NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — The 1996 Tyson Holly Farms 400 was not the final race held in the history of North Wilkesboro Speedway.

In 2010 a group led by Alton McBride Jr. brought the track back to life and hosted a handful of events, including an event dubbed ‘The Race,’ which featured a $75,000-to-win Pro All Stars Series super late model feature.

Held on April 11 under sunny skies, the race was originally meant to take place on April 10. The race was to be held at night utilizing temporary lighting, but poor weather pushed the event from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon.

The field for the event was stacked. Among the entries were short-track racing stars like Bubba Pollard, Stephen Nasse, Ben Rowe, Augie Grill and Preston Peltier, as well as Daytona 500 winners Geoff Bodine and Sterling Marlin.

But that day at North Wilkesboro Speedway belonged to relative unknown Chris Eggleston, who drove the No. 08 entry prepared by crew chief Butch Miller.

Eggleston chased Pollard for much of the second half of the 300-lap event. He started making his charge after the first competition caution flag at lap 100, moving into second at lap 151.

Pollard had built a sizable advantage by that point, but Eggleston chased him down. A caution flag on lap 180 slowed the field and gave the leaders a breather. Eggleston used lapped traffic on lap 197 to take the lead for the first time.

The second competition caution flag slowed the field at lap 200 and allowed teams to make their final adjustments heading into the last 100-lap segment. Pollard grabbed the lead back from Eggleston on the restart, but Eggleston stayed right on his tail.

Eggleston made several attempts to take the lead from Pollard during the final 100 laps, which went caution free, but Pollard kept holding the lead. Eggleston finally made his move on lap 276 when Pollard got held up behind a lapped car, allowing Eggleston to snatch the lead for good.

“The second segment I was screwing with him, seeing what we got,” Eggleston said. “That restart [at lap 200] killed us. We had to chase him down then take the lead. In lapped traffic I had to pick and choose and not wear out that right front or abuse it when we got on the top side.

“We caught him at just the right time. He chose the wrong lane,” said the native of Colorado. “We were able to get around the outside and never look back.”

Pollard led the most laps and finished a frustrating second, but was later disqualified in post-race technical inspection.

“The car got way too tight on that last run,” Pollard said. “We thought we adjusted for it. It was a good run. To me there is only one lap that counts and that’s the last one.”

Jeff Choquette wound up being credited with second in the field of 44 cars.

T.J. Reaid, Rowe and Andy Loden completed the top-five in what would end up being the final race – at least to date – in the history of the famous North Wilkesboro Speedway.