Track profile: Everything to know about North Wilkesboro Speedway

There are few race tracks that ooze history like North Carolina's North Wilkesboro Speedway, which opened its doors for the first time on May 18, 1947 for a race that was won by Fonty Flock. The event was held nearly a year before the first NASCAR race.

A group of four men, Enoch Staley, Lawson Curry, Jack Combs and Charlie Combs, were the original owners of the track. They came together to buy a plot of farmland in Wilkes County, which became the home of North Wilkesboro Speedway.

First opened as a dirt track, North Wilkesboro wasn't paved until 1957. The first NASCAR Cup Series race was held at the track in 1949 and was won by Bob Flock, the brother of Fonty Flock.

NASCAR was a regular fixture at North Wilkesboro Speedway until the end of 1996, when both of the track's race dates were moved elsewhere. Save for a brief one-year revival in 2010 and 2011, the track sat idle for more than 20 years.

In 2022, track owners Speedway Motorsports revived the track for a month of racing that featured divisions like the CARS Tour. That revival led to a complete overhaul of the facility and the return of the NASCAR Cup Series in 2023 for the annual NASCAR All-Star Race.

NASCAR officially returned to North Wilkesboro Speedway in May of 2023. Kyle Larson won the NASCAR All-Star Race in addition to a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on the same weekend.

While North Wilkesboro Speedway may be best known for hosting NASCAR's top division, Modifieds have also been a regular fixture at North Wilkesboro dating back to the 1950s via the NASCAR Modified National Championship.

Drivers like Red Byron, Curtis Turner, Buck Baker and Junior Johnson all won Modified races at North Wilkesboro in the early years. Now, all these years later, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is back as a fixture on the schedule.