- Three of the most prominent asphalt short-track racing series on the East Coast will converge at North Wilkesboro Speedway this weekend, Oct. 19-20.
- The zMAX CARS Tour and SMART Modified Tour will hold season finales on Saturday, while the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will contest its penultimate event on Sunday.
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. (Oct. 15, 2024) – There’s no better place for fans of short-track racing this weekend than North Wilkesboro Speedway as three of the most exciting racing series on the East Coast will come together at the historic .625-mile facility for nearly 500 laps of feature racing.
The zMAX CARS Tour will hold its season finale, holding features for both the Late Model Stock Car (LMSC) division with the ECMD 125 and Pro Late Model division on Saturday, while the SMART Modified Tour will also hold its season finale on Saturday. Fans can return on Sunday to see the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s penultimate event, the Brushy Mountain Powersports 150, before the championship finale at Martinsville on Oct. 26.
CARS Tour Points Battles Red Hot Entering Season Finale
Fan-favorite Brendan “Butterbean” Queen leads Connor Hall in the LMSC division by only eight points entering the ECMD 125 at North Wilkesboro. The dynamic duo has battled each other throughout the season, with Queen overtaking Hall just last weekend at Tri-County Speedway. Queen took the elevator ride to North Wilkesboro Speedway Victory Lane in 2023 and led the most laps in the most recent CARS Tour LMSC event at the facility in August.
In the Pro Late Model division, Kaden Honeycutt and Spencer Davis are the front-runners for the championship, with Honeycutt narrowing the gap following the most recent race at Tri-County, where he picked up the victory.
SMART Modified Tour Playoff Drivers Set for North Wilkesboro
Five drivers will compete for the SMART Modified Tour championship due to a new playoff points system. Luke Baldwin, Carson Loftin, Danny Bohn, Ryan Newman and Burt Myers will put it all on the line to become the 2024 season champion. As points have been reset for the “SMART 5,” they will go head-to-head with the highest finishing driver among them winning the 2024 Championship. Newman may have the advantage as the former Cup Series driver was victorious in one of the SMART Modified Tour races at North Wilkesboro during the Race Track Revival in 2022, however, the new surface on the historic raceway may even the field.
North Wilkesboro Could Make or Break NASCAR Modified Points Battle
With just two events remaining in the 2024 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, defending champion Ron Silk leads Justin Bonsignore by just five points, and third-place Patrick Emerling by only 21 points. The Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 could make or break a championship run by any of the three. A good run or a win could vault any of them into a solitary lead or alternatively a bad day could ruin the chances of a championship. In last year’s event, all three 2024 championship contenders finished in the top five.
While Silk holds a slight lead with four wins this season, Emerling has been on a roll of late, picking up three wins in the past five races, while Bonsignore also has three wins on the season including the most recent race at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.
Returning to NASCAR’s Roots at Wilkesboro
The ground-pounding modifieds are one of the first divisions of motorsports to have raced at North Wilkesboro in 1948, and the division has a lengthy history at the storied facility. NASCAR pioneers such as Red Byron, Curtis Turner, Ralph Earnhardt, and Fonty Flock picked up modified wins in those early days. In later years, legends such as Jerry Cook, Satch Worley, Ray Hendrick and Geoffrey Bodine dominated at the track.
Since the revival of the historic facility, “Big Money” Matt Hirschman has won two of three modified races, winning both last year’s NASCAR Modified Brushy Mountain Powersports 150 and a SMART Modified Tour race as part of the Race Track Revival events in 2022.
Smooth Surface Equals Exciting Racing
This will be the first look at the repaved surface on the .625-mile facility for the NASCAR Modifieds and the SMART Modified Tour, having raced last year on the aged pavement. A smoother and less abrasive surface promises to provide exciting racing from a series known for fierce side-by-side battles and intense action. Drivers from all levels of motorsports have praised the new surface, remarking that while it is smoother and more cohesive, it still has the character that makes North Wilkesboro Speedway unique.
TICKETS:
Tickets for Saturday and Sunday are still available and can be purchased online or at the gate. Adult tickets start at $40 for Saturday and $30 for Sunday, while kids 12 and under get in for $10 each day when purchased in advance. Tickets can be obtained at www.NorthWilkesboroSpeedway.com.
MORE INFO:
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