The speedway was constructed in 1946 as a quarter-mile dirt oval. During the 1960s it was converted to a paved surface, and in that asphalt configuration it hosted NASCAR-sanctioned competition. The track ran on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour during the mid-1980s, holding six events between 1985 and 1986 on its former quarter-mile paved layout.
By the early 1990s the facility had fallen into serious disrepair and was effectively abandoned, with the property in deteriorating condition and facing the prospect of demolition. That situation changed in 1997 when the Grosso family purchased the speedway. The Grossos reversed the track's direction from asphalt back to dirt, returning clay racing to Ocean County for the first time in decades. The rehabilitation earned national recognition: motorsports promoters from across all fifty states named New Egypt Speedway the "Most Outstanding Rehabilitation of a Speedway," a distinction announced during Daytona Speedweeks and putting the central New Jersey track in the national spotlight. The Grossos leveled the existing surface and replaced it with a rebuilt one-third-mile dirt configuration.
In 2006 the speedway changed hands again, purchased by Bill Miscoski and Fred Vahlsing. Under their ownership the track was widened and reconfigured in 2009 into the current 7/16-mile D-shaped clay oval, the largest footprint the facility had carried in its history. This configuration allowed for higher speeds and more room for multiple racing grooves.
New management assumed control in July 2022. In December 2025 it was announced that the speedway would not operate in 2026; Vahlsing did not return as owner for the new season, and no new ownership came forward in time to keep racing going.
New Egypt Speedway operated a Saturday night program running from April through October, routinely attracting over 60 race cars on a weekly basis. The track occasionally supplemented its weekly schedule with high-profile special events. Touring series visits included the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and the World of Outlaws Late Model Series. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour had previously competed at the facility in the 1980s during its paved-track era.
New Egypt Speedway served as a developmental arena for several drivers who went on to national prominence. Martin Truex Jr., who grew up in nearby Mayetta, New Jersey, and went on to win the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series championship, raced at the track early in his career. Ray Evernham, who became one of NASCAR's most celebrated crew chiefs with Jeff Gordon before moving into ownership, also competed there. Other notable names associated with the track include Kenny Brightbill, Stewart Friesen, and Billy Pauch, considered a local legend at New Egypt and across the northeastern modified racing community.
New Egypt Speedway's story tracks the broader arc of American short track racing: a pre-war-era facility that survived multiple format changes and near-demolition to become a well-regarded regional venue, only to succumb to the ownership and economic pressures that have closed dozens of similar tracks across the country. Its rehabilitation by the Grosso family in the late 1990s stands as one of the more cited examples of community-driven track revival in the northeastern United States.