Ahead of 2023 race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, CARS Tour drivers reflect on unforgettable 2022 revival

When Jack McNelly started the CARS Tour back in 2015, there was no way of knowing his vision of a premier Late Model Stock series would one day take him to North Wilkesboro Speedway.

The iconic track was still sitting abandoned in the mountains of North Carolina when the series ran its first race, but a perfect storm of circumstances brought North Wilkesboro back to life in August of 2022 with the CARS Tour serving as the grand finale for the month-long festivities.

A talented field of 30 drivers and a crowd exceeding 22,000 spectators converged at North Wilkesboro on the night of Aug. 31. McNelly considered the scene one of the most vibrant short-track atmospheres he’s witnessed through multiple decades in the sport.

After watching North Wilkesboro gradually decay, the thought of even holding one race there remains surreal for McNelly as he prepares for the CARS Tour‘s second trip to the historic facility on Wednesday.

“It still feels like a dream,” McNelly said. “The first emotion was surprise, and the second emotion was unbelief over being able to perform in front of such a large audience on such a big stage.”

STREAMING: Watch Late Model features at North Wilkesboro live on FloRacing

The main person McNelly credited for making that dream a reality was Dale Earnhardt Jr., who took over ownership of the CARS Tour just a few months after North Wilkesboro.

In 2019, Earnhardt Jr. spearheaded the effort to clear the abandoned track of weeds and debris so it could be properly scanned for iRacing. North Wilkesboro made its formal iRacing debut that May as part of the eNASCAR Pro Invitational Series, bolstering growing interest in the long-dormant facility.

The COVID-19 pandemic became the catalyst that sparked North Wilkesboro‘s revival. North Carolina governor Roy Cooper allocated $18 million in federal pandemic relief funds toward modernizing North Wilkesboro‘s infrastructure with the goal of bringing auto racing back to Wilkes County.

Once McNelly was certain the CARS Tour would be a part of the Racetrack Revival, he worked diligently to ensure North Wilkesboro met the necessary standards to put on a race that harkened back to the facility‘s prime before its closure in 1996.

McNelly never expressed overt concern about the on-track product in the months leading up to the Racetrack Revival, but he was worried about what kind of amenities fans and drivers would have at their disposal with urban decay stemming from over two decades of dereliction.

“I had gone up for a site visit [before August], and I was concerned about the retaining wall, which had deteriorated in Turn 1,” McNelly said. “That was taken care of, but I was also concerned about whether they would put up enough lights for our fellas to be safe out there.

“There were a lot of ifs. I wasn‘t worried about how the race would go, but more so the facilities like restrooms. I honestly didn‘t know if they would have one port-o-potty or a hundred of those things.”

No matter the state of North Wilkesboro and its facilities come race day, three-time CARS Tour champion Bobby McCarty was one of the most eager to finally compete at a track that meant so much to NASCAR and short track competitors in the southeast.

McCarty for years had heard the persistent rumors surrounding a potential reopening of North Wilkesboro, but he never imagined any would come to fruition. The reality of an operational North Wilkesboro did not set in for McCarty until he entered the property for the first time.

“It was kind of surreal,” McCarty said. “I was born in 1992, so I don‘t remember much of the racing [at North Wilkesboro] but heard it was really good. It was a hell of a party at the same time, so going in there was a lot like being at Martinsville or Bristol. The greats cut their teeth there, and it‘s a different kind of feeling when you go to one of those places.”

Like everyone else who showed up for the Racetrack Revival, McCarty had plenty of questions about how North Wilkesboro would race for 125 laps. But he did expect drivers to ride around and conserve tires during the opening stages on such an abrasive surface.

After drivers had time to get acclimated to North Wilkesboro in practice and qualifying, McNelly sensed a great deal of optimism in the infield and was confident all the hard work put in by himself, the series, promoters and Earnhardt Jr. would result in a once in a lifetime short track event.

The optimism was still prevalent during pre-race festivities that included a Q&A session hosted by Earnhardt Jr., but McNelly wanted to provide drivers and crew members one last reminder of the prestige and significance behind racing at North Wilkesboro before the green flag.

“At the driver‘s meeting, I told everyone to do themselves a favor and take a few minutes before everything got going to soak in the atmosphere,” McNelly said. “I told them to not think about anything else except this moment, because these don‘t come that often at our level of racing.

“For some, they may never see something like this again.”

Anticipation only grew as the sold-out crowd began filing into North Wilkesboro, backing up traffic on the Wilkes County backroads for miles. Those who did get inside were able to converse with drivers during a prolonged fan fest before entertaining themselves by doing the wave and shining the flashlights on their cell phones as cars rolled off for pace laps.

Seeing such a vibrant crowd at a short track was simultaneously a jarring and enthralling experience for defending CARS Tour champion Carson Kvapil, who knew all eyes would be on him as led the 30-car field to the green flag.

Despite feeling some natural intimidation, Kvapil admitted leaning on his boss in Earnhardt Jr., giving him a sense of comfort heading into the race.

“There were definitely a few things [Earnhardt Jr.] remembered from when he ran Late Models [at North Wilkesboro],” Kvapil said. “For the most part, all of us were kind of on our own. These cars changed so much since he ran them last, so there wasn‘t a whole lot to compare. Fortunately, we got a little bit of practice and tuned our stuff in the best we could.”

Kvapil gave the North Wilkesboro faithful a glimpse into NASCAR‘s future by leading a race-high 88 laps to score a win at the historic track, all while Earnhardt Jr. celebrated with the exuberant crowd with a Polish victory lap following a third-place finish.

Although Kvapil was elated by his accomplishment, he admitted the journey to just get to North Wilkesboro‘s elevated Victory Lane was more unnerving than anything he experienced out on track.

“That lift was pretty sketchy,” Kvapil said. “It was scary, and I hope they worked on it, because it was not to be trusted by me, but at the time I didn‘t really care. I was on cloud nine going up that lift even though that was its own experience.”

Since taking the checkered flag on that fateful August evening, Kvapil has been looking forward to returning to North Wilkesboro, especially since Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Ross Chastain are among the names on the entry list.

ENTRY LIST: Here are the Cup Series drivers racing at North Wilkesboro

For McCarty, who ended his first trip to North Wilkesboro with a fifth-place finish, the presence of the Cup Series drivers on Wednesday will be a perfect opportunity to showcase the amount of talent in Late Model Stock racing — and why Earnhardt Jr., Harvick and others are investing so much into the CARS Tour.

Being able to defeat some of NASCAR‘s best at a facility like North Wilkesboro would be a career highlight for McCarty and further validate the commitment he has maintained to the CARS Tour since the end of 2017.

“I want to do better than we did last year,” McCarty said. “We had a good run, and we put on a hell of a show with [Earnhardt Jr.], but now I want to go back and put on a bigger show. I would put a lot of these guys up against anybody in the Top 3 [NASCAR divisions], so it‘s cool we get to showcase what we‘re about.

“I‘m hoping one of us, hopefully me, sends these guys back to the Cup Series with their tail between their legs.”

As McCarty, Kvapil and the rest of the drivers make final preparations ahead of Wednesday evening, McNelly cannot help but be proud of everything the CARS Tour accomplished in its first venture to North Wilkesboro.

Despite dealing with a few issues regarding scheduling and traffic, McNelly departed Wilkes County in 2022 completely satisfied with how the event turned out. With improved amenities and two CARS Tour divisions on the docket for next week, McNelly has every reason to believe another great outing at North Wilkesboro is in store for the series.

Closing out the Racetrack Revival with an efficient show in 2022 was a top priority for McNelly, who knew all eyes in the motorsports world would be watching to see if all the hard work toward restoring North Wilkesboro could indeed translate into a sustainable future for the track.

Now that the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race is at North Wilkesboro along with a week-long schedule of racing, McNelly feels honored that the CARS Tour got to play a role at reviving a key part of stock car history while also hopefully building upon a solid foundation for the series and short tracks going forward.

“For me, [the Racetrack Revival] meant a lot,” McNelly said. “There were 22,000 people there, and I would go out on a limb and say at least half, if not more, hadn‘t been to a short-track race in 15 years. They came, they saw great racing, so no matter where they came from, they‘ll go back to that area with a good taste in their mouths.

“Hopefully they‘ll all go support their local short tracks.”