NASCAR Night at the Bullring Brings Fans of All Ages

You could feel the electricity in the air as soon as you made the turn off of Simpkins Road and headed towards the race track built up on the red clay hill in 1962. Wake County Speedway is a throwback to a simpler time but with just enough improvements and upgrades over the past several years to make most race fans happy.

LeithCars.com was the title sponsor of the annual "NASCAR Night" which serves as a time for hundreds of Leith Automotive Group employees and their families to enjoy a night out. It's also an event that attracts new and regular weekly race fans of all ages to the track the Simpkins family built over six decades ago. It was a packed house on Friday night, August 16th, as over 1,200 fans filled the grandstands at America’s Favorite Bullring.

Photo Credit: Nathan Norcome

Going to a race at Wake County is like going to a good old-fashioned county fair, but with a stock car race at the center of it. As fans filed through the front gates, they had the opportunity to donate to Victory Junction, which was holding a 50/50 raffle to support the camp founded 25 years ago in memory of Adam Petty. They even brought with them, a famous "big pink truck" once owned by Taylor Swift and encouraged fans to take selfies by the truck before the race.

Continuing with the NASCAR Night theme, fans on the midway were treated to several tables worth of custom t-shirts, hats, and race car die-casts that were being sold to support the J.D. McDuffie Fan Club, and you could spin a lighted prize wheel from Capital Vacations. Over at the LeithCars booth, fans could register to win tickets and pit passes to the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway and see a quarter-midget race car from the NASCAR Youth Series thanks to Paxton Cole Motorsports. Several fans who dressed in support of their favorite current or past NASCAR driver were awarded prizes too, from Leith.

Photo Credit: Mark Arsen

Just outside the pit entrance, fans could witness a collection of race cars, street cars, and stock car tributes that paid homage to the glory years of NASCAR from the early 1970s through the wild and wonderful '80s. The display featured stock car tributes to the No. 71 Bobby Isaac Dodge Daytona, the burgundy and gold No. 42 Marty Robbins Dodge Charger, a Darth Vader black 1986 Buick Regal Grand National, and a bone stock Monte Carlo SS Aero Coupe!

The first taste of the excitement to come was when these four behemoths of days gone by, thundered onto the backstretch for a fun exhibition race! Thanks to its aerodynamic bodywork, the orange and white Bobby Isaac Dodge Daytona won by a "nose."

Photo Credit: Bryan Regan

The biggest treat, however, was the incredible action that happened on the track starting around 8:45 pm. The future stars of stock car racing put on a show Friday night that fans packed into the grandstands ate up like cotton candy. The LeithCars.com 155 featured a slew of Mini Stocks, Late Models, Bombers, Legends, and Bandoleros that entertained the crowd with the usual thrills and spills associated with Raleigh's quarter-mile banked oval.

AJ Sanders (a favorite from historic Bowman Gray Stadium) started first and won the NC Driveline Mini Stock race. Back-to-back track champion Clay Jones brought home the checkered flag in the first LeithCars Late Model division battle. Mark Hood brought home the hardware for the Bomber/Any Car division. Joel Smith crossed the line first in the Gardner Roofing Legend division race. Gavin Holland was the dominant car and won the 94.7 QDR Bandolero division, and Mason Bailey out of Richmond, Virginia, took home his first copper bull in the second Late Model feature.

Photo Credit: Bryan Regan

Next up for Wake County Speedway is the CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car's Drive for Puryear 125 on Saturday, August 24.

#LeithCars, #NASCARRegional, #ThankYouFans, #NAAPWS, #VictoryJunction

Written by: Adam Peele and Mark Arsen