STATESVILLE, NC – CARS Tour director Chris Ragle said the Old North State Nationals will return in the spring of 2020 after a successful inaugural event this past weekend.
During an interview with Race22 Radio, Ragle said the series hopes to be able to iron out details in the coming weeks for next year’s Old North State Nationals. He also noted that the series hopes to secure a multi-year deal for the event.
“I would think that we could probably have something solidified here in the coming weeks,” Ragle told Race22 Radio on Monday night. “We’ve got to recap with the county and all that. Our goal is to get some kind of deal where we can sign a multi-year deal and this can truly be an event that people plan for. I think that’s what we need to do.”
Ragle spoke about the success of the inaugural Old North State Nationals at Orange County Speedway, from the fan count, which he estimated at over 3,000, to the atmosphere itself. He said this was the type of event Late Model Stock Car racing needs.
“This event had that big time atmosphere,” Ragle said. “The parting and the pig picking and the beer drinking and everything, there was about 50 campers this weekend, at least. That helps make an event, not just a race, an event. I think that goes a long way. That’s what Late Model Stock racing needs. It needs an event. I think we’ve got a lot of races but to have an event, that’s what we need.”
While the event was considered a success, Ragle felt like running against the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol and against Dominion Raceway’s season opener may have suppressed the car and fan counts. However, he said the series likes running the event in the spring and plans to run the Old North State Nationals again around the same timeframe in 2020.
“If we don’t run against Bristol, then maybe that would probably be better,” Ragle remarked. “I think you see Drew Dollar here in that case, maybe Riley Herbst. You add your 4-6 cars right away by doing that. People like short track racing so they probably like Bristol too and maybe more people watch on Pit Row TV. I like the timeframe and I think it’s good. I know some people say, put it towards the end of the year. I think there is already one at the end of the year, you know. Two budgets at that time for us as a series, it works as a series. “
“It’s our third race in a row, we take a month off, let everybody recover. I do like it more towards the beginning of the year.”
Ragle said the series had planned to run the event one week sooner, but that the April 7th date is just how things worked out.
“We wish we were a week sooner is what we wanted to do,” Ragle stated. “This was how we worked out with the track. If we could have been a week sooner, that might help a little bit because some tracks still don’t, Dominion Saturday night was their season opener. If you’re a week before then, you get one or two cars from there.”
