NASCAR All-Star Race circuit at North Wilkesboro on track to maintain its 80’s and 90’s look

With less than five months left, plenty of work is underway at NASCAR’s iconic North Wilkesboro Speedway as it prepares to host the NASCAR All-Star Race on May 21st, 2023.

The entire infield will be removed except for two historic buildings and paved to accommodate for the Camping World Truck Series and Cup Series. The only access to the infield, a crossover gate on the backstretch, has been updated and expanded.

Renovation work is well underway on many of the track’s suite boxes. A portion of the pit road has been torn up and is to be replaced, and walls around the track are being prepared for the installation of SAFER barriers.

While many changes have been made to the existing infrastructure, Steve Swift, Speedway Motorsports' senior vice president of operations and development, said that they are doing everything they can to preserve its’ 80’s and 90’s look and feel that makes the North Wilkesboro Speedway facility unique.

In a statement, Swift said:

“We want to maintain the patina. The facility will look like it did, as close as possible to when it was running back in the ’90s and the ’80s. We’re trying to preserve that energy of stepping back into time but also updating it to present day. We want to maintain many of the old signs and the track’s old look. We want to hold on to that old feel”.

Speedway Motorsports announced earlier in September that the 2023 All-Star Race will be held at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The 0.625-mile short track will host more than 30,000 fans and its first NASCAR race since 1996 when Jeff Gordon won in the 93rd Cup Series race at the facility.

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Ryan Blaney was the winner of 2022 NASCAR’s All-Star Race

Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney won only one race in the 2022 NASCAR season and it came at the All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway. Driving the #12 Ford Mustang, Blaney emerged victorious in a controversial finish to earn a cash prize of $1 million.

On the final lap of the race, he managed to hold off Denny Hamlin by 0.266 seconds to officially clinch his career's first All-Star Race. He started on the front row and showed complete dominance, leading 84 out of 125 laps.

The win made him the 26th different driver to win the All-Star Race.