NASCAR's last race at North Wilkesboro: What to know, and why NASCAR left North Wilkesboro
The first race run by NASCAR's top series at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina took place on Oct. 16, 1949.
Bob Flock (according to Racing Reference, which is an incredible NASCAR history tool) won the race and earned $1,500. Lee Petty, Richard's father, was the only other car on the lead lap and finished in second. He earned $700.
Forty-seven years later, North Wilkesboro Speedway held its final NASCAR Cup Series race. The track held two Cup races per year since 1957. After September 1996, there were none.
NASCAR returns to a renovated North Wilkesboro on Sunday for its annual All-Star Race. The Cup Series race will take place Sunday, while the Craftsman Truck Series will take to the track Saturday.
The return of a Cup Series points race was not ruled out by NASCAR executive Steve O'Donnell, The Athletic reported earlier this month. That discussion comes later.
What happened in the final Cup race? Why did NASCAR move away from North Wilkesboro?
NASCAR's last race at North Wilkesboro
Race name: Tyson Holly Farms 400 (400 laps, 250 miles)
Date: Sept. 29, 1996
Winner: Jeff Gordon
What happened? Gordon and Dale Earnhardt battled for the lead in the second half of the race, with Gordon taking the lead for good with 79 laps to go. There were just four cautions in the race, and all 37 cars were running at the finish. Gordon led 207 laps overall. Eleven cars were on the lead lap at the finish. Gordon extended his 1996 points lead (remember, this was before the Chase or the Cup Series playoffs) with four races remaining but eventually lost the 1996 title to teammate Terry Labonte.
The top 10: Gordon won by 1.73 seconds over Earnhardt.
Jeff Gordon
Dale Earnhardt
Dale Jarrett
Jeff Burton
Terry Labonte
Rick Mast
Ricky Rudd
Bobby Hamilton
Mark Martin
Rusty Wallace
Why did NASCAR leave North Wilkesboro?
There were a couple factors. North Wilkesboro's two race weekends were handed to New Hampshire Motor Speedway (a track that had a race weekend already but was popular as the only NASCAR Cup race in New England) and Texas Motor Speedway (which opened the next year).
But those dates could have conceivably come from other race tracks. Why this one? North Wilkesboro was an aged track that lacked modern facilities that other, newer tracks had at the time. The track was also the smallest by capacity on the schedule by 1996. Track founder Enoch Staley died in 1995, and the track's shares were bought separately by SMI founder Bruton Smith and New Hampshire Motor Speedway owner Bob Bahre before the start of the 1996 season, The Tennessean reported at the time.
Once that occurred, North Wilkesboro Speedway's fate was sealed. New Hampshire ended up with the September date, and Texas got North Wilkesboro's April race date.
Former Tennessean reporter Larry Woody (who covered North Wilkesboro's final NASCAR race for The Tennessean) wrote a story about the track with this race-day headline: "Riding Into sunset -- North Wilkesboro, NASCAR's roots lose their race against time." Woody wrote about North Wilkesboro's exit from NASCAR: "Starting next season, the 50-year-old track's two Winston Cup races will be moved to bigger, modern tracks. Some see it as progress. Others worry that NASCAR is abandoning its rural roots, its heritage."
"But the sport has changed and we have to change with it," said Bobby Hamilton, a Nashville native and the driver of the No. 43 Petty Enterprises Pontiac in 1996, to Woody. "Nowadays it's about big tracks, big crowds and national exposure. I hate it, because I like these little tracks. But racing is like life — it changes and goes on. You can't live in the past."
North Wilkesboro never returned to the NASCAR national series schedule after 1996. Some local series ran races there, but the facility deteriorated and eventually went untouched in the 2010s.
In 2019, NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. and current SMI president and CEO Marcus Smith led a group to clean the track in decent enough condition to be scanned by iRacing, a popular simulation racing video game, for use on its game, as the two discussed on Earnhardt's podcast, Dale Jr. Download.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper budgeted money for renovating three race tracks in the state in 2022, including North Wilkesboro. Last fall, Earnhardt ran in a late model race at the track.
The old race track still looks like itself, just with a current-day shine. And NASCAR is back in Wilkes County, North Carolina.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR's last race at North Wilkesboro: What to know & why NASCAR left
