ROCKINGHAM — ARCA cars will be rolling around the legendary Rock for the second consecutive year in a triple-race weekend.
The schedule for the 2026 ARCA Menards Series East was released Dec. 9, showing Rockingham Speedway as the second race of the season.
The race is scheduled for noon on Saturday, April 4 — just before the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series bout. The Craftsman Truck Series race will be Friday, April 3. The NASCAR races were announced in August.
This will be the second year for all three series at Rockingham, following a long hiatus.
Before the return earlier this year, the last ARCA race at the track was held in 2010, with Ty Dillon taking the checkered flag.
Brent Crews, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, won the Rockingham ARCA 125, leading 121 laps after starting in the pole position —giving up four to runner-up William Sawalich.
Crews wound up winning three of the five races he participated in in 2025, including the last race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
However, it was Isaac Kitzmiller who secured the season title with no —wins but a top-10 finish in every race, including sixth at the Rock..
The first race of the 2026 season will also be in North Carolina at Hickory Motor Speedway.
“The eight races that make up the ARCA Menards Series East schedule include tracks that will be very familiar to the series but will also see the addition of the first-ever ARCA race at Hickory Motor Speedway, and a return to Toledo Speedway for the first time since 2020,” ARCA President Ron Drager, said in a press release.
“The race at Hickory, one of the most legendary and tradition-rich tracks in stock-car racing, already has a lot of energy and excitement around it, and we’ll follow with a much-anticipated return to Rockingham Speedway for the second consecutive year the very next weekend.”
Other tracks on the schedule are: Nashville Fairgrounds; Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park; Flat Rock Speedway; Iowa Speedway; and Bristol Motor Speedway.
At just under a mile, Rockingham is the largest track on the schedule.
A private tire test for the ARCA series was held in mid-November at the track.
Tickets for the race weekend are available at racetherock.com.
