This weekend, on July 19, 2026, for the first time in 30 years, the NASCAR Cup Series is racing at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The green flag drops at 7 p.m. ET for the Window World 450 — and for thousands of fans packing the grandstands in the foothills of the North Carolina mountains, it is a moment they genuinely thought would never come. The track sat abandoned and decaying for 26 years, weeds cracking through the asphalt, grandstands rotting in silence. That it is hosting the sport’s top series again in 2026 is, without question, one of the greatest comeback stories in the history of American motorsports.
But who actually owns North Wilkesboro Speedway? And how did a track left for dead in 1996 end up back on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule three decades later?
What Is North Wilkesboro Speedway?
North Wilkesboro Speedway is a 0.625-mile paved oval short track located at 381 Speedway Lane, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. It sits tucked into the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, about an hour northwest of Charlotte. The track has a capacity of 25,000 (expandable from its permanent 19,800 seats) and features 14 degrees of banking in the turns and just 3 degrees on the straights — giving it a flat, technically demanding character that separates the great drivers from the good ones.
It is one of the founding tracks of NASCAR, operating from 1947 until 1996, when a bitter dispute between co-owners led to it being shuttered and abandoned. The track has hosted a variety of racing events since its inaugural season of racing in 1947, primarily races sanctioned by NASCAR. Legends like Richard Petty — who owns the all-time record of 15 Cup wins at North Wilkesboro — Darrell Waltrip, and Dale Earnhardt Sr. built their legacies on this very oval.
Who Owns North Wilkesboro Speedway Right Now?
The direct answer is this: North Wilkesboro Speedway is currently owned by Speedway Motorsports, LLC (SMI), and led by track executive director Graig Hoffman. It has been owned by Speedway Motorsports, LLC (SMI) since 2007.
Speedway Motorsports is the same company that owns 10 other NASCAR Cup Series tracks across the country — including Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It is one of the two dominant track-ownership companies in American motorsports, alongside NASCAR’s own track division.
Speedway Motorsports is led by Marcus Smith, son of the late Bruton Smith — the legendary motorsports entrepreneur who built the company into a national powerhouse. Following an ambitious restoration effort led by Speedway Motorsports in partnership with NASCAR and state and local leaders, North Wilkesboro Speedway returned to national prominence in 2023 as the home of the NASCAR All-Star Race.
Ownership and Key Stakeholders Table
| Owner / Party | Role | Period | Key Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speedway Motorsports, LLC (SMI) | Current Owner | 2007 – Present | Led by CEO Marcus Smith; owns 10 NASCAR Cup tracks nationwide |
| Marcus Smith | CEO of Speedway Motorsports | 2014 – Present | Son of founder Bruton Smith; drove the revival of North Wilkesboro |
| Bruton Smith & Bob Bahre | Previous Co-Owners | 1995 – 2007 | Bought the track’s race dates in 1995; their dispute led to the 1996 closure |
| Staley and Combs Families | Long-term Founding Owners | 1953 – 1995 | Ran the track for four decades after the founding era |
| Enoch Staley & The Mastin Brothers | Original Founders | 1947 – 1953 | Built and opened the track in 1947 before NASCAR even existed |
| Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Revival Champion (No ownership) | 2019 – Present | NASCAR Hall of Famer who drove grassroots effort to restore the track |
| State of North Carolina | Public Funding Partner | 2022 | Allocated millions in state budget for infrastructure improvements |
| NASCAR | Sanctioning & Strategic Partner | 2022 – Present | Partnered with SMI on the revival; awarded All-Star Race in 2023 |
The Origin Story: Built Before NASCAR Existed
The story of North Wilkesboro Speedway goes back even further than NASCAR itself — and that connection to the very roots of stock car racing is a big part of why so many people fought so hard to bring it back.
The speedway proved an instant hit with fans, with ticket sales of 10,000 far exceeding the 3,000 that had been expected to show. Appropriately, it was bootlegger Fonty Flock who took the win, having started from pole. It was immediately after this race that Bill France held a meeting downtown at Hotel Wilkes with Staley and several other track owners with the idea of creating an association to sanction and promote stock car racing. The proposal met with support and the promoters all agreed to meet again later in the year at a hotel in Daytona Beach. There, they agreed to create the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, NASCAR.
In other words, a race at North Wilkesboro was one of the direct sparks that led to the creation of NASCAR in 1948. Without North Wilkesboro, there may have never been a NASCAR at all.
Enoch Staley built the original track in 1947. A year later, Jack Combs bought into the business and became co-owner. The Staley and Combs families would hold the track for decades, running it through the golden era of stock car racing when Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip, and Dale Earnhardt Sr. were fighting for wins every single week.
How the Track Died: The 1995 Ownership Split
The closure of North Wilkesboro in 1996 was not the result of poor racing or fan disinterest. It was the result of a business dispute between two powerful men — and it robbed the sport of one of its most beloved venues for nearly three decades.
In 1995, Bruton Smith — the founder of Speedway Motorsports — and Bob Bahre purchased the track together. Almost immediately, the partnership became contentious. Both men wanted the track’s two annual race dates for their own, newer facilities. Bruton Smith moved one race date to his new Texas Motor Speedway. Bob Bahre moved the other to his New Hampshire Motor Speedway. And with both race dates gone, North Wilkesboro had no reason to stay open.
NASCAR stopped racing at the North Wilkesboro Speedway after the 1996 Cup race. Jeff Gordon won the last Cup race. For years, the track decayed. The grandstands sat empty. The asphalt cracked. The infield filled with weeds. One of the most historic venues in all of American motorsports became a ghost.
How the Track Came Back: Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Marcus Smith
The revival of North Wilkesboro is genuinely one of the most unlikely and inspiring stories in modern motorsports. It took a NASCAR Hall of Famer, the son of a motorsports billionaire, millions in state government money, and a lot of faith.
Upon ownership of Speedway Motorsports being transferred from longtime owner Bruton Smith to his son, Marcus, rumblings of a potential revival of North Wilkesboro began to take shape. On Dec. 9, 2019, a team including Earnhardt arrived at the speedway to initiate the challenge of restoring North Wilkesboro back to its glory days.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not own the track. But he became its most passionate public advocate, using his enormous social media following and personal credibility in the sport to keep the conversation alive. Speedway Motorsports and current CEO Marcus Smith announced a multi-million-dollar renovation project in early 2022. Months later, the CARS Tour — a late-model stock car racing series co-owned by Earnhardt — held a race there that drew more than 20,000 fans.
The State of North Carolina also played a direct role. Millions of dollars in the North Carolina state budget were allocated towards infrastructure improvements at the racetrack — public investment that made the scale of renovation possible.
The revival proved what longtime fans had always believed: this historic short track still belonged on NASCAR’s biggest stage. Three successful All-Star weekends reignited the passion surrounding the facility and introduced an entirely new generation of fans to one of the sport’s most authentic experiences.
The 2026 Milestone: Cup Series Returns After 30 Years
And now, in July 2026, the story reaches its most dramatic chapter yet.
The green flag on the Window World 450 will drop at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 19 — the culmination of a lot of hard work and money spent by NASCAR, Speedway Motorsports, the State of North Carolina, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
North Wilkesboro Speedway, dormant since 1996, returns to host a NASCAR Cup Series points race for the first time in 30 years. This is not an exhibition event. This is a full, points-paying NASCAR Cup Series race that will count toward the 2026 championship standings. The Window World 450 is part of the regular season schedule — something virtually nobody believed would ever happen again when the track was sitting silent with weeds growing through its grandstands just five years ago.
Once ruined, the speedway has been transformed by a roots revival decades after it hosted its first event — a dirt race in 1947, before NASCAR was born.
Does Dale Earnhardt Jr. Own North Wilkesboro Speedway?
This is one of the most common questions fans ask — and the answer is a clear no.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t own North Wilkesboro Speedway. The track is owned by Speedway Motorsports. However, the NASCAR Hall of Famer was instrumental in reviving the historic North Carolina short track with his passion and belief in its cultural importance.
Earnhardt Jr. serves as a strong advocate and community voice for the track’s continued success. He races in local series events there. His CARS Tour partnership helped prove to Marcus Smith and Speedway Motorsports that big crowds would come back to North Wilkesboro. But the legal owner of the property, the facilities, and the track itself is Speedway Motorsports, LLC — full stop.
What Makes North Wilkesboro So Special?
Beyond the ownership story, it is worth understanding why so many people cared this deeply about saving one specific 0.625-mile oval in rural North Carolina.
North Wilkesboro hosted 93 NASCAR Cup Series races over nearly five decades. Richard Petty holds 15 Cup wins — the all-time record at North Wilkesboro. No driver dominated this track like The King. Jeff Gordon won the final Cup race at the track on September 29, 1996, before the 26-year silence began.
The track has unique physical characteristics that make it unlike anything else on the NASCAR schedule — an uphill backstretch and a downhill frontstretch that create natural passing opportunities and unpredictable racing that bigger, flatter ovals simply cannot replicate. It is raw, authentic, and deeply connected to the cultural roots of the sport.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. Who owns North Wilkesboro Speedway in 2026?
North Wilkesboro Speedway is owned by Speedway Motorsports, LLC (SMI), led by CEO Marcus Smith, since 2007.
Q2. Does Dale Earnhardt Jr. own North Wilkesboro Speedway?
No. Dale Earnhardt Jr. does not own the track — Speedway Motorsports does — but Earnhardt was the key figure in driving its revival.
Q3. When did North Wilkesboro Speedway close and reopen?
The track closed after its final Cup race on September 29, 1996, and returned to racing in August 2022 with a CARS Tour event.
Q4. Who originally built North Wilkesboro Speedway?
Enoch Staley built and opened North Wilkesboro Speedway in 1947, before NASCAR was officially founded.
Q5. Why did North Wilkesboro Speedway close in 1996?
Co-owners Bruton Smith and Bob Bahre each moved one of the track’s two annual NASCAR race dates to their own newer facilities, leaving the track with no events and forcing its closure.
Q6. What NASCAR races are held at North Wilkesboro in 2026?
The Window World 450 (NASCAR Cup Series) takes place on July 19, 2026 — the first Cup points race at the track in 30 years — along with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Window World 250.
Q7. Who is the CEO of Speedway Motorsports, the track’s owner?
Marcus Smith serves as President and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, taking over from his father, the late Bruton Smith, who founded the company.
Q8. How much did restoring North Wilkesboro Speedway cost?
Speedway Motorsports launched a multi-million-dollar renovation project in early 2022, supported by millions in North Carolina state budget funding allocated for infrastructure improvements at the track.
North Wilkesboro Speedway is owned by Speedway Motorsports, LLC (SMI), led by CEO Marcus Smith. SMI has owned the track since 2007, acquiring it after the previous co-owners — Bruton Smith and Bob Bahre — purchased it in 1995 and then stripped its race dates, effectively killing it. The track was originally built by Enoch Staley in 1947 and was one of the founding venues of NASCAR itself.
After sitting abandoned for 26 years, Speedway Motorsports partnered with NASCAR, the State of North Carolina, and NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. to restore the track and return it to racing. The NASCAR All-Star Race was held there in 2023, 2024, and 2025. And on July 19, 2026, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to North Wilkesboro for the Window World 450 — the first points-paying Cup race at the track since Jeff Gordon won there on September 29, 1996.
Thirty years later, one of the greatest tracks in American motorsports history is finally back where it belongs.