Amid Rockingham backdrop, NASCAR drivers explain why Xfinity Series is ‘so tough’
Justin Allgaier felt taken aback as he signed autographs early Saturday before his NASCAR race at Rockingham.
In a different way than the sport’s returns to other historic race tracks, the reigning Xfinity Series champion noticed a palpable buzz outside. Allgaier doesn’t always see such a long line of eager race fans chasing his signature at the tracks on a weekly basis, as NASCAR’s lower-series races often serve as an opener for the Cup Series’ main event on Sundays.
It didn’t feel that way this weekend at Rockingham.
For Allgaier, this experience at the revitalized track 80 miles east of Charlotte just brought him back to how he found his love for racing. The 38-year-old grew up attending races with his father, just like families he met at Rockingham, which hosted a pair of national series races ahead of Easter Sunday.
“It’s more than just a race track — it’s a memory for a lot of folks,” Allgaier explained inside his motorhome Saturday afternoon. “And when you bring that back, they’re going to come out and support, and they’ve done that right. These tracks did a really great job of trying to promote the best they can and get fans to come here. It’s just been really cool to see the engagement we’ve gotten out of this weekend. Close enough to Charlotte that a lot of folks from home are coming here, and far enough out that folks are coming from kind of all over.
“When you pack a place like this on a standalone weekend, it gives us hope for the future of this place. But it also makes you smile, because you know the Xfinity Series is doing a great job, putting on great races. Cup Series races will always be the marquee series, right? We have some phenomenal racing on the Xfinity side that I feel like sometimes gets overshadowed.”
‘The Xfinity Series is so tough’
Kyle Larson, who won last week’s Cup Series and Xfinity Series races, said he wants to embarrass NASCAR when he runs in its lower-level races.
On the Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour NASCAR on FOX show this week, Larson discussed how he gets particularly motivated to build dominant leads when he’s competing against less experienced drivers.
“I want to embarrass them, honestly,” Larson said. “I want to embarrass NASCAR a little bit because they just don’t let Cup guys run anymore, and the kids probably think they’re in a good spot and they don’t know where the bar really is at. ... I want to smash the field when I run Xfinity.”
Allgaier’s owner had his own two cents on this one.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose JR Motorsports team fields four full-time Xfinity Series cars, described how strong Cup Series drivers like Kyle Busch and Mark Martin have always tried to gain extra laps from these races. While their presence pushes younger competitors to work even harder for wins, bigger racing teams just have elite equipment that can easily allow one car to dominate, the owner explained on the Dale Jr. Download podcast.
NASCAR’s current rule states that Cup Series drivers boasting more than three years of full-time experience are limited to five Xfinity Series and/or Truck Series races each year, excluding the regular-season finale and playoff races.
Larson made himself known once again last week at Bristol, and regardless of how many races see Cup veterans are in the field, experienced racers can help the younger ones improve.
“It’s so valuable for me,” Connor Zilisch, the 18-year-old Charlottean who will run in another Cup Series race at the Coca-Cola 600, said as he walked to his race car. “I’ve learned so much — even through 10 races this year — and I’m really excited for the rest of the season. It’s great to have Justin (Allgaier) as a teammate. He’s an open book for me, and I learn a lot from him.
“The Xfinity Series is so tough. ... and the fans are showing up and making it worth it for us.”
‘There’s not really a better series in the sport’
With the Cup Series off on Easter Sunday, Rockingham provided a showcase for NASCAR’s other national series.
Even in the days when it was known as the Busch Series, the key to successful lower-tier series was having premier events and new race tracks that weren’t identical to the Cup Series’ schedule.
That’s still happening at the contemporary NASCAR tracks. Four of the 33 venues aren’t hosting Cup Series this season; The Truck Series is the only one racing at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut this season, for example, while Portland’s road course is only hosting the Xfinity Series.
Cup Series haulers weren’t rolling down U.S. Highway 74 to file into the race track northeast of Rockingham. But whether it was fans wearing Allgaier’s No. 7 T-shirt or repping Kasey Kahne at his first NASCAR race in nearly seven years, the Xfinity Series drivers felt loved by their passionate spectators.
“At the end of the day, I am a competitor and I want to win,” Allgaier said. “But when our fans walk out of here, I mean — listen, we’re spending more money than we’ve ever spent to come to race. When a dollar probably goes less than it’s ever gone, and you have more options to go spend your hard-earned money. I want fans to come here, spend a weekend or spend a day. It doesn’t matter. Get the full experience, and when they walk out of here: ‘That was worth every penny I spent, and I had a blast.’ And if I could be a small piece of making that fan who spent their money make that engagement or interaction that makes them want to come back again, it’s worth every ounce of what I do on a weekly basis.
“When you get the casual fan who comes in and gets really interested, they gravitate toward the Xfinity Series. They love these cars. They love the atmosphere of the garage. It’s just such a cool series. Would I still love to be winning races in the Cup Series and battling on Sundays? Yeah, absolutely. But when you look at the nature of this garage, what this series is from the inside-out — there’s not really a better series in the sport, and it’s just really a lot of fun to be a part of it.”
This story was originally published April 19, 2025 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Amid Rockingham backdrop, NASCAR drivers explain why Xfinity Series is ‘so tough’."
