ROCKINGHAM — Local leaders last week encouraged residents of Richmond County to support Rockingham Speedway when NASCAR returns to the legendary track in 2025.
The speedway and Track Enterprises announced Aug. 29 that NASCAR would be bringing the Craftsman Truck Series and the Xfinity Series to the Rock April 18-19 of next year.
Since the sanctioning body traditionally takes Easter Sunday off, there won’t be a Cup Series race.
Click here to read about the announcement.
Like Track Enterprises President Bob Sargent, County Manager Land teased the potential for another race that weekend that will “hopefully be announced soon.”
During his monthly report to the Richmond County Board of Commissioners on Sept. 10, Land thanked commissioners and others involved for their part in helping in efforts to revive the Rock and secure the event.
Those others included: members of the N.C. General Assembly; Gov. Roy Cooper; the city of Rockingham; Richmond County Tourism; track owner Dan Lovenheim and his team at the speedway; Track Enterprises; and NASCAR.
“All of these folks …played an integral role in getting our beloved speedway back on the schedule in 2025,” Land said, “and our goal is, obviously, to try to bring Cup (races) back in future years.
“We’re all super excited about the revitalization that’s going on and…furthermore, the economic impact that we’re going to see from the track,” Land continued, adding that at one time, racing at the speedway brought in “tens of millions of dollars” to the county’s tax books.
During the Rockingham City Council meeting the same night, City Manager Monty Crump announced the return of ThunderFest.
“If you all remember the glory days of ThunderFest, we’d have twenty to twenty-five thousand people out here,” Crump said. “We hope to line up a hauler parade and have drivers here.”
Thunder Fest is also planned to include food trucks and “a really good band,” and will be co-sponsored by the city, county and Richmond County Tourism and the Chamber of Commerce.
“We’re really excited about being able to bring that back,” Crump said, adding that Thunder Fest is taking the place of SpringFest.
SpringFest was a spinoff from ThunderFest, which was held from 2001-2013 in partnership with the speedway. After a two-year hiatus, following NASCAR’s departure after the last truck race, the event was rebranded as SpringFest for 2016 and 2017, but construction of the downtown campus for Richmond Community College and the COVID pandemic put the event on hold until it returned for 2022 and 2023.
According to Events Coordinator Kim Williams, ThunderFest is scheduled for Thursday, April 17, just before the races.
“We need our community to really really get behind this whole effort,” Councilman Bennett Deane said. “A lot of folks are excited about it, but, to take the next step and to continue these events, ticket sales are going to be the most critical thing…making sure we have good attendance.
Poor attendance at the 2012 and 2013 truck races was cited for NASCAR not returning for more than a decade. However, some fans have pointed out on social media that truck races don’t draw the same size crowds as Cup races.
During a press conference last month, Sargent said the race is expected to draw a crowd of 20,000-25,000.
Click here to read more from the press conference.
“We just need to really embrace this opportunity,” Deane continued. “It’s not going to come along again if it’s not well-received, so, it’s a big deal.”
Like Land, Mayor John Hutchinson added that there was a lot of work behind the scenes to bring NASCAR back to the Rock.
“It didn’t just happen,” Hutchinson said. “It took a lot of discussion …it’s been going on for a while. … I do appreciate the hard work and all the discussions it took to make this happen.
Tickets for the weekend race event go on sale Nov. 1.
“I’m hoping everyone will jump on board and support the track and buy tickets and will attend the event,” Land said.
