Why We’ve Had Enough of RaceTrac Gas Stations
Clean restrooms are not a luxury at a gas station or travel center. They are a fundamental part of the customer experience. More importantly, restroom cleanliness is a sanitation and public health concern that deserves far more attention than it receives. That brings us to RaceTrac. Road Tour has repeatedly raised cleanliness concerns with RaceTrac — particularly involving a location in Indianapolis, Indiana — and we have reached the point where enough is enough. This isn't about one dirty restroom on one bad day. Businesses have bad days. Employees get busy. A restroom can become dirty quickly. This is about a pattern. It is also about what happens when a customer repeatedly brings that pattern to a company's attention and seemingly little changes.
RaceTrac was ranked number nine in the Road Tour 10 Rankings for Best Gas Stations in America for 2025–2026. We now believe that was a mistake. We regret putting RaceTrac on that list. RaceTrac is currently delisted from the active 2026–2027 Road Tour 10 Rankings for Best Gas Stations in America. Our rankings are supposed to help road travelers decide where to stop. If our experiences no longer support a recommendation, we have a responsibility to say so. And we can no longer confidently recommend RaceTrac based on what we have experienced.
We spend a tremendous amount of time on America's highways. Gas stations and travel centers are an important part of that experience, and the Indianapolis RaceTrac in question happens to be conveniently located for us when we're hitting the road.
Unfortunately, convenience doesn't outweigh cleanliness.
Consider the history of concerns we have communicated to RaceTrac - Corporate, not the location:
August 5, 2025 — Indiana: We reported dirty restroom floors and a dirty cashier counter.
August 15, 2025 — Indiana: We again raised concerns about filthy floors and provided RaceTrac with a photograph. We also noted that the employees were friendly.
September 1, 2025 — Indiana: We reported dirty restrooms, dirty floors and problems with the condition of the outside grounds.
September 26, 2025 Indiana: We reported restrooms dirty again, used the term "gross".
February 17, 2026: We essentially suggested RaceTrac take some cleanliness lessons from Sheetz.
February 23, 2026: We reminded RaceTrac that restrooms need to be routinely checked.
February 24, 2026 — Florida: We reported a dirty gas-pump area during another RaceTrac stop.
March 1, 2026 — Indiana: We reported dirty restrooms, including what appeared to be urine puddles on the floor and dirty sinks.
June 8, 2026: We told RaceTrac that its restroom cleanliness problems were pushing us toward increasing our visits to Wawa.
June 15, 2026 — Indiana: We again reported persistent cleaning issues. RaceTrac responded that the matter would be escalated to an "Operations Supervisor."
September 4, 2026 — Indiana: We once again encountered restroom cleanliness problems. We brought the matter to the attention of a cashier and, in our view, received a lackluster response. At that point, we told RaceTrac we intended to stop patronizing the company.
This goes back more than a year. How many notifications does RaceTrac need? And that raises an obvious question: Why is it that Buc-ee’s, with restrooms that are often significantly larger and serve enormous volumes of travelers, can generally maintain a high level of cleanliness, while we continue to encounter cleanliness problems in RaceTrac restrooms that are a fraction of the size? We understand that no gas station restroom will be spotless every minute of every day. But if a much larger, heavily trafficked restroom can be routinely monitored and maintained, what is preventing RaceTrac from doing the same? To us, this isn't a question of restroom size. It's a question of operational priorities, routine inspections, employee accountability and management.
There is a major difference between encountering a dirty restroom and encountering repeated cleanliness problems after repeatedly notifying the company. That distinction matters. If a company doesn't know there is a problem, you give it an opportunity to correct it. RaceTrac has been given opportunities. Again. And again. And again. We have reported dirty floors. We have reported dirty sinks. We have reported restroom problems. We have reported dirty exterior areas. We have provided photographic evidence. We have directly discussed the importance of routinely checking restrooms. We were even told the concerns would be escalated. Yet here we are. At some point, Road Tour has to judge RaceTrac based not on what the company says, but on what we repeatedly experience. From our perspective, RaceTrac's response to these concerns has been unacceptable.
Gas stations aren't simply places to buy gasoline anymore. They are roadside service centers. Families stop there. Professional drivers stop there. Tourists stop there. Children stop there. Elderly travelers stop there. People driving hundreds of miles may choose a gas station specifically because they need a clean, safe place to use the restroom. Maintaining those facilities should therefore be one of the most basic operational responsibilities of a gas station chain. Customers should not have to repeatedly ask a major company to keep its restrooms clean. And customers certainly shouldn't have to repeatedly notify the same company about similar problems for more than a year. It is disrespectful to customers who spend their money at these businesses.
RaceTrac has expanded its footprint into new markets, including Indiana. Expansion is great — if a company can properly operate the locations it already has. Opening stores is the easy part. Maintaining them is what builds a reputation. If RaceTrac wants to compete for road travelers in this part of the country, it is competing against companies that have built strong reputations around the customer experience. That means RaceTrac needs to take cleanliness seriously. If a company cannot consistently maintain basic cleanliness standards, perhaps expansion should not be the priority. Operations should be.
After this many complaints, our patience is gone. RaceTrac should be embarrassed that a customer has felt compelled to raise variations of the same cleanliness concern repeatedly for more than a year. We don't enjoy writing that. But we aren't going to sugarcoat what we have experienced either. We have given RaceTrac numerous opportunities to address our concerns. Based on our subsequent visits, we do not believe those concerns have been adequately addressed. From where we sit, the repeated problems and ineffective follow-through communicate something very troubling: our concerns do not appear to be receiving the seriousness they deserve. That is unacceptable.
Road Tour is an advocate for the road-trip consumer experience. That's one of the reasons the Road Tour 10 Rankings exist. They aren't supposed to be participation trophies for corporations. They are intended to help travelers decide where they should spend their money while on the road. When a company does well, we'll say so. When a company disappoints us, we'll say so. And when we believe we got a ranking wrong, we'll admit it. We got RaceTrac wrong. RaceTrac's ninth placement in our 2025–2026 Best Gas Stations in America ranking is one we now regret. For 2026–2027, RaceTrac is delisted. We are awaiting an apology from RaceTrac. More importantly, we want to see meaningful action: stronger restroom inspection procedures, better accountability, better follow-through when customers report problems, and evidence that cleanliness is being treated as an operational priority. RaceTrac doesn't need another notification from us telling them that clean restrooms matter. They've already received plenty. The question now is whether anyone at RaceTrac is finally going to listen or continue to mismanage the matter or play games, whatever they are doing. Interestingly, RaceTrac is planning a significantly larger gas station concept in the Atlanta area. Although we've made the decision to stop regularly patronizing RaceTrac, this location will be an exception. Once it opens, we intend to visit and see firsthand what the company has created. Road Tour is, after all, about the road-trip experience, and this project appears to be far more ambitious than a typical RaceTrac. If this is intended to be a flagship or showcase for what the company can offer travelers, we're interested in seeing whether the customer experience matches that ambition. And given everything we've documented over the past year, you can absolutely count on us checking the restrooms. RaceTrac, you must do better. Your customers deserve clean facilities, consistent standards and concerns that are actually taken seriously. We’ve said it repeatedly. Now it’s time for action. We hope RaceTrac CEO Natalie Morhous reads this article because we have reached that point.
