Brandon Vestri 

Sports Writer 

Photo credit: Sara D. Davis/Getty Images for NASCAR 

Over the past few years, NASCAR has made efforts to embrace the sport’s early days. Proof of the efforts to preserve and restore the early days of grassroots stock car racing is found right here in North Carolina. The NASCAR Cup Series, the organization’s highest level of competition, returned to North Wilkesboro Speedway for the annual All-Star race after the state of North Carolina, under Governor Roy Cooper, invested tens of millions of dollars to restore the track. The 2023 race was the first for NASCAR at the formerly abandoned track since 1997.   

On March 21, 2024, NASCAR announced the lease and management of racing operations of the historic Bowman Gray Stadium until the end of 2050. Austin Shuford, who previously helped manage the Nashville Fairgrounds, was named general manager. Bowman Gray Stadium is a quarter-mile short track in the heart of Winston-Salem. The small oval, founded in 1937, has a long chapter in the history books of racing in the South. Created as a public works project during the Great Depression, the track first held a NASCAR-sanctioned race in 1949. With NASCAR in its infancy, Bowman Gray Stadium was the first paved track on which the organization held a race. Most of the significant names etched in the sport’s early legends raced at Bowman Gray, including Lee and Richard Petty, Glen Wood, Junior Johnson, and David Pearson. The Cup Series held 29 official races at the track between 1958 and 1971.  

The racing industry has become more innovative over the past five years to broaden the audience and reach current Formula 1 fans. Part of that is adding new tracks and developing tweaks to current tracks on the schedule. Such projects include designing the Charlotte Roval (a combination road course and oval), fitting a track inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and adding a road course through the streets of downtown Chicago. The bold move to acquire Bowman Gray Stadium has led to speculation. For the past few years, the NASCAR Clash—the opening race of the season—has been held at the L.A. Coliseum on a track roughly the same size as Bowman Gray. Many people believe that NASCAR returning to Bowman Grey Stadium in the future isn’t out of the question.   

Racing at Bowman Gray does face unique challenges. The historic stadium only holds 17,000 fans. Current tracks on the schedule, such as Charlotte Motor Speedway, can accommodate roughly 90,000 fans. Even North Wilkesboro, where the track is the same size as Bowman Gray, holds over 40,000. Although seating capacity is an issue, NASCAR used the track as a testing site for their current generation race car, which is a positive sign.  

The potential return of NASCAR to Bowman Gray Stadium holds significant implications for the sport and the surrounding area. It could herald a new era in NASCAR’s operations and breathe new life into the track’s vicinity, much like the transformation witnessed in North Wilkesboro. Placing Winston-Salem back at the heart of racing glory is a powerful way to honor NASCAR’s legacy and rekindle Bowman Gray’s historic past by bringing it back to the forefront of the sport.