On September 29th, 1996, Jeff Gordon led 207 laps to win in North Wilkesboro. He left a mark at a venue where other legends like Dale Earnhardt, Terry Labonte, and Richard Petty had excelled earlier. However, his victory marked the end of the short track’s status as a NASCAR Cup Series points race. Now, after 30 years, fans can finally look forward to welcoming North Wilkesboro as a points-paying race – in exchange for possible chaos.
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After Dale Jr. and Co. revived North Wilkesboro in 2023, NASCAR picked it for its All-Star Race festivities. And fans loved the grassroots short-track racing in the venue, demanding an upgrade. So in 2026, Dover Motor Speedway will replace the 0.625-mile track as the All-Star Race venue. And a top executive put forth the preparatory phase.
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NASCAR’s jaw-dropping innovation will be back
Ever since the Next-Gen car rolled out in 2022, it has been the subject of widespread criticism. From worrisome crashes to aerodynamic challenges, the single-spec parts of this car made things difficult for race teams. NASCAR did not allow performance modifications for the sake of parity. However, ahead of the 2025 All-Star Race, the sanctioning body hoped to provide teams with more flexibility. It proposed a “run what you brung” race, where teams could make adjustments to enhance racing quality, with some limitations in place. But this proposal met with massive criticism as well.
Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing, observed that the costs would be heavy, and the $1 million would not be enough to cover them. Despite the backlash faced this year, NASCAR will propose the same deal for Dover’s All-Star Race next year. Mike Forde, NASCAR’s Managing Director for Racing Communications, said in a ‘Door, Bumper, Clear’ episode: “We offered the teams to run what you brung to a point for this year, but it was a little bit short notice. And so I think if we potentially want to relook at that idea, now’s the time to do it. Say, “All right, hey, like you now have five, six, seven months to think about it, and like, can we do this?”
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via Imago
NORTH WILKESBORO, NC – MAY 21: Kyle Larson 5 Hendrick Motorsports HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, does a burnout for the fans after winning the Sunday evening NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series All-Star Race on May 21, 2023, at the North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire
Mike Forde proposed that the teams will be given some free rein in determining the ‘run what you brung’ concept. “There’s going to be some brainstorming around how to make this different and make it really feel like a special event.” He added, “We’re trying to kind of make it bigger.”
The criticism had also extended to Dover’s choice as the All-Star Race. According to Denny Hamlin, a three-time Dover winner, the Monster Mile is not suited for short runs. It also does not have track lights for a night race. However, Mike Forde said that public opinion is slowly liking the idea. “Obviously, you know, when it was announced that Dover was the all-star race, there was a lot of consternation around that, and understandably because Charlotte and then I guess Texas was kind of also kind of like, oh, that’s that’s a weird place, and then North Wilkesboro everyone loved…Seemingly talking to the folks at SM, the ticket sales right now for Dover renewals are really good. I think people are kind of embracing it.”
With developments proceeding towards Dover, we can only wait and see what happens. Meanwhile, the Cup Series garage is racking its brains over one particular track.
The dangerous of them all
Up next is Talladega Superspeedway, the second race of the Round of 8. The 2.66-mile high-banked oval in Alabama is the seat of ‘Big Ones’. That is because the superspeedway-style drafting is unpredictable. If a driver switches lanes, a wreck can result if the driver is too slow to make the block and keep their momentum ahead of the faster lane. With little time to react in the pack, crashes of a dozen cars or more can occur. And for the playoff drivers, except for Denny Hamlin, the pressure of advancing to the Championship 4 compounds the fear of wrecks.
Chase Elliott (minus-23 to the cutline), Joey Logano, and Ryan Blaney (minus-31) all face a must-win situation at Talladega or Martinsville. Logano, the 2024 Cup Series champion, is biting his nails: “I don’t know if I’m a huge fan of where it is in the playoffs, but the rules are the rules and we’re going to play by them. That’s the whole thing with this whole playoff system.”
Ryan Blaney and William Byron, both of whom encountered DNFs in Las Vegas, are also tense. “Everything has to go right in this Round of Eight,” Byron said. “That’s something major that went wrong that I feel like was out of our control. We’ve just got to probably go and win one of the next two.” Blaney is in a better position, as he has three prior trophies in Talladega. Yet anything can happen, as he said, “You’ve got to be optimistic. We’ve had good success at the next two events, so hopefully we can come and bring the speed and try to overcome the hole we put ourselves in.”
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Clearly, Talladega is dominating the drivers’ attention for now. Let’s wait and see what reactions NASCAR’s proposal about Dover elicits.