Sunday 16th October 1949

The Wilkes 200, the eighth and final race of the inaugural NASCAR Strictly Stock season, was held at North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Carolina, US. Kenneth Wagner won the pole. Bob Flock took the lead in the closing stages when mechanical problems kayoed Bill Blair and edged Lee Petty to win the season finale. It was the eighth and final point race of the year, although two additional non-point events were staged by Sam Nunis at Atlanta’s Lakewood Speedway. Red Byron, finishing 16th, was crowned Strictly Stock champion in 1949 by a margin of 117.5 points over Petty. Blair, wheeling Sam Rice’s Cadallic, started second on the grid and jumped out to lead at the drop of the green flag. The diminutive High Point, NC star led the first 180 laps, but a souring engine robbed him once again of certain victory. Flock’s Oldsmobile nipped Petty’s Plymouth by a mere 100 yards in the finish. Fonty Flock, Clyde Minter and Herb Thomas rounded out the top five.