Wilkes County, N.C., is the place to be this weekend as the NASCAR Cup Series prepares to write the next chapter at one of the series’ oldest and most nostalgic tracks: North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Like the classic quote from the popular 1989 film Field of Dreams says: “If you build it, they will come.” In this case, North Wilkesboro, once left abandoned by NASCAR, will have its cinematic moment this weekend.
Sunday’s Window World 450 (July 19) is history in the making, as the 0.625-mile short track prepares to host its first Cup Series points race in 30 years. The last time NASCAR ran a points-paying race at North Wilkesboro was on Sept. 29, 1996, and Hall of Fame driver and current Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon went to victory lane. Gordon had the car to beat that afternoon, leading a race-high 207 of the race’s 400 laps.
His victory that day marked his third consecutive win of the 1996 season, and he ultimately finished the season with 10 victories and placed second in points behind Hendrick teammate Terry Labonte.
In the 30 years since North Wilkesboro last hosted a Cup Series race, NASCAR has experienced its fair share of changes. The 1996 Cup champion was crowned through a season-long points system where every race mattered equally. This season, NASCAR restored The Chase, where the top 16 drivers in points will compete for the title over the final 10 races of the season. Whichever driver scores the most points at season’s end is the champion.
North Wilkesboro writes its next chapter this weekend when Cup cars take the green flag for a race 30 years in the making. At one point in time, the future looked dim for the track. When NASCAR left after 1996 and the track spent years without racing, there were doubts if the sport would ever return to the iconic venue.
Thanks to the efforts of NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., North Wilkesboro has undergone a transformation from a dormant racetrack to one fully revised and ready for Cup Series racing.
Earnhardt never competed at North Wilkesboro, but he had the privilege of watching his dad race and win there multiple times over the years. Upon ownership of Speedway Motorsports being transferred from longtime owner Bruton Smith to his son, Marcus, rumblings of a potential revival of North Wilkesboro began to take shape.
On Dec. 9, 2019, a team including Earnhardt arrived at the speedway to initiate the challenge of restoring North Wilkesboro back to its glory days. A few months later, the track was finally ready for racing. Virtual racing, that is.
As soon as the coronavirus pandemic made its way into the country, NASCAR followed the lead of the other professional sporting leagues in halting normal operations, putting their season on hold with no timetable on a possible return to racing.
Thanks to a collaboration between iRacing and FOX, the first eNASCAR Pro Invitational Series race at North Wilkesboro featuring active Cup Series drivers gave fans a glimpse of how the track was in its heyday. This kickstarted the process of permanently bringing NASCAR racing back to North Wilkesboro.
To celebrate NASCAR’s 75th anniversary in 2023, the sport announced a return to North Wilkesboro, with the short track serving as host for the All-Star Race. In three seasons as host of All-Star weekend, fans enjoyed plenty of highlight reel-worthy moments, like the fight post-race between Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 2024 that flooded social media in the days that followed.
In advance of this weekend’s return to points racing at North Wilkesboro, drivers aren’t going in completely blind, having the last three All-Star races at the track to use as a notebook.
“I would never have thought five years ago that we’d have a points race there, but now we are,” Ryan Blaney explained. “I think it’s great for the series, great for that racetrack, obviously, but it’s just good to be racing around there.”
One additional wrinkle greets teams this weekend with NASCAR adjusting the front bumpers of the cars to lessen the impact of the back bumper of a leading car. These changes will be run at all remaining short tracks this season, starting Sunday night (July 19) at North Wilkesboro.
With the Cup Series returning to points racing this weekend at North Wilkesboro, it comes at a crucial moment in the summer-stretch run to The Chase. Following this weekend’s race, only five races remain for drivers on or below The Chase cutline to improve their position in the standings to have an opportunity to race for the Cup title in 2026.
After decades without a points race on the schedule, North Wilkesboro’s return to NASCAR finally reaches the pinnacle when the green flag flies on Sunday night.
