North Wilkesboro Speedway crews begin sealing the rumored 'moonshine cave' found in grandstand seats

The discovery of a sinkhole in the grandstands of the North Wilkesboro Speedway was a big surprise to crews going through their routine inspection of the seats, and the cave itself might be an homage to the history of NASCAR.

According to a report from WXII, crews spent part of tuesday afternoon filling in the sinkhole staff discovered about two weeks ago, as they were preparing for the 2024 NASCAR All-star Race. It wasn’t long until folks started speculating the 700-square foot space was a storage area for illegal moonshine.

"Next thing we know, we get a call: 'You need to come look at something. We found a hole in the grandstands,'" said Steve Swift.

Swift, who serves as the vice president of operations and development for Speedway Motorsports, says moonshine is woven deep into the history of Wilkes County and the sport itself.

"We know in the heritage of NASCAR that it was moonshine runners," he said. "They actually souped up their cars and raced. [Originally] they were trying to get away from the law or whoever it might be. In Wilkesboro, there's a large heritage here."

Under different circumstances, Speedway Motorsports would love to delve a little bit deeper into this discovery to confirm if their suspicions are true. However, Swift says they just don’t have the time.

"I wish that we could have found, you know, a case of moonshine, or we'd have found something that really would have put the staple in it, but sometimes the mystique is a little bit more interesting than just finding the hard evidence. We have to go by stories that we've heard, just some common sense things that we've seen, and really, you know, it's the myth lives on and the history lives on is kind of what we're looking at."

With the All-Star race just a month away, crews are working quickly to make sure nothing gets in the way of the best show in town.