The North Wilkesboro Speedway has been on the NASCAR Cup calendar ever since its inception. However, it closed off after the 1996 Cup Series season. The good news is that it will be back for the 2023 Cup season. Descriptively, the speedway is a short oval racetrack located on U.S. Route 421.
To be more specific, it is about 5 miles east of North Wilkesboro and 80 miles north of Charlotte. The track itself is around 0.625 miles long and boasts some unique features. This includes an uphill backstretch and a downhill frontstretch.
The track hosted its first race on 18th May 1947 and was inaugurated as a dirt track. It has previously played host to races in all three NASCAR series. This includes a grand total of 93 Winston Cup Series races. The track temporarily reopened in 2010 to host several stock car series races. Unfortunately, this only lasted until the spring of 2011.
Following an 11-year hiatus, the North Wilkesboro Speedway re-opened once again. This time, it was to host grassroots racing, and later on, it was announced that it would return to the NASCAR Cup calendar. To be more specific, it will be the venue of the NASCAR All-Star Race and a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.
Location | Wilkesboro Township,?Wilkes County, near?North Wilkesboro,?North Carolina |
Operator | NASCAR |
Former Names | - |
Major Events | NASCAR Cup Series:All-Star Race (2023-incumbent) First Union 400 (1951-1996) Tyson Holly Farms 400 (1949-1955) (1957-1996) NASCAR Xfinity Series: Coca-Cola 300 Holly Farms 399 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Lowes 250 (1995-1996) (2023-incumbent) |
Length | 0.625 miles (1.006 km) |
Most Wins | Richard Petty (15) |
Most Top 5s and Top 10s | Richard Petty (33) (42) |
Poles | Darrell Waltrip (9) |