One of the country’s fastest growing destinations, Concord (Cabarrus County, North Carolina) is just north of Charlotte and the Heart and Soul of NASCAR Country. Our centerpiece is legendary Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Orbiting the Speedway are race shops, motorsports museums, the Dragway and the Dirt Track. In fact, over 90% of all NASCAR team shops are within a half-hour drive. All are open to the public. Many have museums and gift shops. Most are free and open to the public.
Interstate 85 provides easy access to hotels, restaurants and attractions. At I-85 Exit 49, alone, are 12 hotels, over 50 restaurants, and two of North Carolina’s top attractions. Concord Mills ranks #1 and Lowe’s Motor Speedway ranks #10. Exit 49 also boasts the region’s newest major attraction, Great Wolf Lodge, the largest indoor waterpark in the Southeast.
Every year a million people visit the area to watch major race events, attend the nation’s largest auto fairs, tour race shops and the speedway, drive (or ride) full-tilt on the track, and even travel in Dale Earnhardt’s footsteps on The Dale Trail. To race fans, this is heaven.
But, not everyone wants to do NASCAR 24-7, and the region has plenty to offer them as well.
In Concord’s sister city, Kannapolis, the new North Carolina Research Campus rises from the ashes of former textile superpower Cannon Mills. Guided tours of impressive bio-tech lab buildings give visitors a futuristic view of emerging technologies that will prolong life and improve life quality.
All Cabarrus County hotels are within a half-hour of Charlotte’s culture, professional sports, sizzling nightlife and Charlotte-Douglas Internatinal Airport.
Race cars, up close and personal at Roush-Fenway Racing.
The Heart of NASCAR Country (Concord and Kannapolis, NC) is less than four hours’ drive from most Carolina military bases.