Points race is back at North Wilkesboro Speedway - RAW CHILI

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — For the first time in 30 years, a points race is back at North Wilkesboro Speedway — this weekend’s Window World 450.

Fans are ecstatic about the return of a NASCAR Cup Series race at the historic track, including Mike Staley, whose father, Enoch Staley, started the North Wilkesboro Speedway.

What You Need To Know

North Wilkesboro Speedway has not held a NASCAR points race since 1996

NASCAR in 2023 came back to the track, which has hosted the All-Star Race for the past three years

Enoch Staley founded the track in the 1940s, hosting a race almost two years before the first NASCAR race was held

A points race helps drivers progress in the NASCAR Cup Series in hopes to make it to the playoffs

The countdown is on for the rumbling of seats and the roaring of engines at North Wilkesboro Speedway this weekend.

While the All-Star Race has been held at the revitalized track for the past few years, this year, the roots of NASCAR history are exposed even more with a points race back at the track.

Around 80 years ago, Enoch Staley and his friends saw a race in South Carolina and brought the idea back to the North Wilkesboro area.

A rendering of Enoch Staley, the founder of North Wilkesboro Speedway and pioneer of NASCAR hanging in his son, Mike Staley’s office. (Spectrum News 1/ Ryan Gavette)

“All the bootleggers and all the hot rod cars and Wilkes County, they said, ‘Well, we might as well build a track. Let’s build us a track and see how it does,’” Mike Staley said, the former president of North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Enoch Staley helped build the speedway in 1946. Mike Staley said his father didn’t have any long-term plans for the track and only expected 3,000 attendees, but 10,000 people showed up to its first race in 1947.

“They knew they were onto something,” he said.

His father continued to help shape NASCAR into what it is today, running the speedway until his death in 1995, and was president of other tracks including Hillsborough Speedway and Asheville-Weaverville Speedway. Mike Staley took over as the president of North Wilkesboro Speedway after his father’s death.

In September 1996, the Tyson Holly Farms 400 was the last NASCAR Cup Series race held at the speedway for 30 years.

Big names competed for the title, including Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon.

Over the years, the speedway deteriorated, losing its shine but not its place in racing history.

“It was terrible to see it run down… just the buildings collapse, and it was terrible. It was like taking a bandage off a wound,” Staley said.

Much of the track’s history lived in his garage, including concession stand signs, tickets, photos and even the last pace car to grace the track in 1996, which sat patiently awaiting a successor.

Some of the racing memorabilia in Mikey Staley’s garage. (Spectrum News 1/ Ryan Gavette)

Fans pushed for the revitalization of the speedway through grassroots efforts like Save The Speedway, founded in 2005. In the past few years, the track received a multimillion-dollar facelift through federal grants and state funds.

NASCAR was welcomed back to the short track in May 2023 for the All-Star Race.

“It was great. I was surprised that they could do so much so fast, and I was actually very jealous to start with. I said, gosh, I wish I’d had the funds and the means to do that years ago. But they made it work. It made a beautiful place out of it,” Staley said. “I was thrilled with it. My dad would have been, I think he’d been proud of it.”

During NASCAR’s first year back in North Wilkesboro, the state saw a more than a $42 million economic impact. While racing fans were thrilled to see flags waving again at the short track, many still yearned for a points race.

The All-Star Race is an exhibition race with a prize of $1 million. Drivers can advance in the NASCAR Cup Series through the points race, with the goal of qualifying for the playoffs this year.

“Everybody is thrilled about the points race, because the points race in this time of the year, going into the Chase, there’s a lot of interest and a lot of eyes on North Wilkesboro, and it means good things for the whole community,” Staley said. “Especially the sponsors.”

Jeff Gordon is the last driver to win a points race at the speedway, leaving the potential title in the hands of 37 drivers this year.

“This points race will be special to whoever wins it, I think. And it’s special to, of course, everybody in the grandstand, and me and my family, and the whole community. North Wilkesboro is back,” Staley said.

He said his father was very old school in the cosmetics of the track and wouldn’t paint the walls of North Wilkesboro, since Daytona didn’t paint its walls, but he believes his dad would be proud of the work that has been done on the track.

The last pace car to grace the track at North Wilkesboro Speedway before its closure in 1996. (Spectrum News 1/ Ryan Gavette)

“I hope the points race stays here, locks it down for the future,” Staley said.

He praises the work done on the track for fan experience, including a pedestrian bridge that opened last year, and hopes to see new seats soon in the stadium. He said he looks forward to attending the race this weekend.

The fun starts off this weekend with NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Practice and Series Qualifying on Friday, followed by the zMAX CARS Tour PLM Spears Manufacturing 75 and the zMAX CARS Tour LMSC Skyline National Bank 100.

Saturday will feature the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series FaithFest 250 and the NASCAR Cup Series Practice and Qualifying in the evening.

Sunday is the big race day with the Window World 450 starting at 7 p.m.

For a full breakdown of the weekend’s schedule, click here.