NASCAR Xfinity Series News & Notes – Rockingham Speedway

NASCAR Xfinity Series
Next Race: North Carolina Education Lottery 250 presented by Black’s Tire
The Place: Rockingham Speedway
Track Length: 0.94 Mile Asphalt Oval
The Date: Saturday, April 19
The Time: 4 p.m. ET
The Purse: $1,651,939
TV: CW, 3 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 235 miles (250 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 60),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 120), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 250)

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)

Rockingham Storylines and Insights:

This weekend will be the 43rd running of a NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Rockingham Speedway, and the first since 2004.
Rockingham Speedway is one of nine active tracks that were on the NASCAR Xfinity Series inaugural season’s schedule in 1982.
Rockingham is the fourth of four Dash 4 Cash races in 2025: Miami, Martinsville, Bristol and Rockingham.
Rockingham Dash 4 Cash drivers: #1 Carson Kvapil, #7 Justin Allgaier, #8 Sammy Smith, #20 Brandon Jones.
Rockingham Speedway is the fourth of nine races this season in the Xfinity Series on tracks measuring 1-mile in length or less.
Justin Allgaier (Miami, Bristol) and Austin Hill (Martinsville) won first three Dash 4 Cash bonuses in 2025.
Joe Gibbs Racing is one pole win away from 200, they are the only team to reach 100 poles.
Kasey Kahne will make his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start since 2017. He will be driving the No. 33 for Richard Childress Racing.
Kasey Kahne is the only driver entered in this weekend’s Xfinity Series race at Rockingham Speedway that has made a start at the track in the series previously. In five starts his best finish was 16th.
Jeb Burton (two Truck starts) and Ryan Sieg (two Truck starts) join Kasey Kahne as the only three drivers entered this weekend with NASCAR national series experience at Rockingham Speedway.
Katherine Legge, who made her NASCAR Cup Series debut at Phoenix earlier this season, will make her first start in the Xfinity Series since 2023 (Road America).
Kyle Larson became the seventh different winner in the first nine Xfinity races of the season with his victory at Bristol last weekend.
Mark Martin leads the Xfinity Series at Rockingham Speedway in the following statistical categories: poles (6), wins (11), top fives (16), top 10s (20), lead lap finishes (19), laps completed (4,551) and laps led (1,736).
Mark Martin (1996-1997) and Jamie McMurray (2002-2004) hold the record for the most consecutive Xfinity Series wins at Rockingham with four each.
Jamie McMurray won the last four consecutive Xfinity races held at Rockingham (2002-04).
The longest streak of different Xfinity Series winners at Rockingham Speedway was eight from 03/04/89 – 10/24/92.
Justin Allgaier holds a stout 83-point lead over Sam Mayer in second in the Xfinity Series driver standings following Bristol.
Justin Allgaier has scored stage points in every stage but one this season.
Justin Allgaier leads the Xfinity Series in top-10 starts this season with eight in the first nine races.
Justin Allgaier leads the series in top-10 finishes this season with seven, including the last six consecutive.
Justin Allgaier is the only driver to complete 100% of his laps attempted this season.
Eight different drivers have won the Xfinity Fastest Lap of the race this season, led by Justin Allgaier with two.
Sam Mayer is second in the driver point standings and has five top-five finishes this season; including two runner-up finishes (season-most runner-up finishes).
Austin Hill leads the Xfinity Series in Playoff points with 14, Justin Allgaier has the second-most at 13.
This season 10 different drivers have won a stage in the first nine Xfinity Series races, led by Austin Hill with four stage wins.
Despite only making two Xfinity Series starts in 2025, Kyle Larson leads the series in laps led with 408; Justin Allgaier leads all Xfinity Series regulars in laps led with 334 (second-most behind only Kyle Larson).
Brandon Jones and Sammy Smith will be competing in both the Xfinity Series and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series this weekend at Rockingham.

Additional Dash 4 Cash Information:

Rockingham is the fourth of four Dash 4 Cash races: Miami, Martinsville, Bristol and Rockingham.
Justin Allgaier won the Dash 4 Cash at Miami and Bristol; he holds the record for most D4C wins at seven.
Austin Hill won the Dash 4 Cash at Martinsville, his first win.
Rockingham Dash 4 Cash drivers: #1 Carson Kvapil, #7 Justin Allgaier, #8 Sammy Smith, #20 Brandon Jones.
The best finishing of the four Dash 4 Cash drivers will win a $100,000 bonus.
2025 is the 17th season of Dash 4 Cash in NXS, with $6,225,000 awarded since the start of the program in 2009.

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.”