ROCKINGHAM — “The King” has spoken: Racing legend Richard Petty says NASCAR should return to the Rock.
In a recent interview, Petty was asked: “Which track would you want to add to the 2024 schedule.”
“Eventually, I’d like to see Rockingham come back,” Petty said, adding that it’s a good track for both drivers and fans.
“To me, Rockingham was the racetrack that spectators can see all the way around, and it’s a very competitive racetrack,” Petty continued. “I don’t know how it is now, bein’ it’s so old, but it was a three-groove racetrack — you could run on the bottom, in the middle, or up top and still make time.”
The mile-long oval was repaved in late 2022, using funds allocated to Richmond County for infrastructure improvements at the track.
Petty, who won 200 races between 1964 and 1984 said he would pick the Rock over any track they used to run — or currently run.
Petty’s former crew chief Dale Inman jokingly said, “Rockingham would be great because it’s close to home, too.”
“I guess Richard won a bunch of races down there, and Kyle (Petty) was real good down there,” Inman said. “Because it’s close to home (it) would be big for me.”
Petty holds the record for most Cup Series wins at Rockingham — known then as North Carolina Motor Speedway — taking 11 checkered flags at the track during his career, according to RacingReference.info.
His first three wins came in June ‘67, October ‘68 and March ‘70, followed by back-to-back wins in March and October of ‘71, then a win in March of ‘74. The King then had three consecutive wins at Rockingham in February and October of ‘76 and March of ‘77. His final two victories were in October of ‘79 and March of ‘83.
Son Kyle Petty had three wins at the Rock.
Cale Yarborough has the second-most Cup wins with seven, however Mark Martin has the most overall racing victories with 14: two in the Cup Series; 11 in the Xfinity Series (formerly Busch Series); and one in the K&N Pro Series.
Both Petty and Inman have been inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame and are from nearby Randolph County.
Petty previously advocated for Rockingham in a story by the Associated Press in March, as did Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte.
Chase Elliot, who won the X-1R Pro Cup Series race in May 2011, told the Charlotte Observer earlier this year that he’d be in favor of racing returning to the Rock.
During the kick-off of the Moonshine and Motorsports Trail in February, former driver Rusty Wallace — who holds the track lap record and is the only driver aside from Petty to have three consecutive wins (five total) — said Rockingham was one of his favorite tracks and that he was happy to see the track being revitalized “…and hopefully some big races back here.”
Click here to read about the Moonshine and Motorsports event.
Rockingham hosted Cup series races from 1965 until 2004 — twice annually until the final year — with Matt Kenseth taking the final checkered flag. NASCAR returned in 2012 and 2013 for two races in the truck series, but has not been back since.
The current owners bought the track in August of 2018 for $2.8 million.
After sitting dormant for nearly eight years, action returned to the speedway in 2021 with a variety of motorsports events including go-kart racing, drifting and mini-stock racing. The Hot Rod Power Tour made the track of the stops in June.
The track has also hosted non-motorsports events like a circus, dwarf wrestling, the Ducks Unlimited banquet and the Hops and Hot Rods craft beer festival.
In just a few weeks, Rockingham Speedway will be the site of the Tailgate N’ Tallboys truck show and music festival, featuring headliner Bailey Zimmerman.
Click here to read more about Tailgate N’ Tallboys.
In addition to driver support, the Rock has also seen a clamoring for fans to see NASCAR return. In 2018, Rockingham Speedway won an NBC Sports Twitter poll against North Wilkesboro Speedway and Nashville Fairgrounds.
Click here to read about the Twitter poll.
North Wilkesboro got the green flag earlier this year and hosted the All-Star race and is scheduled to host it again in 2024.
Earlier this year, the RO conducted its own poll to see when fans would like to see a race in Rockingham should NASCAR return.
According to the results, 35% of the respondents picked the first weekend of May for their preferred race date.
Click here to read about the RO poll.
There had been speculation that Rockingham would be on next year’s schedule, with it being 20 years since the last Cup race. However, when NASCAR released the schedule a few weeks back, the Rock was not listed.
