The Rockingham Speedway was revived from the dead to host the NASCAR Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series in 2025. The two tiers will race at the oval when the Cup Series rests on Easter Weekend. With the date soon approaching, Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch have expressed their desire to see the track host the Cup Series someday.
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At Bristol Motor Speedway, they were asked if they would be in favor of the Cup Series racing at the Rockingham Speedway. Elliott pointed out how he’d won a few races on the track as a young driver and mentioned the repave done to the track in 2022. He also added that he’d been talking to Kasey Kahne about the track.
“He told me that it didn’t drive all that different,” he said. “Which I think is pretty exciting. So, sounds like they did a good job with it. I am excited to watch if I can. Certainly would be in favor of us getting back there at some point for sure.” Interestingly, Elliott drove a single Truck Series race before the repave (in 2013) at Rockingham.
The two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch took a similar stand. He spoke about how he has raced thrice at the track and finished in seventh place all three times. He went on to add, “It’s a great place. It’s a really cool track. I really enjoy that track. It’s a lot of fun. It’s cool to see it come back. Seems like it is really, really fast. They’ve repaved it.”
Why did NASCAR drop Rockingham Speedway in 2004?
The Cup Series raced at the track one last time in 2004 before officially declaring it off the schedule. The venue struggled to sell out in its final years. The main reason for that was the dwindling local market. The Ferko lawsuit in 2004 presented a favorable situation to take it off the calendar.
After selling the track to Speedway Motorsports Inc., NASCAR awarded its date to the Texas Motor Speedway. The Xfinity Series, too, took off in 2004. However, the Craftsman Truck Series raced there from 2012 to 2013. It is under the leadership of the track’s owner, Dan Lovenheim, that the resurrection has been made possible now after a decade.
All the negative voids have been filled, and the track stands with fresh vigor. Lovenheim raised expectations last year by stating, “Our team has put a tremendous amount of work and resources into modernizing the property and providing the area with a destination to be proud of. This moment validates our plans. We’ve refreshed the entire facility and are eager to show race fans what we’ve done.”
