NASCAR at Rockingham: Buy tickets here, TV/radio info and who will win?
On Monday, a mere five days ahead of one of the biggest weekends of his year, Bob Sargent was driving through rural North Carolina, his phone signal going in and out.
“We’re ready,” Sargent told The Charlotte Observer. “It’s going to be a great weekend.”
The weekend Sargent was referring to is that of Easter weekend — specifically, days of NASCAR racing that’ll take place at Rockingham Speedway. It’s the second annual race at N.C.’s vaunted venue; the racing was a smash-hit a year ago and there are hopes that it will be again this year. Sargent is the owner of Track Enterprises, the group that NASCAR is employing to ensure that the venue is up to snuff for this weekend.
Rockingham Speedway completed its remarkable revitalization and landed on the NASCAR schedule last spring. Revisiting history was the theme last year. This year? It’s all about moving forward — around the 1.017-mile flat oval and into the future.
“We have a huge fan base in this area,” Sargent said. “And NASCAR’s a good product on the track. But most of all, this is what Track Enterprises does week-in and week-out. So we feel confident in our staff and in our team in what we try to deliver to the fans. So that’s probably the biggest thing: we just feel confident in what we deliver.”
Here’s everything you should know ahead of the racing this weekend at one of the state’s most hallowed racing grounds.
Rockingham race tickets
Last year’s O’Reilly Series race — then called Xfinity — was sold out on Saturday. That likely won’t be the case this year, Sargent said. He added that he encourages people to buy tickets ahead of time but that “there will be plenty available on race day.” You can purchase tickets to Friday’s racing (Truck race), Saturday’s racing (ARCA Series and O’Reilly Series) or to both days at RaceTheRock.com. Tickets start at $41.
How to watch Rockingham race
Fans can watch Saturday’s O’Reilly Series race on The CW and can listen to it on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. The green flag is set to drop just after 2:30 p.m.
On Friday, fans can tune into FS1, the NASCAR Racing Network or Sirius XM NASCAR Radio to follow that one. The race is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m.
A brief history of the racetrack
From its construction and first race in 1965 to the early 2000s, The Rock was a rite of passage in the sport of racing and a staple on the NASCAR Cup Series. In 2004, though, NASCAR left; the small-town infrastructure was starting to buck up against NASCAR’s ascending popularity — something racing officials wanted to capitalize on by building state-of-the-art tracks out West.
Between 1997 and 2004, once-named North Carolina Motor Speedway changed ownership multiple times, and its fate worsened with every acquisition. By 2005, it had lost both of its Cup dates, and the 250-acre property sat dormant. Racetrack ownership changed a few times after that, and one ownership group even brought the Truck Series there in 2012 and 2013. But the facility wasn’t up to snuff for NASCAR to return in 2014 — a product of the facility getting worse with time — and at that point, the racing seemed forever lost.
Then, in 2018, Dan Lovenheim purchased the racetrack. His ambition and construction acumen — plus loads of government COVID stimulus money and NASCAR’s renewed effort to return to old tracks — compelled NASCAR back. After a successful Easter Weekend of racing in 2025, Lovenheim sold the property to the International Hot Rod Association in January.
Predicting who will win
Here are my predictions for who will win each race:
O’Reilly Series: Jesse Love. Love was the first one to cross the finish line at Rockingham in last year’s O’Reilly (then-Xfinity) race. His run ultimately got disqualified after his car failed to pass postrace inspection, but he clearly knows the track well, knows which grooves on the track to follow. This is Justin Allgaier’s season so far — the veteran JR Motorsports driver has won three of the past four — but this one belongs to Love, who according to FanDuel is +500 odds to win the race Saturday.
Truck Series: Sammy Smith. He might be full-time in the Xfinity Series, but he’s also taking part in the Truck race this weekend. And I think he’ll have a good run. Funny enough, he was the winner of last year’s Xfinity race, ultimatley, after Love was disqualified, so he knows his way around the track, too. Corey Heim is also having a remarkable season — but Smith is the way to go Friday afternoon.
This story was originally published April 2, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "NASCAR at Rockingham: Buy tickets here, TV/radio info and who will win?."
