NASCAR adds punch to All-Star race weekend at North Wilkesboro Speedway
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NASCAR’s biggest in-season spectacle — with its largest single-athlete all-star payout of any North American sport — is returning to North Wilkesboro Speedway in 2027.
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NASCAR is returning its all-star race to the rejuvenated North Carolina track next season after running it at Dover in 2026, the organization announced Wednesday. The all-star race was at North Wilkesboro from 2023-25, starting its previous run there on the heels of a massive renovation project that has revitalized the one-downtrodden .625-mile oval.
This time, NASCAR is upping the ante, bringing not only the all-star race, but also a Craftsman Truck Series race and an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, creating a triple-header weekend.
“Four years ago … we announced what many believed was impossible — that NASCAR was returning to North Wilkesboro Speedway,” NASCAR Chief Operating Officer Ben Kennedy said in a news release Wednesday. “Today, seeing this iconic venue host a historic NASCAR triple-header weekend is a testament to just how extraordinary that revival has been. North Wilkesboro has once again become a place where NASCAR’s rich history, current momentum and exciting future come together.”
In another nostalgic twist, the 2027 all-star race will be run at night, under the lights, an intentional nod to the 35th anniversary of “One Hot Night,” the first all-star race at night, in 1992.
“Thanks to Bruton Smith and Humpy Wheeler, ‘One Hot Night’ at Charlotte Motor Speedway was the first superspeedway NASCAR race under the lights, and that’s when I truly became a race fan,” Speedway Motorsports President and CEO Marcus Smith said in the release. “There was electricity in the air, and an entire generation of race fans was captivated by it. We’ve seen the same excitement amongst fans at North Wilkesboro every day and night we’ve been on track since re-opening. It’s a pilgrimage every NASCAR fan should take, and now we have the biggest race week ever to look forward to for 2027.”
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The all-star race will run the week before Charlotte Motor Speedway’s signature Memorial Day Coke 600, on Sunday, Mar 23. On the preceding Friday, the NASCAR’s truck series will kick off the weekend, and on Saturday, the O’Reilly series — NASCAR’s second-tier circuit — will make its first appearance at the track since 1985.
Last year, NASCAR moved the all-star race to Dover, while North Wilkesboro hosted a points race for the first time in 30 years.
The 2027 season will also mark the 80th anniversary of the first race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, which hosted its first race on May 18, 1947, on what was then a dirt oval.
Two years later, North Wilkesboro hosted the finale of NASCAR’s first strictly stock season. That series evolved into what we know today as the NASCAR Cup Series.
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