North Wilkesboro Speedway is a short oval racetrack located on U.S. Route 421, about five miles east of the town of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, or 80 miles north of Charlotte. It measures 0.625 mi (1.006 km) and features a unique uphill backstretch and downhill frontstretch. It has previously held races in NASCAR's top three series, including 93 Winston Cup Series races. The track, a NASCAR original, operated from 1949, NASCAR's inception, until the track's original closure in 1996. The speedway briefly reopened in 2010 and hosted several stock car series races before closing again in the spring of 2011. It was re-opened in August 2022 for grassroots racing.
*After sustaining burns in a crash at the 1991 Valleydale Meats 500, Sterling Marlin would be replaced by relief driver Charlie Glotzbach for qualifying.[3] During the race, Marlin would manage to start the race, before being replaced by Glotzbach one lap into the race. As a result of starting the race, Marlin is credited with the finish.[1]
Qualifying
Qualifying was originally scheduled to be split into two rounds. The first round was scheduled to be held on Friday, April 19, at 3:00 PM EST. However, due to fog, the first round was cancelled, and qualifying was condensed into one round,[4] which was held on Saturday, April 20, at 12:15 AM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 1–30 would be decided on time,[5] and depending on who needed it, a select amount of positions were given to cars who had not otherwise qualified but were high enough in owner's points; up to two provisionals were given. If needed, a past champion who did not qualify on either time or provisionals could use a champion's provisional, adding one more spot to the field.
Brett Bodine, driving for King Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 19.357 and an average speed of 116.237 miles per hour (187.065 km/h).[6][7]
