Rebirth of North Wilkesboro: What NASCAR World Thinks of Dale Jr’s All-Star Revival

The All-Star weekend is heading to Moonshine Country for the second straight year. But this time around, drivers won’t tackle the same iconic 0.625-mile short track they encountered in 2023. A fresh coat of asphalt – its first since 1981 – has transformed North Wilkesboro majorly with one blazing question, scorching everyone’s mind. How will the repave affect the racing on Dale Jr’s restored sweetheart? 

Apart from the November repave in question, a conversation-worthy three-tire allotment trial, courtesy of Goodyear, will also be on display for this $1 million non-points showcase. Coupled with a brand new pit crew challenge and qualifying format, NASCAR has seemingly pulled all the stops for an exciting weekend of stock-car shenanigans at the hallowed grounds of North Wilkesboro.

North Wilkesboro gets a new coat: Will it be a ‘Two-Wide’ thrill ride?

However, a deeper dive will reveal an 18 million + 4 million dollar budget helping the newly repaved short track maintain its restoration efforts. Hence, these changes seem set in motion for track owners, Speedway Motorsports (SMI) for a decent portion of future schedules. But what are these brand-new changes on the surface?

For starters, the resurfacing project wasn’t only about laying down 2000 tons of specialty asphalt across the “50-feet wide” track. Senior VP of Operations and Development at SMI Steve Swift recently emphasized, “We were really deferential to try to maintain the character that was here before… The patch materials that we had to use kind of changed the racing for the All-Star Race, just because of where we had to patch it. The product created so much grip, so it’s going to be pretty exciting to see how it goes back to where it was pre-patching, where they were racing two-wide and three-wide. Now the track has got the same grip all the way across.”

Regardless, the “changes” preserve the original 13-degree banking in the corners, with a twist. NWS will use a special asphalt mix aimed at faster aging with a predicted 8-10% tire fall-off rate similar to that of Atlanta Motor Speedway. But speaking of the Goodyears, the season’s tire suppliers tested out their compounds earlier in March with representatives from all three manufacturers. Team Penske’s Joey Logano duly represented the season’s latest winners, Ford Performance, and he had his own observations after the one-day test run at North Wilkesboro.

Logano explained, “They did a good job, there’s still some character, it’s still a unique shaped race track, which is all good… There’s a pretty big bump down in Turn 1, I think where the wall was out too long and they cut it, and it’s kind of an interesting area… There’s a huge bump leaving (Turn) 4, which really kind of upsets the cars. I don’t think that’s bad. I’m OK with that. That’s something that made this race track so cool in the past, was that it had a lot of character, it was bumpy, you were forced to move around on it because it was challenging.”

Despite a 1-second drop-off in performance on the control tires from Phoenix after 25 laps, Logano expressed positives on the new adjustments tested during the trial day. Bringing perspectives to the present, the driver who brought the blue ovals to victory lane last week at Darlington, Brad Keselowski, appears excited to view Goodyear’s changes this weekend. In an official statement, the #6 opined, “I’m going to try and enjoy this, and I know the work that comes with it before and after. But it should be good. I like the concept. I like the fact Goodyear is willing to take chances, and they’ve done a great job.” 

As for the ‘concept’ in question, teams will have three choices: the standard prime tire, a faster-wearing “option tire” similar to the wet weather tires, and the actual wet weather tire for unexpected weather changes. Look for yellow lettering on the prime tires, red on the options, and white for the wet option. Teams get nine sets to use strategically throughout practice, qualifying, heats, and the main event, with some restrictions. The key difference? Everyone starts the All-Star Race on the option tires.

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Moving on, adding another twist to the weekend is the NASCAR All-Star Pit Crew Challenge. The crew that delivers the fastest pit stop during qualifying gets to choose their pit stall first for the race. A prime position can give teams a crucial advantage on the close-quarters pit lane of North Wilkesboro. Nevertheless, The All-Star Race throws open its doors to twenty drivers. This elite group is comprised of past champions, drivers who secured points race wins last year, two qualifiers who will emerge victorious from the All-Star Open, and the final entrant driver will be decided via fan vote after failing to qualify via the criteria mentioned above.

The excitement in North Carolina would have kicked off with Dale Jr’s zMAX CARS Tour’s late-model festivities on May 14-15th, but a rain delay will now move the event to an undisclosed future date. In preparation, over 50 drivers tested the respective Hoosier compounds on the iconic 0.625-mile short track close to Dale Jr’s heart. Brenden “Butterbean” Queen, winner of last year’s Window World 125 CARS Tour event, who will also make his Truck Series debut at North Wilkesboro this weekend at the Wright Brand 250 also seemed pumped for the brand-new profile of the repaved surface. “It’s smooth. You still have those little bit of bump characteristics, the uphill down the back and the downhill down the front, you can still kind of notice all that,” opined a former NWS victor.

From first-timers to certified champions, North Wilkesboro’s return has many heads excited and the true reveal takes place this Sunday at 8 PM ET on FS1.