As the town of North Wilkesboro, its historic speedway, and NASCAR itself all prepare for the 2024 All-Star race in May, the track's owners are releasing new data on the staggering economic impact last year's race week had on the state and local economy.According to an independent study commissioned by Speedway Motorsports, which owns 11 NASCAR tracks including North Wilkesboro, the 2023 All-Star race week had a $66 million economic impact on North Carolina, $30.4 million of which was felt specifically in Wilkes County. The report, completed by UNC-Charlotte sports economist Dr. John Connaughton, found the race week generated 458 jobs statewide, 253 of which were in Wilkes County. The massive construction project from 2022-2023 to transform the speedway from a broken-down racing relic to a state-of-the-art facility accounted for 30 million dollars in economic impact and 262 jobs. Wednesday afternoon, Cup Series drivers Joey Logano, Ty Gibbs, and William Byron were out at the track, testing Goodyear tires ahead of the race, which is set for May 19.Last fall, crews repaved the track for the first time since 1991 — something drivers say will absolutely have an impact on the racing here this spring. "Obviously, any time there's a repave, wherever the cars are running is going to be the fast lane and when you get out of that it's going to be ice. Until you get cars running two wide out there running and you get the races going here I expect it to widen out a little bit and help that part of it," Logano said.This will be the second consecutive year that NASCAR has held its All-Star race at North Wilkesboro, which hosted 93 Cup series races from 1949-1996 before sitting mostly idle and falling into disrepair as the sport opted to race at newer, larger tracks instead."I wasn't really alive when this place was rolling, rolling steam, so it's cool to come back and check it out," said Gibbs, who turned 21 back in October. "I came here probably in 2017 when it didn't have anything going on, so, to see how much they've progressed is really cool. They did a great job with this track."Last May, WXII 12 chronicled the rise, fall, and rebirth of the track in an hour-long special "Back on Track: Racing Returns to North Wilkesboro."The 2023 All-Star race was the first Cup series event at North Wilkesboro in almost 27 years. Just like a year ago, fans can enjoy more than just the All-Star race. There are two days of CARS Tour races and a Truck series race in the days leading up to May 19.North Wilkesboro is also scheduled to host races in the Whelen Modified Tour and CARS Tour in October.