I don’t know about you, but when I think about dozens of gas-guzzling racecars circling a track, burning rubber tires at over 100 miles-per-hour, I don’t exactly think environmental sustainability. Nevertheless, NASCAR is working overtime to develop a green identity. And, by some measures, it’s putting its money where its mouth is: the sport’s latest effort even set a new world record.

NASCAR’s Pocono Raceway is now home to a newly-installed, 3-megawatt solar energy system expected to produce 72 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of solar energy over the next 20 years. That would be enough energy to cover all of the track’s electricity needs, as well as the needs of 1,000 local homes over that time span. The $16 million, 25-acre photovoltaic (PV) solar farm made up of 40,000 solar panels is the largest solar installation at any sporting venue in the world and will be online this weekend – just in time for NASCAR’s Pennsylvania 500.

Brian Igdalsky, President of Pocono Raceway, had the following to say about the installation:

“This new system will not only satisfy the Raceway’s energy needs, it will allow us to help power close to one thousand homes and lower carbon dioxide emissions by 5,100 tons every year.”