NASCAR has taken another step forward in returning to its racing “roots.” Executive Vice President of Sports Ben Kennedy announced Saturday that Bowman Gray Stadium will return to the Cup Series in 2025, during the Busch Light Clash.
The Winston-Salem oval is known as the “Madhouse” for its tightest track and chaotic racing. With the first race in 1949, Bill France Sr. and Alvin Hawkins made the venue the first weekly paved race track to host NASCAR-sanctioned races. However, since the first Cup race in 1958, Bowman Gray Stadium was only able to host 29 NCS races until 1971. During the 2023 season, the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway will reappear on the Cup Series schedule for the All-Star Race.
After a 27-year hiatus, the .625-mile oval returned for the million-dollar race, with Kyle Larson providing the payoff. So, as the high-octane motor sport took another step back to its “roots,” Kennedy expressed “nostalgia” to celebrate the sport’s “past and future” (via Sportsnaut). “We also have the opportunity to celebrate our history and celebrate our roots, as the host of our All-Star Race in North Wilkesboro.
This will be another example of how we celebrate our past and our future” , Kennedy said. “This race will be like the races here have been for decades, and that will be an important part of our team’s mission, making it look like the nostalgic Bowman Gray Stadium,” added the executive vice president. Bobby Allison was the last driver to go to victory lane at Bowman Gray Stadium in 1971.
NASCAR’s executive vice president reveals Bowman Gray Stadium was in talks to bring back the Cup Series “as early as summer 2019.”
The vice-president said the stadium was considering a return to the Cup Series from 2019, but the subject had been “under the sun”. However, things took off when NASCAR acquired the lease on the famous venue earlier this year. It will replace the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the preseason scheduled for February 2, 2025.
“We’ve talked about everything under the sun. We’ve had these conversations since the summer of 2019. “We’ve been talking about Bowman Gray for a number of years and how great it would be to host an event there. It started to gain momentum earlier this year after we secured the Bowman Gray lease and it’s become a natural extension of that.” Kennedy said. via Sportsnaut.
The Bowman Gray Stadium revival project cost NASCAR and Winston Salem approximately $9 million. To this day, events held at the track are marked manually, but running a Cup Series race may require something like a transponder loop. The circle of cables runs around the track, which can help determine the driver’s position on the track with radio frequency identification (RFID), and also helps ensure correct alignment during a caution, among other benefits . NASCAR Studios and Fox Sports Films are producing a documentary to commemorate the return of the quarter-mile oval to the Cup Series. The one-hour film, “The Madhouse: NASCAR’s Return to Bowman Gray Stadium,” will be available on FS1 at a date to be announced.
