Time To Add North Wilkesboro Back To NASCAR Schedule

Speedway Motorsports put it on the fans to show whether or not North Wilkesboro Speedway should have a future, and the fans delivered.

So far, there have been two nights of racing since North Wilkesboro’s Racetrack Revival started, and the crowds have been tremendous.

The track doesn’t currently have the 40,000 seats it once had, with the backstretch grandstands no longer existing. But still, it sold out on the first night and had a pretty full crowd for night two. And those were mid-week races where the touring modifieds were the headliners (granted, those modified races did include the likes of Ryan Newman [who won the first night], Bobby Labonte and Ryan Preece).

Thank you, fans. Thank you. pic.twitter.com/hu33y3DjXN

— Racetrack Revival North Wilkesboro (@RTRevival) August 3, 2022

I could see ticket sales taking a slight dip the next few weeks when a few late model and pro late model series race there. But after that, the CARS Tour races at North Wilkesboro, and I guarantee a sell out for those races.

Why? Because some guy named Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be racing the No. 3 Sun Drop late model.

When he races a late model this month for the first time since 1997, @DaleJr will be in a No. 3 Sun Drop car at North Wilkesboro — just like the one he ran there in 1993.

Story: https://t.co/UBS8LcgPIQ pic.twitter.com/2feDNlNjrb

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) August 2, 2022

When the asphalt is ripped up and races are held on the original dirt this October, attendance will probably be high for those first races as well. Though I’m a little concerned for what it will like in the next few weeks of that.

But still, imagine the ticket demand for a weekend of NASCAR races.

Yes, Rockingham Speedway had a great turnout when it was revived for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2012 before attendance fell off a cliff in the series’ return there. But Rockingham is not North Wilkesboro, especially when it comes to attendance. North Wilkesboro was never taken off of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule because of low attendance. The races there sold out right until the very end in 1996.

Rather, the North Carolina short track was removed because Speedway Motorsports wanted the NASCAR Cup Series at its new facility, Texas Motor Speedway, as well as a second date at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. New Hampshire has since lost that second date, and Texas deserves to lose one of its two dates as well.

Texas is the only intermediate track so far where the…