Rockingham Track Records Expected to Fall Following Tuesday's NASCAR Test

Speeds were very fast in Tuesday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series / NASCAR Xfinity Series test session at Rockingham Speedway.
Speeds were very fast in Tuesday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series / NASCAR Xfinity Series test session at Rockingham Speedway. / Tyson Gifford | TobyChristie.com

On Tuesday, NASCAR and Rockingham Speedway officially turned back the clocks as the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers and teams took to the 1.017-mile North Carolina track for a test session in preparation for April's return to the iconic racing facility.

The Easter weekend Xfinity Series/Craftsman Truck Series combination race weekend will mark the first NASCAR National Series event of any kind at the track since the 2013 season. On Tuesday, the track proved it was up to the task.

A new track surface, paved in 2022, produced incredible grip for the drivers, and even more astonishing speeds. According to the unofficial timing and scoring, we'll be seeing an all-time NASCAR National Series track record at Rockingham in April.

RELATED: Why Kasey Kahne is Returning for NASCAR Xfinity Series Event at Rockingham

The top speed in Tuesday's test session was a 166.547 mph lap turned by ThorSport Racing NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Ty Majeski. The official track record is currently a 158.033 mph lap turned by Rusty Wallace in the 2000 NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Rockingham.

Majeski's fastest lap was nearly 20 mph faster than the previous NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series track record at the facility.

"We're hauling ass here, I mean there's no doubt about it," Majeski, the defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, said after his first session on the track.

It was a stunning display of speed for sure.

Corey Day, driving the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, was the fastest NASCAR Xfinity Series driver on the day as he turned a 162.431 mph lap time in the final session of the day.

Despite the track featuring a fresh coat of pavement, drivers were impressed that some of the key details in the traditional Rockingham Speedway track surface remained through the repave.

"Running the old surface, and albeit a lot different, it's still the same Rockingham and you're fighting some of the same things," Justin Allgaier, the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion who competed at the old Rockingham Speedway in ARCA, said. "But you're also benefitting with the surface the way that it is and the track configuration the way that it is."

Not only was the track smooth, and fast, but a strong contingent of race fans took time out of their Tuesday workday to sit in the ultra-chilly Turn 4 grandstands to watch the test session take place. Based on the historical significance of the track, fan support, and how the track reacted to cars and trucks being on it on Tuesday, Riggs says the track should play host to a NASCAR Cup Series race sooner rather than later.

"I don't see why the Cup Series shouldn't come here next year," Layne Riggs, a second-year NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitor for Front Row Motorsports, stated. "It's a great track, and it's close for everybody, to home. Same kind of thing as [North] Wilkesboro. You know, everybody has seen it and everybody knows how great it was back in its day, and now it's coming back again."

Majeski is just excited to get the chance to compete at a track steeped in so much history, that he has driven on in old NASCAR video games for years. It looked like any hope he had of running a race at Rockingham was a pipe dream, until it was revived for April's race weekend.

"Pulling into Rockingham, it kind of had that North Wilkesboro-type feel. You could just feel the history here when you drove in. You know, it's not a new place by any means, and you can feel that. I think that's a good thing," Majeski explained. "You know, Wilkesboro, they've redone it, but it still has an old-school feeling, I feel like. This place has that, so, cool to be here. I grew up playing way-old NASCAR video games when it was North Carolina Speedway. So, yeah, cool to be here in real life, and excited to have another sort of NASCAR staple back on the schedule."

There were a couple of minor incidents on Tuesday, but no severe crashes.

Sam Mayer, the driver of the No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford saw his afternoon come to an end early after he spun and nudged the inside wall with the nose of his car on the warm-up lap of the second NASCAR Xfinity Series session.

Additionally, Mason Maggio got up into the marbles and spun while running side-by-side with another car. Maggio suffered minimal damage, but it was enough for the No. 35 Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen team to load their car up on the hauler early.

After a Tuesday morning delay due to a damp track surface, NASCAR is allowing NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series teams to come back to Rockingham Speedway for an additional two hours of testing time on Wednesday. The track will open at 10 AM ET, and the test sessions will run until 2 PM ET. Rockingham Speedway, as was the case on Tuesday, will open its Turn 4 grandstands for fans to watch the session for free.


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Toby Christie
TOBY CHRISTIE

Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.