“Look, my sister, who’s not a race fan and four years younger than me, called and asked me for tickets, if that tells you anything,” said Doug Yates, CEO of Roush Yates Engines.
As for the track surface, prior to last year’s CARS Tour race at North Wilkesboro, Swift said officials “went out and had to do some minor repairs, places that had rotted, water had been in that hadn’t been touched.
“We did have to do a bunch of track patching. Post that, we had the events all through August and got through those events and then our key at that point was to seal the track up so we wouldn’t get any water infiltration over the winter months for freeze and thaw.”
Swift compared the condition of the track surface to what he encountered with aging surfaces at Kentucky Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.
“Naturally, there are situations that we’ve got to address prior to the race, but we feel pretty confident,” Swift said.
All-Star weekend won’t be the first time Cup Series cars have been on the track since the renovation began.
Two months ago, a Goodyear tire test was held, with one team from each manufacturer taking part.
Over two days, RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher (Ford), Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon (Chevrolet) and 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick (Toyota) became acquainted with NASCAR’s newest old track.
“It’s going to put on a good race,” Buescher said. “It was a lot of fun in the race car. We got to make several hundred laps in our race car, went through different tire options and learned a lot. It’s a track that’s rough around the edges. It’s got a ton of character.”
Dillon noted the “track’s still the old track.”
“It just teaches you short-track racing (techniques), being easy on that gas pedal and trying to take care of the rear tires,” he said. “This place was dormant forever and now it’s alive, and you can feel the energy and the momentum that’s building. It’s going to be electric (in May). It’s going to have that feel they had in the 1990s here, when they were packed out and fans were getting to enjoy a race near home. It’s rough out there.
“It’s gritty. It’s North Wilkesboro.”
Reddick said his team went into the test with its “best guess” as what to expect and he approached it with an “open mind.”
“I just really enjoyed making our 20- and 50-lap runs,” Reddick said. “You really have to respect the race track and think long-term (with tire conservation).”
Adam Stevens, crew chief for Christopher Bell, has never been part of a race at the legendary short track, though he did attend one when he was 8.
From the information made available to him from the tire test, Stevens observed, “The amount of lap time falloff with laps on tires was just staggering.”
However, Stevens has no idea whether the All-Star Race will turn out to “be a track position race” or “how many lanes there are to pass.”
Kyle Busch, Dillon’s teammate at RCR, observed, “I think the grip was gone probably back in the ’80s and they haven’t touched it since.”
Of the two-day tire test, Swift said it was “almost surreal” to see Cup Series cars on the track for the first time in 27 years.
“I’ve got different concerns I guess than some, just making sure the track surface is going to hold together,” Swift said. “First, I had to take a moment, ‘Wow, this is really happening.’ And then it was, ‘OK, what’s it doing to the race surface?’”
All of this work put into North Wilkesboro wasn’t intended for a one-time event. Speedway Motorsports plans to use the facility for years to come.
What still needs to be done to ensure it can last?
“The biggest thing is working with the government to enhance that infrastructure outside of the speedway,” Swift said. “We were able to suffice our water systems to make sure we got water to the site. But the sewer is still a big issue.
“We’ve done things and we’ve installed things to make sure the sewer gets through this event, a couple of years down the road. But long term, it means working on getting the public sewer to the site, which will make a huge difference.”
As for the racing surface, Swift said it’s “currently the plan” to roll with it as long as possible.
“We listen to the drivers, we listen to Dale Jr.,” Swift said. “We’ll use every flavor Elmer’s glue makes to make sure that thing is held together.”
This story appeared in the May 10, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
