NASCAR Cup Series News & Notes – Off Week, Looking Ahead To Talladega

NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: Jack Link’s 500
The Place: Talladega Superspeedway
Track Length: 2.66 Mile Asphalt Oval
The Date: Sunday, April 27
The Time: 3 p.m. ET
The Purse: $11,055,250
TV: FOX, 2 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 500 miles (188 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 60),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 120), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 188)

Where To Watch NASCAR This Week:

Friday, April 18

NCTS Practice & Kennametal Pole Qualifying (FS2 at 12:30 p.m. ET)

NXS Practice (The CW App at 3 p.m. ET)

NCTS Race: Black’s Tire 200 (FS1, NRN, SiriusXM at 5 p.m. ET)

Saturday, April 19

NXS Kennametal Pole Qualifying (The CW App at 11:30 a.m. ET)

NXS Race: North Carolina Education Lottery 250 presented by Black’s Tire (The CW, MRN, SiriusXM at 4 p.m. ET)

Looking Ahead – Talladega Storylines and Insights:

• Next weekend will mark the 112th running of a NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
• A total of 48 different drivers have won the pole at Talladega in the Cup Series, six are active this season – Christopher Bell (two), Chase Elliott (two), Michael McDowell (two), Austin Dillon (one), Denny Hamlin (one) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (one).
• Michael McDowell swept the two Cup Series poles at Talladega last season.
• Bill Elliott leads the Cup Series in poles at Talladega with eight and holds the record for most consecutive Cup poles at Talladega with six-straight from 1985 – 1987.
• Talladega has produced nine different race winners in the last nine Cup Series races at the 2.66-mile track.
• Ten of the 52 NASCAR Cup Series Talladega Superspeedway race winners are active this season, led by Brad Keselowski with six Talladega victories.
• Dale Earnhardt leads the Cup Series in victories at Talladega with 10.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. leads the Cup Series in consecutive wins at Talladega with four straight from 2001-2003.
• Three active drivers earned their first career Cup win at Talladega – Brad Keselowski (2009), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2017) and Bubba Wallace (2021).
• Brad Keselowski finished runner-up in both Cup Series Talladega races in 2024.
• William Byron currently has the longest active streak of top-10 finishes at Talladega with four straight.
• Joey Logano leads all active drivers in laps led at Talladega with 509 laps led, has led in 24 of his 32 starts.
• A total of 15 of the 111 NASCAR Cup Series races (13.5%) at Talladega Superspeedway have been won from the pole or first starting position – the most recent driver to accomplish the feat was Denny Hamlin on October 4, 2020.
• Joe Gibbs Racing (five) and Hendrick Motorsports (three) have combined to win eight of the first nine Cup races of 2025.
• William Byron leads the Cup Series point standings by 30 points over second place Denny Hamlin following Bristol.
• Kyle Larson swept both stages at Bristol and in doing so has tied Martin Truex Jr. for the most stage wins in the Cup Series with 66 each. Larson hasn’t won a stage at Talladega.
• 2025 marks the 34th consecutive season with at least five winners in the Cup Series through the first nine races.

NASCAR & Rockingham, Etc.

Historic & Significant Events at Rockingham Speedway:

• Rockingham Speedway, located in Richmond County, North Carolina has a rich history in American Motorsports.
• The track opened under the control of attorney Elsie Webb on Halloween, October 31, 1965 as a 1-mile, flat D-shaped oval and was named North Carolina Motor Speedway.
• The first NASCAR Cup Series race held at Rockingham Speedway was on October 31, 1965, and the race had 43 entrants and Curtis Turner, driving the No. 41 Wood Brothers Racing Ford, won the race by 11-seconds over second-place Cale Yarborough. Turner led 239 laps of 500-lap race.
• In 1969, the track was reconfigured to add banking in the turns. Turns 1 and 2 have 22 degrees of banking and Turns 3 and 4 have 25 degrees of banking.
• Over the years Rockingham Speedway has undergone several name changes and ownership transitions.
• After the passing of Webb in 1972, car owner L.G Dewitt took over operating the facility.
• A 1.5-mile (2.4 km) road course layout consisting of an infield road course combined with parts of the oval was added to the facility in 1977.
• In 1996 it was renamed North Carolina Speedway and has been known as Rockingham Speedway since October 2007.
• In 1997, Roger Penske purchased Rockingham Speedway.
• Throughout its history, Rockingham Speedway has hosted numerous significant racing events including the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and the ARCA Menards Series.
• The track is also known for its nickname “The Rock” affectionately given by fans and participants.
• In 2018, a group of investors led by Dan Lovenheim bought and renovated the facility into a multi-use complex, with NASCAR returning in 2025 under Lovenheim’s leadership.
• Rockingham Speedway has held numerous festivals throughout its existence. Its first was on August 18, 1972, when the speedway hosted the Peach Tree Celebration, a rock music festival. Approximately 70,000 attended the event.
• In recent decades, various festivals have been held, including the Carolina Rebellion in 2012, the Epicenter festival in 2019, and the Tailgate N’ Tallboys festival in 2023.
• Rockingham Speedway has been used as a site for filming production for various movies and shows, including Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Days of Thunder, Ta Ra Rum Pum, and the 2011 edition of World’s Strongest Man.
• May 2021 – N.C. Governor Roy Cooper proposed a Covid-19 relief package for Rockingham Speedway.
• November 2021- North Carolina General Assembly approved a package of $9 million.
• October 2022 – Track repaving began and was completed in December.
• The track was recently remeasured by NASCAR to be 0.94 mile in length.
• August 2024 – Announced NASCAR’s return with CRAFTSMAN Truck and Xfinity Series racing Easter Weekend 2025.
• January 2025 – CRAFTSMAN Truck and Xfinity Series teams test with the fastest lap in Trucks being 21.983 seconds (166.567 mph) by Ty Majeski.

Latest Track Storylines at Rockingham Speedway:

• NASCAR legends Ken Schrader and Kenny Wallace are set to appear at ThunderFest in downtown Rockingham on Thursday, April 17, ahead of NASCAR’s April 18-19 return to Rockingham Speedway. The duo will also host an unfiltered interactive Q&A April 18 at 2 p.m. at the Rockingham Speedway Fan Zone DJ Stage ahead of the Black’s Tire 200 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race, offering fans unique insights and stories from their legendary racing careers. The two former NASCAR stars host the Herm and Schrader Show, part of the Dirty Mo Media platform which has over 125,000 followers on YouTube. Fans are encouraged to ask questions at the event and bring signs to wave at the duo in the Fan Zone.
• The much-anticipated return of NASCAR racing to Rockingham Speedway has been met with an overwhelming response by enthusiastic fans buying every Saturday grandstand ticket to witness the North Carolina Education Lottery 250 presented by Black’s Tire NASCAR Xfinity Series race and the “Rockingham 125” ARCA Menards Series East race.

“Excitement continues to build, and this news reinforces what we knew all along – race fans are delighted to have NASCAR back at Rockingham Speedway,” said Track Enterprises President, Bob Sargent, the official event promoter of NASCAR’s return to Rockingham Speedway. “Wow! When’s the last time a NASCAR Xfinity Series race was sold out of grandstand tickets? We want to thank the entire community, and the thousands of fans that have spoken with their support, to show the world NASCAR is back at The Rock.”