The year 2024 has not really been kind to this stock car racing fan. This is both in terms of on track and off track personal life. Starting off, I wasn’t entirely thrilled about this season to begin with. My favorite driver, Kevin Harvick, retired from NASCAR Cup series racing at the end of the 2023 season. I had gotten used to that and decided on being a Stewart-Haas Racing fan. Then Stewart-Haas announced that they were no longer going to be in NASCAR at the end of this season. So when it was announced that Kevin Harvick would be taking part in the North Wilkesboro CARS Tour doubleheader on August 3rd, I went ahead and bought tickets and requested time off my day job.
I have never been to a CARS Tour event, nor have I ever attended a race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Ergo, this was a new experience for me on both fronts. I was interested to see whether or not the CARS Tour put on a better race than what the NASCAR Next Gen Cup cars did at North Wilkesboro. Furthermore, I was hoping the event would be an escape from the ever so many off track anxieties. Finally, I was hoping the event would get me excited about auto racing again.
The Drive Down and Arrival at Track
There was a central player which played a role throughout the entire experience. From the drive to North Carolina and race day itself. That central player was weather. The rain on the drive to North Carolina was much worse than the rain on race day. At one point, I had to stop driving in Tennessee due to a downpour making visibility just insane. This delayed my arrival to the hotel by an hour. The rain continued to be problematic once crossing the state line into North Carolina. Though this was mainly due to a lack of both street lighting and reflective surfaces on the road itself. The drive wasn’t all bad though. Prior to crossing the TN/NC state line, there was a nice lake and forested area that was a beautiful area through which to drive.
As stated, rain was a concern on race day as well. One second it looked like the sky was about to open up and drown everyone with rain. The next second the sunlight would shine through offering hope. Arriving at the track, almost felt like traveling back in time a little bit. You could still see the word “Winston” in faded paint on a brick wall. It took me back to when I first began watching NASCAR in the 1990s, back then it was the NASCAR Winston Cup series. I have to say that while NASCAR is focused on bringing in new fans, it is certainly cool that North Wilkesboro Speedway is pretty much a throwback track. It’s nice to have something for old school fans. Still, this article isn’t about NASCAR, it’s about the CARS Tour.
Lightning and RainÂ
Shortly after qualifying for both races, a 30 minute lightning hold required everyone to “seek shelter” and leave the stands. “Shelter” for me, meant a small smoking area down a short set of stairs located beside a track refreshments stand which offered $5.00 20 oz bottles of soda and water. Thankfully, there was a spot to sit which was still underneath the awning, which blocked the rain which began to fall.
Underneath the stairs there appeared to be a type of mushroom growing with which, the late great “gonzo journalist” Hunter S. Thompson would have been familiar. For a few seconds, I considered attempting something of a “Fear and Loathing in North Wilkesboro”, but quickly decided against it. I’m not sure people who have lived most of their adult life in existential crisis mode are allowed a mid life crisis on top of it all. Writer’s block aside, I am merely kidding here. For all I know, those could have been deadly for humans to consume.
Plenty of On-Track Action (and Speedy Dry)
Finally, the lightning hold ended and the track drying completed. The first race was the Pro Late Model The Reverend 100. Personally, this race did not impress me. It reminded me of Next Gen short track racing. Granted, I was really there to watch Kevin Harvick return to the track. So my judgement of The Reverend 100 might be a bit biased. Still, it was cool that Tristan McKee got to celebrate his 14th birthday with a win in this first race. NASCAR Truck series driver, Corey Heim finished second.
The Window World 125 was the second race of the doubleheader. This was the zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock series race. Kevin Harvick had qualified 20th, but a disqualification ahead of him had him starting the race 19th. Eight laps into the race there was a large wreck on a restart which led to a long delay cleaning up the track. With plenty of on-track action, comes plenty of Speedy Dry. This would become a theme throughout the second race.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Window World 125. It didn’t have a lot of side-by-side-but-no-passing action like the NASCAR Cup series likes to brag about. Still, you could see drivers searching for speed, moving their lines around on the track. To be honest, I was mainly watching the #62 Hunt Brother Pizza car driven by Harvick, and he seemed to do a lot of searching. He picked up on a rather high exit in turn 2 that seemed to help him down the back straight at one point in time. Given that Harvick didn’t have the experience racing these cars the way others did, it was impressive to see the 62 make it into the top 10. Of course, then Ronnie Bassett, Jr. in the #04 car got into him in turns one and two and knocked him back a few positions. Harvick ended up climbing his way back up to 11th.
The Legend Lives On
North Wilkesboro Speedway and the zMAX CARS Tour both put on a great Saturday night show. I bought tickets to this event before realizing it was during the two week Olympic event. I purchased tickets because Harvick was taking part in the event. Yet, after watching the battle for the lead between Treyten Lapcevich and Brenden “Butterbean” Queen in the Late Model Stocks race, I will definitely be purchasing CARS Tour tickets again in the future. Lapcevich won the Window World 125, and Corey Heim, who competed in both races, finished second in the second race as well as the first.
I really hope that the NASCAR Cup series gets their Next Gen Car’s short track problems thoroughly worked out. North Wilkesboro Speedway is clearly capable of putting on a great old school racing show. Finally, I have to say that the CARS Tour tickets are definitely worth the cost, even if you have to travel across a couple states to get to the race.
