The track was built in 1959 by NASCAR founder William "Bill" France Sr. to host racing that was held at the former Daytona Beach Road Course.

The speedway is operated by NASCAR pursuant to a lease with the City of Daytona Beach on the property that runs until 2054.

NASCAR founder William France Sr. began planning for the track in 1953 as a way to promote the series, which at the time was racing on the Daytona Beach Road Course.

Moneypenny traveled to Detroit, Michigan to visit the Ford Proving Grounds which had a high-speed test track with banked corners.

Ford shared their engineering design of the track with Moneypenny, providing the needed details of how to transition the pavement from a flat straightaway to a banked corner.

[9] The city commission agreed to lease the 447-acre (180.9 ha) parcel of land adjacent to Daytona Beach Municipal Airport to France's corporation for $10,000 a year over a 50-year period.

France also secured funding from Pepsi-Cola, General Motors designer Harley Earl, a second mortgage on his home and selling 300,000 stock shares to local residents.

[9] To build the high banking, crews had to excavate over a million square yards of soil from the track's infield.

Moneypenny subsequently patented his construction method[citation needed] and later designed Talladega Superspeedway and Michigan International Speedway.

By December 1958, France had begun to run out of money and relied on race ticket sales to complete construction.

[12] It was the occasion of Daytona's first fatality: George Amick, attempting to overtake for third late in the race, hit a wall and was killed.

The track was the world's largest single lighted outdoor sports facility until being surpassed by Losail International Circuit in 2008.

The project used an estimated 50,000 tons[vague] of asphalt to repave 1.4 million square feet (130,000 m2) including the racing surface, apron, skid pads and pit road.

[15] On October 9, 2013, Colin Braun drove a Daytona Prototype car prepared by Michael Shank Racing to set a single-lap record on the tri-oval configuration of 222.971 mph (358.837 km/h).

[17] The 3.810 mi (6.132 km) road course was built in 1959 and first hosted a three-hour sports car race called the Daytona Continental in 1962.

A new entry leg was constructed approximately 400 ft (120 m) earlier, resulting in a longer, three-legged, "bus stop" shape.

The drivers who tested at the track were Vítor Meira, Sam Hornish Jr., Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon.

[23] On July 8, 2020, NASCAR announced that it would race the Daytona road course in all of its national series for the first time in mid-August (with the Cup Series racing the Go Bowling 235), due to current COVID-19 pandemic health restrictions in New York state (requiring 14 days self-isolation on arrival from other states) preventing the use of Watkins Glen International.

During the same session, every entrant in the IMSA GTP class broke the course lap record previously set by Oliver Jarvis in a Mazda RT24-P in 2019.

In February 2012, it was announced that a 0.400 mi (0.644 km) paved short track would be constructed along the backstretch of the Speedway's main course, for NASCAR's lower-tier series to compete at during Speedweeks called the UNOH Battle at the Beach, which is similar to the Toyota All-Star Showdown, formerly held at Irwindale Speedway.

The future of racing at the short track became uncertain after 2015 with the grandstands on the back straightaway being demolished as a part of the Daytona Rising project.

[32] On July 2 and 3, 2022, the track hosted Daytona Soccer Fest, a 2 day event highlighted by a friendly match between heated Colombian rivals América de Cali and Deportivo Cali and a NWSL regular season match between the Orlando Pride and Racing Louisville FC.

Real Racing 3's second NASCAR update featured the Daytona International Speedway as a new circuit coming in three layouts.

The Hard Rock Bet Fanzone is an access package similar to pit passes for fans to get closer to drivers and race teams.

Fans can also view race teams working in the garage, including NASCAR technical inspection, through windows.

The fanzone also includes a live entertainment stage, additional food and drink areas and various other activities and displays.

The infield renovation involved landscaping and hardscaping, such as a new walkway along the shore of Lake Lloyd, and the construction of 34 new buildings, including garages and fueling stations, offices and inspection facilities, and a club.

Below the porch was an interactive fan zone featuring amusement rides, a go-kart track, show cars and merchandise trailers.

[43] After the 2015 racing season, the Party Porch was torn down with the backstretch grandstands as part of the DAYTONA Rising project.

With a dry season taking place during the winter months, the 500 generally has good odds of being run without rain delays.