How Dale Earnhardt Jr Was Instrumental in Revamping the North Wilkesboro Speedway

In what comes as great news for NASCAR, the North Wilkesboro Speedway has received some funding. Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith revealed that part of North Carolina’s state budget will be set aside for the track. The best part is that it will also include the Charlotte Motor Speedway and Rockingham Speedway. This counts as a win for former NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, who has been lobbying for it.

He paid a visit to lobby for motorsports funding. Earnhardt Jr. has been working towards this since 2019, where he successfully had the track surface cleaned up and scanned for iRacing.

According to reports, governor Roy Cooper allocated $40 million to revamp all three race tracks. Out of that, $18 million will go to Wilkes County. The idea is to take care of infrastructure projects pertaining to the North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Why is Dale Earnhardt Jr so invested in this project?

Dale Jr’s interest in the project largely stems from the fact that he is pretty fond of the track. This explains why he had the track resurfaced in order to try and revive it. Who knows, there could soon come a time when the North Wilkesboro Speedway returns to the NASCAR calendar in some capacity.

It is worth mentioning that the 0.625-mile speedway has been abandoned for a long time. To be precise, there has not been a Cup Series race at the track since 1996. Naturally, many NASCAR fans would love to see the sport return there some day. However, at that time, the conditions were highly unfavorable. It got so bad that some considered it “closer to being condemned than anything else.”

Now hopefully, this new development will see the speedway restored to its former glory. Whether it will bring back the NASCAR paddock is a different story altogether. At least the Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Rockingham Speedway could also be revamped as well.

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