The Champion Motor Speedway is a 1.5-mile (2.41-km) road course designed by the renowned track designer Martyn Thake and paved in Pontiac, Michigan, a city half an hour northwest of Detroit. The raceway sits in the outskirts of Pontiac, on relatively flat terrain with only 25 ft of elevation change. There are nine turns in the layout, which runs clockwise, with five right-handers and four left-handers. The continental climate in Detroit means the road course experiences extreme weather conditions throughout the year, from cold and snowy winters to hot and rainy summers. Springs and autumns offer pleasant temperatures, but the track's surface can be wet or dry at any time, so racing teams need to prepare for sudden changes in the atmospheric conditions.

Unlike most racing circuits, the champion Motor Speedway start/final line stands in a short straightaway, right after the long right-handed turn number 9. Racers need to start slow as turn number one is a 95-degree corner leading into a kink in turn number 2. Turns number 3 and 4 are 90-degree and lead into the second-longest straight away to the circuit, which ends in a heavy breaking sector before hairpin turn number five. The longest straightaway comes next, followed by four sharp corners that close the loop to start over again.