North Wilkesboro Speedway Has Earned a Points-Paying NASCAR Cup Race

After this past weekend's NASCAR All-Star Race festivities at North Wilkesboro Speedway, one thing became abundantly clear: the legendary short track, which has hosted the NASCAR All-Star Race in each of the last three seasons, deserves a NASCAR Cup Series points-paying race. And after Sunday's race, there's a chance, in year two of the track's new racing surface, that North Wilkesboro has become the best short track on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

North Wilkesboro Speedway played host to an All-Star Race record 18 lead changes, and throughout the race, there was very little follow-the-leader, as side-by-side racing became the norm.

RESULTS: NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway

Christopher Bell, who took the win in Sunday's All-Star Race over Joey Logano, explained that a mixture of progressive banking and a strange phenomenon with Goodyear's soft tire compound allowed North Wilkesboro to put on such a great show this weekend.

"Man, that's a million-dollar question right there. So definitely having the progressive banking is helping. It helps a lot," Bell explained. "But whenever we go to other repaves, the track just stays really narrow and the track is very slippery until it rubbers up; and then once it rubbers up, it gains a lot of grip, and then if you get outside of the rubber, there is no grip.

"But here, for whatever reason, the rubber smears down and it gets really wide and the whole racetrack becomes usable. There might be a little bit of marbles at the very top of 3 and 4, but for the most part, you can run all over the racetrack."

Bell also gave praise to the asphalt mixture that was utilized in the repave following the 2022 return of the track.

"The asphalt mixture is really good. Normally, when we get repaves, it's single-file, and once that preferred groove rubbers in, that's all you've got. For whatever reason, this asphalt mixture mixed with the progressive banking just makes a great racetrack."

I'm not going to lie. Figuring out what definitively allowed Wilkesboro to do what no other short track can do currently, which is put on a good show with the Next Gen car, is certainly above my pay grade. But without a doubt, Sunday's race passed the test as far as what a short track race could be with this seventh-generation NASCAR Cup Series car.

And in my opinion Sunday night's All-Star Race, which was expected to be a snoozer, ended up being the breath of fresh air we all desperately needed.

Like Bell, Brad Keselowski feels North Wilkesboro Speedway has earned its place on the NASCAR Cup Series points-paying schedule. But if Wilkesboro is added, something has to be removed. Keselowski is in favor of the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL going away.

“I think [North Wilkesboro] needs to be a points racetrack,” Keselowski said in his post-pole-winning press conference. “I’d like to see the All-Star Race most likely return to Charlotte. That’s my personal opinion. I think the Charlotte racetrack, particularly since it only has one race on the oval, I think that’s a miss for our sport.

“It’s a great racetrack and puts on some of the best racing, so it would make sense to me if we were to revert back to that and make this a season race, and probably get rid of a race like the Roval or something like that.”

Keselowski reiterated, "I'm very strong about the ROVAL has got to go."

Whether it's the ROVAL, whether it's a random second race date at another track on the schedule, it doesn't matter. North Wilkesboro Speedway has worked itself into a points-paying NASCAR Cup Series race.

The on-track product now matches the intensity of the incredible fanbase, which has shown up in droves since the track was brought back from the dead going into the 2022 season. If North Wilkesboro doesn't end up on the schedule as a points-paying race, it'll be a massive miss.

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