NASCAR announced last week that it acquired Winston-Salem Speedway Inc. and that it will help the city of Winston-Salem manage the Bowman Gray stadium under a lease that runs till 2050. The stadium has strong connections to the origins of NASCAR and is where Richard Petty scored his 100th Cup Series victory.
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With short tracks of the old already finding their way to the current era’s calendar, the possibility of Bowman Gray coming back is being speculated as well. And, Kyle Busch, is all up for the challenge. He told Bob Pockrass that he can’t recall ever watching a “good” race at the track and the highlight reels that he watched always had drivers fighting and crashing each other.
He continued with a slight smirk, “We are in the entertainment business. The more calamity and chaos we can have, the better. So, sign us up!” Built in 1937, the track has hosted weekly grassroots races since 1949. Notably, it hosted its first NASCAR race in 1949 as well and saw Bill France Sr. co-promote it along with the Hawkins family.
NASCAR has taken over as the promoter of Bowman Gray Stadium. Cup drivers had a variety of views about the potential of racing there. Hear from Busch, Elliott, Keselowski, Dillon, Berry and Logano: pic.twitter.com/VlOAgVuLL4
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 24, 2024
Though it is the city of Winston-Salem that owns the track, the rights to promote races on it were contracted out to the Hawkins family for the last several decades. What NASCAR has done now is purchase the company through which the rights were leased from the descendants of the Hawkins family.
While the terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed, the current promoter, Gray Garrison, a grandson of Hawkins, will be on the bench to help with the transition.
Corey LaJoie details the robust racing experience at the Bowman Gray Stadium
The stadium can accommodate a crowd of up to 17,000 and frequently sees the stands filled for the NASCAR-sanctioned Saturday races. Spire Motorsports star driver Corey LaJoie told The Athletic, “It’s a cool place, man. One of the most fun places to drive as a racecar driver. You go there for a modified race and the fans are so pumped up and it’s cool just to feel that energy. A very special place. You go to Bowman Gray to watch a fight and a race breaks out.”
The idea of NASCAR taking over the track was first planted as a seed during a Cup Series test that was held on it in December 2021. The deal grew over the last year and has now resulted in Garrison and the sanctioning body reaching an agreement. When or if the track will be on future Cup Series calendars is the question for now.
