Tri-County Motor Speedway in Hudson, NC is set to roar back to life for a full season for the first time since 2011 but will do so without NASCAR sanctioning.

Tri-Co Entertainment, LLC. made up of brothers Shad and Shane Higgins, as well as their father Buddy Higgins and Chris Worley, made the purchase of Tri-County Motor Speedway in late November. Their plans for the 2020 season were simply to get the track operational and to provide another NASCAR Home Tracks venue for racers in the Western portion of North Carolina to gain state and National points at.

The hopes of going NASCAR were dashed, when NASCAR Home Tracks officials informed the new owners that they would not be NASCAR sanctioned in 2020. Shane Higgins says that they had hoped to be NASCAR but will be full steam ahead anyway.

“We felt like going NASCAR for this season would be a benefit of the teams and drivers to give them somewhere else to gain points,” Higgins told RACE22. “We felt like that was our best path but NASCAR says they don’t sanction first-time promoters and we just weren’t able to get it worked out. We’re going to do exactly what we planned to do and put together a great season.”

The new owners have already posted a solid 16 event schedule with racing to take place on Friday nights in an effort to not go head to head with nearby Hickory Motor Speedway’s Saturday night racing. Only four Saturday events are on the schedule and those are SouthEast Super Truck Series events and not weekly races.

Higgins says it was important to be a good neighbor to Hickory and hopes to build a relationship with them that helps racers in the area.

“We want to be a good neighbor to Hickory,” Higgins explained. “We don’t want to go out here and make racers choose whether to race with us or go race with them on a Saturday night. We’re 15 miles apart and we’re going to be drawing from a similar pool of racers. That doesn’t mean we’re competing and we’re making sure we don’t step on their toes. Hopefully, that helps the racers make more races at both tracks.”

Tri-County will have five core divisions on Friday nights during the 2020 season including the Late Model Stock Cars as the headline division. Limited Late Models, Street Stocks, Renegades, and Front Wheel Drives will make up the rest of the weekly racing card. Higgins hopes that this new life for Tri-County Motor Speedway will build with a full season of racing for the locals.

“A lot of drivers in this region love this track,” Higgins said. “It’s a racey little track and we’re hoping that a lot of drivers and fans will give us a chance to see that we’ll treat them fair and give them a great place to race. The locals really want to see this track be successful and we’re going to give it everything we have to make it happen.”

Full Schedule:
March 28th – SouthEast Super Trucks
April 10th – Late Models, Limiteds, Street Stocks, Renegades, FWD
April 24th – Late Models, Limiteds, Street Stocks, Renegades, FWD
May 8th – Late Models, Limiteds, Street Stocks, Renegades, FWD
May 16th – SouthEast Super Trucks
May 22nd – Late Models, Limiteds, Street Stocks, Renegades, FWD
June 5th – Late Models, Limiteds, Street Stocks, Renegades, FWD
June 19th – Late Models, Limiteds, Street Stocks, Renegades, FWD
July 3rd – Late Models, Limiteds, Street Stocks, Renegades, FWD
July 17th – Late Models, Limiteds, Street Stocks, Renegades, FWD
July 25th – SouthEast Super Trucks
August 8th – SouthEast Super Trucks
August 14th – Late Models, Limiteds, Street Stocks, Renegades, FWD
August 28th – Late Models, Limiteds, Street Stocks, Renegades, FWD
September 11th – Late Models, Limiteds, Street Stocks, Renegades, FWD
October 16th – All-Female Late Model Race & 150-lap Enduro