Triumphantly and fittingly, racing begins ahead of North Wilkesboro All-Star weekend

It was a bit “sketchy,” he remembers.

But it was undeniably glorious.

About nine months ago — on a magical August night that saw a race turn into the ultimate affirmation that North Wilkesboro Speedway still had plenty of life to give — Carson Kvapil found himself in his car being carried by a lift. He’d just won a CARS Tour Late Model Stock race and was on his way to North Wilkesboro Speedway’s Victory Lane, which uniquely sits on top of the racetrack’s media center roof.

He had to rely on some old machinery to get up there, though.

“It was a little sketchy at the time, but to ride on that lift, it was awesome,” Kvapil recalled with a laugh.

He added: “I’ll forever be the first back to win a Late Model race here.”

It turns out that Kvapil wasn’t the only one to win that night.

The rest of the winners — from the fans, to the drivers, to the sport at large — had their eyes on North Wilkesboro Speedway on Wednesday evening.

North Wilkesboro Speedway saw the first bit of on-track racing of the weekend on Wednesday night. It began with two CARS Tour races and one ASA Stars National Tour race.

The CARS Tour Pro Late Model race ran first at 5:45 p.m. The CARS Tour Late Model Stock race began at 7:30 p.m. And the ASA nightcap began right afterward.

The week celebrating North Wilkesboro’s resurrection — a week that culminates in the All-Star Race on Sunday — began in triumphant fashion, drivers said.

“I had a blast driving the car and racing everybody,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. told reporters after the Late Model Stock race, the de facto primetime event on Wednesday. He added, “It’s awesome to be part of the All-Star week. The All-Star race is a big moment for the Cup Series and their season. And for the CARS Tour, to be a part of this, this week — it puts us on a big stage.”

How big was the stage?

It wasn’t quite August — the race that sold out the then-dilapidated grandstands, with virtually all fans wearing a lime green Sun Drop T-shirts and screaming so loud it made Earnhardt Jr. say it felt like “it was 1990 again.”

But it still will be one of the biggest races of the year for the series.

That alone can be seen in the lineup: Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Chase Briscoe were among those who ran in the Late Model Stock race on Wednesday. (Chase Elliott, William Byron, Noah Gragson and sports car star Jordan Taylor also headlined Wednesday; they competed in either of the other two races.)

Earnhardt Jr. finished 16th in the race. But he admitted that he, again, felt like a winner without visiting Victory Lane on Wednesday.

“Things look good right now, right?” the NASCAR Hall of Famer said, his face red after battling the heat for 150 laps. “Things look really good. We got a lot of excitement. ... We’re having fun. I don’t know when I’ll run again. But until then, we’re going to keep trying to make this CARS Tour better.”

Earnhardt Jr. recently banded together with three other big NASCAR movers and shakers — Harvick, Jeff Burton and Justin Marks — to acquire the CARS Tour in order to maintain the health of short-track, grassroots racing.

Harvick told The Charlotte Observer postrace that running in the race was a productive experience — both as a competitor and as an owner interested in learning about the series.

Harvick also considered North Wilkesboro a “win,” so to speak. He added that it was fitting that this historic week at this historic racetrack is kicked off by the series that helped make this race week possible in the first place.

“When you look at North Wilkesboro in general: The CARS Tour is a big reason why this is all happening this year,” Harvick said seated outside his hauler. “And I think for us, to have myself and Dale in the race, and Justin and Jeff as grand marshals, to have a great crowd here tonight ... those are good things.”

Did you gain any advantage for Sunday by running in this race?

“I know how to get it in and out of the racetrack, so that’s a plus,” Harvick said with a smile. “The track’s great. It’s pretty slick. It’ll be a lot slicker with twice as much horsepower and a lot heavier car.”

Kvapil didn’t return to Victory Lane on Wednesday. That honor belonged to Brenden “Butterbean” Queen instead.

Queen didn’t make the same trip up to the roof of the media center as Kvapil did several months ago. It was less bumpy. Less “sketchy.” The lift had been fixed.

And yet, a similar ascension appeared to occur nonetheless — for the CARS Tour, for North Wilkesboro Speedway, for the sport of racing.

Said a bewildered Queen on Wednesday night: “There are so many eyes on this race.”

And they all had won.

Winners from North Wilkesboro on Wednesday

▪ CARS Tour Pro Late Model Tour: Augie Grill won from the pole position.

▪ CARS Tour Late Model Stock: Brenden “Butterbean” Queen won from the pole position. He said Wednesday was one of the best nights of his life, and that he’d celebrate by going to Waffle House and ordering a chocolate milk.

▪ ASA STARS National Tour: Bubba Pollard took the win at the race’s nightcap. William Byron finished second; Chase Elliott finished third.