The 1962 Wilkes 200, the 51st race of the 53-race 1962 NASCAR Grand National Series season, was held on Sunday, September 30 at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
A crowd of 11,000 watched the 31-car field compete on the 0.625-mile paved oval for 320 laps (200 miles). Fred Lorenzen earned the pole position with a qualifying speed of 94.657 mph.
Richard Petty, driving the #43 Petty Enterprises Plymouth, took the lead at the halfway point (lap 160) from Junior Johnson and held on to win by 14 seconds over Marvin Panch. Joe Weatherly finished third, followed by Junior Johnson in fourth and Jim Paschal in fifth. Petty’s victory came at an average speed of 86.186 mph and earned him $2,560. The race was slowed by three cautions.
Joe Weatherly left North Wilkesboro with a commanding 1,334-point lead over Richard Petty in the championship standings, putting him in a strong position to claim the 1962 Grand National title in the season’s final races. This event continued the growing rivalry and competitive depth among NASCAR’s top stars on one of the sport’s toughest short tracks.
