Craftsman Truck drivers find 'Field of Dreams' in North Wilkesboro tire test

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — The rumble of NASCAR national series vehicles was back in the brushy hills of Wilkes County for the first time in a long time Monday. Making all that noise were three Craftsman Truck Series drivers who weren’t even born the last time North Wilkesboro Speedway hosted their tour.

Goodyear tire testing at the historic 0.625-mile track — in its latest phase of resurrection after laying mostly dormant since 1996 — was up to relative youngsters in 23-year-old Zane Smith and 20-year-olds Corey Heim and Carson Hocevar. The three will return with the rest of the Craftsman Truck Series regulars in two months for the Tyson 250 on May 20 (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM) as part of the NASCAR All-Star Race weekend.

RELATED: Truck Series standings | Buy tickets

Of the three, only Heim had competed here before, in a CARS Tour event during the track’s initial revival last August. As for the other two, their reaction was something of wide-eyed wonderment.

“Right when I pulled into the infield and really looked at the grandstands, I’m like, ‘Man, we’re on a hill,’ ” said Smith, noting the facility’s distinctive incline — downhill on the frontstretch and slightly uphill on the back — for the first time. “So you go pretty much up the hill into (turn) three and down a hill into (turn) one, so you don’t really notice it when you’re out there, but it’s kind of weird to look at. It’s just a place like none other.”

All three were challenged by the elevation change and the fight for elusive grip on the well-worn asphalt, but Hocevar’s first hurdle came even before his arrival after navigating the winding two-lane country roads around U.S. Route 421. “I’ve never seen it,” he said. “I didn’t know how to get into the place. I was lost. There’s no entryway, it’s all under construction.”

Once he found the way in, he liked what he saw.

“Rarely do you have a test where you are smiling the whole time you are out there going around the track,” Hocevar said. “It was a lot of fun to be out there today slipping and sliding around on this historic track. It sounds silly, but this is our ‘Field of Dreams.’ I‘m not a baseball fan, but it was super cool to see that. This is just like that. This is our deal. Everyone has high expectations and hopefully we meet (them). It felt like I was walking into a track where we weren‘t supposed to be. I‘m just really glad that NASCAR, Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. and the CARS Tour kept picking at it.”

Monday’s test ran seven-plus hours as a prelude to three NASCAR Cup Series teams scheduled for their own Goodyear session Tuesday. Scheduled to participate are Chris Buescher (RFK Racing), Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing) and Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing).

Teams arrived Monday to find a track that’s inching closer to being race-ready, with SAFER barriers now fully in place and light towers dotting the inside and outside of the track’s perimeter. Support posts are in place all the way around the track, but are still awaiting the catch fencing. Those energy-absorbing retaining barriers have also received a fresh paint job since track officials last held an open house for the media. It’s an old-school look that takes a page from the track’s history books, with alternating red and white sections in a nod to the Winston Cup era.

Steve Swift, senior vice president of operations and development for Speedway Motorsports, said the infrastructure and supporting buildings have shown progress. Outdoor siding, roofing, plumbing, mechanicals and electrical systems are all in place. “We’re just down to the finishes and getting power turned on so we can start putting flooring in and the final touches on the insides of the buildings,” Swift said.

The hospitality suites being built from scratch in Turn 4 still remain a skeleton of what it will become, Swift says. In every other instance, Swift said the approach from his staff has been to keep and improve existing structures wherever possible, helping to preserve a great deal of the track’s rich history.

“We’ve got great teammates and contractors out here that are making this happen, and just everybody’s got the will to make that race to get to that checkered flag to be able to wave the green flag and make things happen,” Swift says. “So we’re really good on schedule.”

From the competition side, Heim, Hocevar and Smith joined their teams — one from each manufacturer — in providing feedback to help find the proper compound, construction and feel from Goodyear’s tires. The early input stressed how much the Goodyear rubber fell off and lost grip on the abrasive surface, even relatively early in a run.

Heim had a basis of comparison from his on-track time last summer at North Wilkesboro.

“I’d say the grip level is certainly a lot less in the Truck Series,” said Heim, in his first year with the Tricon Garage team. “I feel like just the added weight with the truck compared to the late model is the main difference in center speed. Of course, with the truck, you’re gonna have a little bit more horsepower, but it’s really hard to lay that down when the truck weighs so much compared to the late model. So a lot of fall-off compared to the late model, a lot less center corner speed, but should be some good racing.”

Heim also noted the progress he saw in the construction efforts since his last visit here in August, with a fully paved infield complete and the rest of the facilities showing new life. Smith and Hocevar were soaking in the renovations with even fresher eyes, witnessing the final stages of rebirth for a track that existed almost as a mythical piece of racing lore before seeing it in person.

“Obviously you hear about it from everyone in the shop that’s been working in this sport forever, and past drivers, just legends of our sport,” said Smith, the defending Truck Series champion. “This is the place that you always hear about. Then really the past few years, you see pictures of it kind of coming to life and then the rumors that man, this place might come back. I think every racer loves a short track, so we were excited about it, and it was so cool to see really Dale Jr. and others kind of attack this place and make it a reality again.”