Hoffman leads North Wilkesboro in Cup Series return

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Graig Hoffman, a Johnson City resident, lives the best of both worlds as Executive Director for North Wilkesboro Speedway and Senior Director of Partnerships for Bristol Motor Speedway. He's full-bore ahead as North Wilkesboro hosts the NASCAR Cup Series Window World 450 in a little over a week on July 19. While the track famously returned to action with Late Model racing in 2022, Hoffman talked about how everyone has been clamoring for a Cup Series points-paying race since then. The last points race was the 1996 Holly Farms 400 when Jeff Gordon beat Dale Earnhardt and Dale Jarrett to the finish line. "We've been back with the 'Race Track Revival' in '22, three All-Star Races, but everybody kept yearning for the points race," Hoffman said at a Wednesday media event at the speedway. "Thirty years after the 1996 race won by Jeff Gordon, we celebrate with the Window World 450." The track's history goes back much further with the first Cup Series race at North Wilkesboro in 1949, some 12 years before the first race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Bob Flock won the first race in an Oldsmobile, followed by Lee Petty and Fonty Flock, the race winner's brother. "I'm a huge history buff, and this place oozes history," Hoffman said. "These are the roots of the sport. When you talk about stock car racing, the roots in moonshine culture and the formation of NASCAR, this place started in 1947, two years before the Cup Series. North Wilkesboro was the final race on the (Cup Series) schedule in 1949." Hoffman compared the track to a pair of historic baseball stadiums, calling it the "Wrigley Field or Fenway Park of NASCAR." The Cup Series trophy is specially designed to look like a moonshine still with an old-style car trophy top. There is a jam-packed weekend coming with NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Chase Elliott scheduled to compete in the CARS Tour race in the Dale Earnhardt Jr. No. 8 on Friday and the Craftsman Truck Series race in the No. 7 Chevrolet that Kyle Busch was originally scheduled to drive on Saturday. He will be in his familiar No. 9 Chevrolet on Sunday. Other current or former Cup Series drivers competing in multiple races include Shane van Gisbergen and Ryan Newman. Kevin Harvick's son, Keelan, is among the drivers in the CARS Tour Pro Late Model race. Hoffman talked about his dual roles with North Wilkesboro and Bristol. He had been traveling back and forth between the two tracks. Since the end of the SuperGrip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in mid-June, he's spent his time in North Carolina. His son, Gabe, is a Science Hill graduate and lives nearby as a lacrosse player at Lees-McRae College. "I've been at Bristol for 28 years and have such deep roots with the team over there and the partners," Hoffman said. "Johnny Morris with Bass Pro and the Night Race, the friends and relationships mean more than anything. Then, we're able to bring something different over here with my passion for history and renovation. I get to live the best of both worlds with what Bristol has to offer with the magnificent colosseum and this intimate, historic short track." North Wilkesboro is the closest Cup Series track to the Tri-Cities outside of BMS. It's less than three hours from Johnson City and Kingsport to the Western North Carolina track. The track has the uphill and downhill frontstretch and backstretch as well as two slightly different turns. It presents a challenge for the drivers as 2012 NASCAR champion Brad Keselowski talked about. The 450 laps are 50 laps longer than previous North Wilkesboro races. Keselowski, driver of the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford, is one who truly appreciates the history. "North Wilkesboro is an intimate venue that connects to those who have been fans of our sport for a long time," Keselowski said. "Running here as a points-paying race, it brings everything full-circle. NASCAR is constantly evolving, and sometimes that means going back whether that's points formats or race tracks. Wilkesboro is so endearing to our fans."