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Rockingham Speedway is one track that many NASCAR fans want to see back on the schedule. While that did not happen in 2024, fans are clinging to hope for the future. This is everything we know about Rockingham’s NASCAR ambition.
You Need to Know:
Rockingham Speedway wants to get back on the NASCAR schedule. Matthew Sasser of the Richmond County Daily Journal reported in December of 2023. That Rockingham Speedway has asked for additional funding to make the race track ready to host NASCAR again. Rockingham was slated to receive $9 million in Pandemic Recovery Grants.
According to Sasser, Rockingham has asked for the $9 funding on three separate occasions. Richmond County Finance Director, Cary Gartner, said the track requested $3 million in October of 2022 for a repave, just over $1 one year later, and has recently requested the remaining $4.99 million. This is what Chairman Jeff Smart had to say about Rockingham’s ambitions.
The obvious goal… [is] getting NASCAR back. Not only for financial reasons, but for quality of life. Bring it back. Let’s bring racing back to the rock. That’s what we are doing this for
Jeff Smart via Matthew Sasser
Vice Chairman Dr. Rick Watkins also made it very clear that getting NASCAR back to Rockingham is the goal according to Sasser.
I think this board would agree that our number one goal here is to get NASCAR back in Rockingham
Dr. Rick Watkins via Matthew Sasser
According to Sasser, some of this chatter was due to $1.2 million of funding being originally allocated to “Little Rock”, next to Rockingham Speedway. No decision has been made, but, there was concern raised that funding would be better off saved until the big track is ready to bring NASCAR back. Still, it highlights that the local government is hoping to bring back Rockingham Speedway.
Rockingham Speedway has had work done on it very recently. Eric Estepp recently visited the track as a part of the “Moonshine and Motorsports Trail”, and he highlighted that the track had recently been repaved along with installing SAFER barriers.
However, by Eric’s own admission, the track still has a lot of work to be done. There might need to be grandstands added, and there may need to be some work done on the facilities. However, the race track itself is race-ready.
How much money will it take for Rockingham to get everything done? Well, we can compare it to another track that was recently revitalized, North Wilkesboro Speedway.
According to Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports North Wilkesboro Speedway’s renovation cost over $20 million. Rockingham got far less than that, so do they have enough money to renovate as much as it needs?
However, the two tracks are not the same. North Wilkesboro was largely abandoned for two and a half decades. Rockingham closed 8 years after North Wilkesboro, and Rockingham has been far more active than North Wilkesboro. Rockingham hosted 2 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races between 2012 and 2013.
Rockingham was active and hosting NASCAR far later than North Wilkesboro ever did. That naturally means Rockingham may not need as much work as North Wilkesboro did. It’s also worth noting that Rockingham will not have to repave anytime soon, which North Wilkesboro did this offseason.
Since the news of the funding asked for by the track in December of 2023, not much else has happened regarding Rockingham Speedway in terms of bringing NASCAR back. However, the track is not just sitting dormant.
In late-March, Rockingham Speedway announced that they were repaving the infield road course. This is primarily used for drifting or for car clubs throughout the year.
The track also has a few events coming up. This includes the Rockingham Speedway Open House on May 18th. Complete with live music, classic stock cars, a raffle, and more. However, no big league stock car races are scheduled.
Overall, it seems that Rockingham coming back has support from the local government. It also may not be as big of a construction or revamping project as North Wilkesboro was. Will Rockingham come back?
