North Wilkesboro Speedway, Oval

North Wilkesboro Speedway is one of stock car racing's most storied short tracks, set in the Wilkes County hills of North Carolina, a region once known as the moonshine capital of America. Businessman Enoch Staley built the circuit on farmland with a group of investors, but a modest budget of fifteen hundred dollars left the track shorter and more irregular than planned at five-eighths of a mile. An early end to grading work gave it a celebrated quirk: a downhill frontstretch and an uphill backstretch that exist entirely by accident. The dirt oval was completed in late 1946, the first official race ran in May 1947, and it was at North Wilkesboro that Bill France soon laid the groundwork for forming NASCAR. The track hosted top-level NASCAR competition every year from 1949, almost always with two races a season, and was paved in the late 1950s. Along with Martinsville it stands as one of only two venues from the inaugural 1949 season still operating today. As NASCAR's superspeedways grew and the sport commercialised, the small rural track fell out of step, and after Bruton Smith and Bob Bahre bought it and moved its race dates away, 1996 marked the end of its Cup run. The speedway then sat largely silent for a quarter century, slowly decaying despite repeated revival efforts. Under Speedway Motorsports the four-turn oval was finally reinvigorated, with racing returning in 2022, the All-Star Race in 2023, and a points-paying Cup race back on the schedule in 2026.

Operated by: NASCAR / Speedway Motorsports LLC