Richmond-Area Neighborhoods Near Richmond Raceway: What Race Weekends Mean and Who Each Area Suits

Published November 2026 | Written by the Mission Realty Team.

Living near Richmond Raceway means one big NASCAR weekend a year plus a steady calendar of smaller events, and the trade-off is event-night traffic on East Laburnum Avenue rather than daily disruption. The six areas closest to the track with Mission Realty community pages are North Side, Lakeside, Montrose, Highland Springs, Sandston and Varina.

No public agency publishes noise readings or neighborhood traffic counts for race weekends, and we do not invent them. Instead, this guide uses what the raceway, Henrico County and VDOT publish, plus named roads you can check on any map, and it says plainly who each area is wrong for.

What the raceway says about its calendar

Richmond Raceway sits on East Laburnum Avenue in Henrico County, just outside the City of Richmond. Its own pages give four facts that matter to a buyer:

• The 2027 NASCAR weekend is September 10 and 11, 2027. The raceway’s 2027 event page says racing starts Friday, September 10, and the NASCAR Cup Series runs Saturday night, September 11, under the lights.
• It moved from August. The 2026 weekend ran August 14 and 15, 2026, with the Cook Out 400 on Saturday night. In an August 13, 2026 release, the raceway said its 2027 races will open NASCAR’s Chase for the Cup Series and the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, and that full start times would come later.
• Race weekend is not the only event. The same release says the Richmond Raceway Complex hosts more than 200 live events over 280 event days a year, including concerts at Virginia Credit Union LIVE!, which it calls the region’s only covered amphitheater.
• Campers fill the grounds. A July 8, 2026 release said all 1,028 sellable camping spaces were reserved for the August 2026 race weekend, which means people arrive before race day and stay on site.

The practical reading: the NASCAR weekend is two nights a year, but the 280 event days are spread through the calendar. If a home is close enough that race night matters to you, the concert and show nights probably matter too.

What race weekend means for traffic and noise

The raceway’s parking page says traffic patterns may change through the day based on traffic flow and parking availability, and it tells fans to follow Henrico Police for race-day updates. Rideshare pickup and drop-off is in a lot at 609 E. Laburnum Avenue across the street from the track, and fans must cross at the signal at Laburnum Avenue and Richmond-Henrico Turnpike. The page warns that police will stop people who cross Laburnum anywhere else. In other words, the area right around that intersection is where foot traffic and rideshare traffic concentrate.

For noise, we found no public measurements for any neighborhood near the track. The 2027 Cup race is a Saturday night race, so whatever sound carries will be in the evening. The only fair test is to stand on the street you are considering during an event at the complex, then again on a quiet weeknight. For live road conditions on any event day, 511 Virginia is VDOT’s traffic map.

If you are comparing this with the Diamond District, our guide to neighborhoods near CarMax Park and the Boulevard takes the same approach for the ballpark. For noise in general, read our guide to the quietest neighborhoods away from highways, rail and flight paths.

How we chose and ordered the six areas

We started from the raceway’s address on East Laburnum Avenue and checked driving routes to a central point in each area with a community page, using an online routing map in November 2026. The list runs from the shortest drive to the longest. We do not print the miles, because the distance from one street to the track can differ a lot from the next street over, and a central point is not your address.

Laburnum Avenue is the thread through most of the list. On our route check, the drives to Montrose, Highland Springs, Sandston and Varina all leave the track on East Laburnum Avenue, and the Varina route follows Laburnum south all the way to New Market Road, Route 5. Lakeside is reached the other way, west along Richmond-Henrico Turnpike, Azalea Avenue and Lakeside Avenue. Laurel came out at about the same drive as Highland Springs, so distance alone did not rule it out; we left it off because its route runs west past Lakeside, which already covers that side of the track. Church Hill measured similarly but sits inside the city, south toward downtown, and is better covered in our in-city guides.

1. North Side: the closest, inside the city line

North Side is the City of Richmond area just south of the track, and it was the shortest drive on our check by a wide margin. That makes it the natural place to look if you want the shortest trip to an event, and also the area most likely to feel event nights. It is a city neighborhood, so taxes, trash pickup and permits run through the City of Richmond rather than Henrico. Recent news from the area includes the final phase of Highland Grove’s new homes and the Greenway Village apartments near Six Points.

Who it suits: a buyer who wants a City of Richmond address and a short trip to the complex for concerts and races.

2. Lakeside: the western side, reached without Laburnum’s event traffic

Lakeside is in Henrico, west of the track. On our route check, the drive runs along Richmond-Henrico Turnpike, Azalea Avenue and Lakeside Avenue, which means it does not use the East Laburnum Avenue stretch in front of the rideshare lot. Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is on Lakeside Avenue, which we cover in our guide to neighborhoods near the botanical gardens and Maymont.

Who it suits: a buyer who wants a Henrico address close enough for a short drive to a concert, with event traffic mostly on the other side of the track.

3. Montrose: straight down Laburnum to I-64

Montrose sits along Laburnum Avenue where it meets I-64 at exit 195, as our eastbound I-64 commute guide lays out. That is useful on a normal day and worth thinking about on a race night, because Laburnum Avenue is the same road that carries traffic to the track.

Who it suits: a commuter who wants quick access to I-64 east or west and can plan around a few event nights a year.

4. Highland Springs: Laburnum to Nine Mile Road

Highland Springs is reached by taking East Laburnum Avenue south and then Nine Mile Road east, according to our route check. Henrico lists the Highland Springs Community Center and Recreation Area at 16 S. Ivy Avenue, with a picnic shelter, play equipment and athletic fields, and the county calls it “The heart of Highland Springs.” Our guide to Henrico recreation areas named for their neighborhoods compares it with Sandston’s and Varina’s.

Who it suits: a buyer who wants an established Henrico community with its own county park and a drive to the track that stays on two main roads.

5. Sandston: Williamsburg Road and the airport

Sandston is east of the track along Williamsburg Road, Route 60, next to Richmond International Airport. Our route check went down Laburnum Avenue, briefly onto I-64 and then to Airport Drive and Williamsburg Road. Henrico’s Sandston Recreation Area on J B Finley Road lists a tennis court, two pickleball courts and athletic fields, as we noted in our recreation-area guide above. The county has also been buying and clearing properties on Williamsburg Road, covered in our Rebuild Henrico story.

Who it suits: someone who flies often, works near the airport, or wants a track trip that is a drive rather than next door.

6. Varina: the longest drive, the most room

Varina is the largest and most spread out of the six, so it was the longest drive on our check. The route follows Laburnum Avenue south to New Market Road, Route 5. Henrico’s Varina Recreation Area on Recreation Road is listed in our recreation-area guide, and the paved Virginia Capital Trail runs through the area along Route 5, which we cover in our Capital Trail guide. New industrial plans are also coming, such as the industrial park planned near Airport Drive.

Who it suits: a buyer who wants more land and space and is happy to drive in for an event.

How to test an address before you buy

• Check the raceway and complex calendars, then visit the street on an event night and a quiet weeknight at the same hour.
• Map at least two routes home that avoid East Laburnum Avenue near the track.
• Ask the seller whether event traffic or parking has ever affected the street.
• Read the community page for the area, then send us the address so we can check what we can.

When you are ready, our buyer team can set up showings, and our preferred lenders can talk you through financing. For more things to do around town, see our Richmond events page.

Questions about living near Richmond Raceway