that event, Turn 1 was tightened and a chicane was added on the backstretch to better suit the series' requirements. The Toyota Atlantic Championship raced at the facility in 1996 and 1997 on the original road course and again in 2000 on the modified layout.
The speedway is owned by the city of Homestead and operated by NASCAR. International Speedway Corporation (ISC) gradually consolidated ownership through the late 1990s, buying out various partners, and NASCAR itself acquired ISC in October 2019, taking over the lease. The facility carries a reported capacity of 43,000 as of 2019. The complex spans approximately 650 acres (260 ha).
The facility's history includes significant safety improvements following tragic incidents. The oval turns were reconfigured in 2003 at a cost of $10 million to introduce variable banking of 18 to 20 degrees, and SAFER barriers were installed simultaneously. Permanent lighting was added in 2005 at approximately $8 million. IndyCar driver Paul Dana died in a practice crash for the 2006 Toyota Indy 300, the facility's third fatality.
Homestead-Miami Speedway established itself as a major date on the NASCAR calendar, serving as the Cup Series championship finale from 2002 to 2019 before Phoenix Raceway took over that role. Beginning in 2026, all three major NASCAR series will again conclude their seasons at Homestead-Miami, ending a six-year hiatus. The road course and roval layouts have ensured the facility retains relevance in open-wheel and electric racing alongside its primary NASCAR identity.