Drivers say North Wilkesboro
Speedway deserves Cup points race after All-Star Race success
[May 20, 2025]
By NATE RYAN
For his first act as a NASCAR All-Star Race champion, Christopher
Bell chose to praise the revitalized 78-year-old racetrack that
delivered a memorable night of racing.
“Let’s go!” Bell shouted to roaring approval from a capacity crowd
of 25,000 as he made the case Sunday night during his frontstretch
celebration that North Wilkesboro Speedway was due a Cup Series
points race.
“The best short track in NASCAR,” Bell said. “It is absolutely
incredible. It’s just going to get better and better. Man, that was
an amazing race.”
In its third edition as host of the $1 million exhibition event, the
speedway produced All-Star Race records for lead changes (18) and
green-flag passes for the lead (59) as its remarkable rebirth
continued from a dilapidated and rotting hulk just three years ago.
Speedway Motorsports announced that grandstand seating and premium
hospitality were sold out for the 41st All-Star Race, which drew
fans from 43 states and nine countries to North Wilkesboro, which is
80 miles north of Charlotte. SMI president and CEO Marcus Smith
proclaimed that “like Lambeau Field to football and Fenway Park to
baseball, North Wilkesboro Speedway has become America’s throwback
racetrack.”
Bell was among several drivers who say the short track deserves its
first Cup Series points race in 30 years when NASCAR releases its
2026 schedule, which is expected in a few months.
“I don’t see why not,” seven-time most popular driver winner Chase
Elliott said about the possibility after finishing fifth. “I think
it’s plenty capable of hosting, and obviously, the crowd seems
extremely receptive to the idea, too. Whatever NASCAR decides on
that, I’m good with. It put on a good race for sure, so it’s hard to
argue against that.”
Aside from a smattering of minor-league races in 2010-11, North
Wilkesboro Speedway had sat dormant since Jeff Gordon won its most
recent Cup race on Sept. 29, 1996. A $20 million renovation (
spurred by federal funding from the American Rescue Plan ) began in
2022 and led to being awarded the 2023 All-Star Race.
Its first two All-Star Races were lackluster, but North Wilkesboro’s
racing came to life Sunday. The 0.625-mile oval’s surface has
widened into multiple lanes since a repaving last year, and Sunday’s
race featured 1,426 green-flag passes that electrified the jammed
grandstands.
“Man, they show up,” Bell said. “We go out for driver intros, and
the place was packed. It’s just bumping. We need more events like
this.”
Joe Gibbs, whose team scored its third All-Star Race victory with
Bell joining previous winners Kyle Busch in 2015 and Denny Hamlin in
2017, credited Smith and support from the community for putting the
track in line for points race consideration.
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Green flag drops on a restart during the NASCAR All-Star Open auto
race Sunday, May 18, 2025, in North Wilkesboro, N.C. (AP Photo/Scott
Kinser)
“I won’t be making that decision,” Gibbs said. “But
I think the way this race turned out and the crowd and everything,
that’ll have a lot to do with it.”
Budding rivalry
Already sour about a “Promoter’s Caution” that erased his late lead
and left him vulnerable on older tires, runner-up Joey Logano took
issue with Bell’s winning pass in the No. 20 Toyota. After the
drivers made contact that squeezed his No. 22 Ford into the outside
wall with nine laps remaining, Logano vowed retaliation if he’d been
able to catch Bell.
“I did all I could do to hold him off, and he got under me and
released the brake and gave me no option,” said Logano, who led a
race-high 139 of 250 laps. “If I could’ve got to him, he was going
around after a move like that. I just couldn’t get back to him. Just
frustrated after you lead so many laps, and the car is so fast, and
you don’t win. It hurts quite a bit.”
Bell was bemused by Logano’s frustration.
“I had got to him a couple times before, and he made it very
difficult on me, as he should,” Bell said. “I got my run, and I took
the moment, as I should. I don’t think that I did anything that Joey
has not done, and I’ve seen Joey do much worse. We will continue
on.”
Notable
With top-five finishes by Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman and Chase
Elliott, Chevrolet beat Ford and Toyota to win the All-Star Race’s
first “Manufacturer’s Showdown” that was based on the combined
results for each automaker. … Jon Edwards, the former PR rep for
Kyle Larson who died last month, was honored with “The Byrnsie
Award” that is voted on by Fox’s NASCAR broadcast team in tribute to
late broadcaster Steve Byrnes. Fox has presented the award since
2016 to celebrate those who embody Byrnes’ principles of
preparation, teamwork and family.
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