For the first time in three decades, NASCAR's Cup Series will race for championship points at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Sunday's Window World 450 — a 450-lap night race on the 0.625-mile North Carolina short track, live on TNT — is the longest Cup event in the venue's history and its first points-paying race since September 29, 1996, when Jeff Gordon won with Rick Hendrick watching from pit road.
North Wilkesboro was one of NASCAR's original venues, hosting Cup racing from 1949 until it dropped off the schedule after 1996 and fell into disrepair. It sat largely abandoned for close to two decades before a fan-led campaign — boosted by an iRacing laser scan, state and federal funding, and a very public push from Dale Earnhardt Jr — brought it back to life for the 2023 All-Star Race, won by Kyle Larson.
Earnhardt Jr, who has become the track's most prominent champion, has been careful about where the credit belongs. He argued the revival happened despite, not because of, the sport's power brokers, pointing instead to the town, local government and an army of volunteers who kept the grass mowed for 20 years so the circuit stayed in good enough shape to be considered. "Wilkesboro is back because of everybody else," he said. "Those people should be commended."
The All-Star exhibition proved the appetite was real. For 2026 that race moves to Dover, and North Wilkesboro inherits a points date — a promotion Speedway Motorsports president and CEO Marcus Smith framed as a reward for the racing the little track keeps producing. "This year reminded everyone how great the action is at North Wilkesboro Speedway," Smith said. "It's a challenge for the drivers and the teams to master this short track and because of that, you don't know who's going to win until the checkered flag flies."
The occasion has drawn out the sport's history. NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace, a multiple winner at the track in its heyday, will serve as grand marshal, and Austin Cindric will run a Wallace tribute paint scheme. "It's an honour to be named the grand marshal at North Wilkesboro," Wallace said. "Wilkesboro's a track that played a big role in the early history of our sport and it's great to see what Marcus Smith and the group at Speedway Motorsports have done to bring it back to life." He added: "I have so many great memories there of battles with guys like Dale Earnhardt and Geoff Bodine. I'm looking forward to adding to those memories next month."
The competition should suit the front-runners. Denny Hamlin, who leads the standings with four wins and has long been one of the Cup Series' strongest short-track operators, is the betting favourite, with 2025 champion Kyle Larson and Martinsville winner Chase Elliott close behind. Whoever wins on Sunday will do something no active driver has managed: take a Cup points victory at a track that spent 30 years off the map.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/north-wilkesboro-returns-to-nascar-points-racing-after-30-years). Visit for full coverage.*