On Thursday morning, Speedway Motorsports officially confirmed that the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race will return to North Wilkesboro Speedway for the 2024 season. According to the release from Speedway Motorsports, the 2024 NASCAR All-Star Race will be held on May 19th.
The track will undergo a repave prior to the 2024 NASCAR race weekend, which will also feature the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Speedway Motorsports President and CEO Marcus Smith says the warm reception from fans at the return of North Wilkesboro Speedway in 2023 played an integral piece in the track returning as the host of the All-Star Race in 2024.
“We are very grateful that NASCAR and FOX Sports have supported our efforts to bring the NASCAR All-Star Race back to North Wilkesboro in 2024,” said Smith. “While NASCAR’s current 75th anniversary season still has some memorable moments to come, it’s hard to imagine a more magical moment than what we witnessed with NASCAR’s return to North Wilkesboro Speedway this past May.
“The success of the 2023 All-Star Race with fans coming from all 50 states and seven foreign countries would not have been possible without the support of the NASCAR industry, our state legislature, Gov. Roy Cooper and the Wilkes County community. We’re thankful to have the opportunity to bring back an international spotlight for the second consecutive year to North Wilkesboro and the great state of North Carolina.”
Tickets for the 2024 NASCAR All-Star Race will go on sale to the public on October 5th.
North Wilkesboro Speedway was a fixture on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit beginning in the first-ever season in 1949, and it remained on the schedule until the fall of 1996.
As the sport of NASCAR expanded, North Wilkesboro Speedway faded. The track remained dormant for the most part until Dale Earnhardt Jr. spearheaded an effort to clean the track up so it could be scanned for users on the iRacing virtual driving simulator service.
As Earnhardt, Smith and others were clearing the weeds, they realized that the track wasn’t in bad shape at all. The wheels began turning, and the track hosted a very successful CARS Tour event in the fall of 2022. Soon after, the iconic speedway was announced as being back in the NASCAR National Series ranks.
