Twenty- seven years! The long twenty-seven years of wait is finally coming to an end. Once padlocked and out of bounds, the gates of North Wilkesboro Speedway are finally being reopened for the NASCAR Cup Series.

What once stood as an embodiment of the glorious bygone era of NASCAR turned into a dilapidated set of fossils and was slowly devoured by the luscious nature of North Carolina. The asphalt which once witnessed the racing of the drivers, who now adorn the walls of the Hall of Fame, was slowly making for weeds and outgrowth. The 0.625 miles slowly became a part of the fading memory of the soi-distant past for the veteran NASCAR. But with the initiatives from the authorities and especially Dale Earnhardt Jr, the iconic track was finally resurrected and will open its gates to the audience for the weekend race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. points to the necessity of NWB Speedway being repaved

The modern-day Wilkesboro flaunts all the modern-day amenities without letting go of its former identity. But before the Cup Series could make its way to the North Carolina venue, it has already stumbled upon structural issues, like the spotter’s grandstand and also the re-pavement of the asphalt.

It was Freddie Kraft who had earlier pointed out the problem regarding the position of the spotter stand, which compromised the visibility of the people. And now, it’s Dale Jr. who specifies the problem regarding the repaved way of the racetrack.

The track which was last repaved in 1981, is drawing concern for this veteran driver, especially after the on-track wrecks in the Late Model Series. This is evident from the video released by Fox’s NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass on his Twitter account.

He added the lines, “Dale Earnhardt Jr. — who advocated for the surface, last repaved in 1981, not to be repaved for the all-star race — said after the CARS Tour race that it likely would need to be repaved if NASCAR wanted a Cup points race at North Wilkesboro next year.” Although the co-owner of JR Motorsports had advised against repaving the track, he went back on his words as it may cause on-track accidents and wrecks.

Junior expressed his concerns. “I do. I think we should come back here, for 400 lap race, for points. Maybe they need to be repaved at the end of this week…I’m not sure, that pavement if that pavement makes it through Sunday without real issues. They could consider taking that risk.”

He added, “But it would be such a risk to get this surface to last as much longer. Our cars and our program and our style of race can deal with a lot of imperfections. But the Cup crowd will not put up with problems and problematic surfaces.”

Junior concluded, “So one little problem, one car going through, has any kind of issue from a rock going through the radiator or whatever, you know. You can’t have that going on…so it’s a big risk they are taking now, with the surface for this Sunday. So now I think they won’t want to take that risk again. I would be surprised if they do.”

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Denny Hamlin and other followers back Dale Jr’s recommendation

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By expressing his grave concerns regarding the on-track safety of the drivers, it seems that Dale Junior has found support from Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin and his other supporters.

The JGR driver commented, “Re-pave with gritty asphalt. It can be done.”

Another wrote, “What do we think about paving the low lane with gritty pavement, then a lane up with a little bit of rubber mixture and the top lane with even more smooth rubber mixture? Has anything like that ever been tried?”

Even Bob Pockrass went on to ask, “The question would be how long could that last before paying for another repave.” Answering him, Denny Hamlin commented, “The “new” asphalt we started using does have a longer shelf life agreed. But if we stay here even 5-8 years wouldn’t you rather have better racing for that time? If you’re here longer and need to repave 15 years from now you’ve likely recovered that investment already. Reminder** the old-style asphalt we are on this weekend lasted for a very long time.”

“Surface definitely shouldn’t be falling apart damaging cars like it was in the CARS race.”

If the veteran drivers like Dale Junior and Denny Hamlin recommend a re-pavement, perhaps the authorities should listen to it. This might even prohibit the occurrence of any mishaps or wrecks that the Late Model Race witnessed.

Days Before the Highly Anticipated All-Star Race, Worried Dale Earnhardt Jr Expresses Grave Concerns