If you’re a motorsports fan, this is one of those weekends you circle on the calendar. North Wilkesboro Speedway hosts one of NASCAR’s most anticipated weekends of the season with the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the zMAX CARS Tour all sharing the legendary short track. Meanwhile, the NTT INDYCAR Series heads to Nashville Superspeedway for a high-speed oval showdown, making this one of the busiest and most exciting weekends of racing all year.
With racing from grassroots short tracks all the way to NASCAR and IndyCar’s biggest stars, here are my picks for the weekend.
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zMAX Cars Tour – Late Model Stock Car 100 Lap Feature
Prediction: Kaden Honeycutt
Kaden Honeycutt has built an impressive in late model competition, making him a proven contender whenever he climbs behind the wheel. His accomplishments include winning the 2024 CARS Pro Late Model Tour championship, capturing the prestigious 2024 Snowball Derby, and earning 2021 CARS Late Model Stock Tour Rookie of the Year honors. Honeycutt also has a strong history at North Wilkesboro, where he claimed a Pro Late Model Tour victory in 2024. More recently, he added another marquee win by taking the checkered flag in the 2026 Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway. He carried that momentum into qualifying by posting a blistering lap of 18.150 seconds to earn the pole position, outpacing second-place qualifier Jake Bollman by an impressive 0.122 seconds.
NTT IndyCar Series – Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix
Prediction: Josef Newgarden
Widely regarded as the best active oval racer in IndyCar, Newgarden has won more than 40% of his starts on circle tracks, including back-to-back Indianapolis 500 victories. Nashville Superspeedway is the type of track where his strengths shine, and he proved that by capturing an emotional hometown victory in the 2025 Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix. As a Hendersonville, Tennessee native, racing in front of family and friends gives him an extra level of motivation, and with his unmatched oval expertise and confidence at Nashville, he’s the driver to beat every time the series returns to Music City.
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NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series – FaithFest 250 Presented By Mercer Transportation
Prediction: Corey Heim
Corey Heim enters North Wilkesboro Speedway as the favorite despite facing one of the toughest fields of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season. With NASCAR Cup Series stars Carson Hocevar, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, and Shane van Gisbergen all entered, it won’t be an easy task. However, Heim’s track record at North Wilkesboro is difficult to overlook. In just three starts at this track, he has collected one victory, one pole, two top-10 finishes, and led an impressive 303 laps while posting an average finish of 8.0. His dominant victory in 2024 showcased his ability to control the race from the front, and he has consistently displayed race-winning speed every time the series has visited the historic short track. Even with several accomplished Cup drivers in the field, Heim’s proven success at North Wilkesboro makes him the driver to beat.
NASCAR Cup Series – Window World 450
Prediction: Christopher Bell
Across 35 career Cup Series starts on short tracks, Bell has compiled 2 victories, 9 top-5 finishes, 21 top-10s, and an impressive 11.9 average finish while leading more than 600 laps. His recent form has been especially impressive, recording top-10 finishes in 12 of his last 17 short-track starts, including victories at Martinsville Speedway (October 2022) and Bristol Motor Speedway (September 2024). Bell also knows how to get the job done at North Wilkesboro, capturing the 2025 NASCAR All-Star Race at the historic venue. Although the All-Star Race is a non-points event, it showcased his ability to master the unique characteristics of the track. With a proven record of speed, consistency, and success on short tracks, Bell enters North Wilkesboro as one of the strongest contenders to take the checkered flag.
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