Saviour Dale Jr. Gets Smug Over Revived North Wilkesboro’s Unprecedented Dominance

NASCAR has been pushing a narrative about growing beyond the traditional borders in delivering a new racing product. And, for a sport that is eyeing global appeal, to dwell on nostalgia and bring about a revival of an iconic track sounds uncommon. But that’s exactly what Dale Earnhardt Jr. managed to pull off last season by putting North Wilkesboro Raceway back on the NASCAR map after more than two decades.

Since its return, the racetrack has been breathing new life, and the recent upgrades have got Dale Jr. feeling excited about its prospects. However, the expectations of NASCAR returning to another iconic venue dealt a huge blow.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s revival plan is finally bearing fruit at North Wilkesboro

The NASCAR Cup Series hadn’t competed at the rural North Carolina track since 1996. But unlike any other ghost track, people, especially Dale Jr., couldn’t let Wilkesboro go. In late 2019, he lobbied hard to have the weeds pulled and the track scanned. Now, the iconic North Wilkesboro Raceway is scheduled to hold two racing events this season, one Truck Series race and the Cup Series All-Star race.

Despite spending millions on the overhaul of the entire venue, races were held on the same rugged surface, but that too changed last November as the track underwent a repave. Goodyear ran a tire test with the Cup drivers on the newly paved surface, and so far the results are looking good.

Joey Logano ran the test laps, and said this via motorsport, “They did a good job, there’s still some character, it’s still a unique shaped race track, which is all good.” William Byron, sharing his insights on the surface, added, “I think the racing could actually be pretty exciting with a repave on a short track.”

Keeping a close tab on the development at North Wilkesboro, naturally, Dale Jr couldn’t stop himself from sharing his excitement either. “I hear that @NWBSpeedway is 2 seconds faster per lap with the repave,” read the tweet shared by Dale Jr, which also had a GIF attached to it.

This one stretches roughly six-tenths of a mile and grew from the soil in the great Over Yonder, in the North Carolina shade of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Back then, Earnhardt and iRacing framed Wilkesboro as a last-ditch effort to immortalize a dying facility. In a short film called Bringing Back Wilkesboro, Dale Jr. said, “It won’t be here much longer, as it continues to decay… If we can take a scan of the surface and the walls, we can go back whenever we want and recreate the racetrack as it was in any year. It’ll be there forever for us to enjoy.”

While North Wilkesboro has a shot at a new life with Jr’s influence and love of fans, the expectations of NASCAR returning to another iconic venue, Fairgrounds Speedway have been dealt a huge blow.

Affordable housing projects to take over the auto-racing at Fairgrounds Speedway

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Like Wilkesboro, Fairgrounds has seen its fair share of NASCAR glory days. The likes of Geoff Bodine, Richard Petty, and Darrell Waltrip once gave the fans one of the most exciting moments in the sport’s history, racing at the venue. However, NASCAR decided to back off from running its events on the racetrack in 1985 due to ownership issues.

Efforts were made to bring NASCAR to race back at the historic venue, but for some reason, they always faltered. However, all those efforts and hopes of bringing auto racing back to Nashville’s iconic racetrack have now hit a brick wall. According to a report by the Nashville Post, the Metro Charter Revision Commission has certified an appeal to remove auto racing and add affordable housing on the current location of the race track.

The petitioners, Kenny Byrd and Hedi Basgall will now have 90 days to collect signatures from 10 percent of registered voters to escalate it to the November ballot. So while North Wilkesboro is starting to breathe a new life, Fairgrounds Speedway is heading towards an unfortunate ending.