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NASCAR Monday Mash-Up: NASCAR returns to Rockingham

JHby:Jonathan Howard•04/21/25•

Jondean25

Rockingham Speedway NASCAR
Ed Clemente for The Fayetteville Observer via Imagn Content Services, LLC

No NASCAR Cup Series on Easter Sunday this year, but there was plenty of action in the Xfinity and Truck Series at Rockingham. This was a fantastic weekend of racing and a return to a historic venue.

There was drama and wrecks and so much action. The repaved track at Rockingham Speedway gave the sold-out crowd in the stands and the folks tuning in on TV one hell of a show. If you didn’t like these races, then you don’t like stock car racing.

It was all about the two lower series last week. That is great. We should do this next year and the year after and so on and so on. After what we saw on track, The Rock is back, and it needs to stay.

Dale Jr. leaks Hendrick Xfinity Series info

Well, the focus on the NASCAR Xfinity Series started before Rockingham. In the middle of the week on the Dale Jr. Download, Dale Earnhardt Jr. mentioned something that caught the ear of fans.

Dale Jr. was speaking about the Hendrick Motorsports Xfinity Series team and how Kyle Larson should race more in the series this year. Then, he said the car has races for Rajah Caruth and Jake Finch. Caruth is a HendrickCars.com driver, but Finch is a Toyota driver with very little experience.

Venturini Motorsports sells program to Nitro Motorsports

In a big ARCA Menards Series shakeup, at the end of this season, Venturini Motorsports will turn its operations over to Nitro Motorsports. Nitro, coming out of the Trans-Am Series, will acquire the program.

This likely means that Nitro is the new Toyota development team. Thad Moffitt is driving full-time for them this season. Perhaps we will see some great performances from the grandson of Richard Petty.

Stewart Friesen questions his NASCAR future

During the NASCAR Truck Series race at Rockingham, Stewart Friesen had a bad time. He damaged his truck in qualifying and then was part of a very hard wreck.

After leaving the care center, Friesen straight up questioned what his future would be in NASCAR. Two weeks of bad wrecks have him wondering if it is all worth it at this point.

Tyler Ankrum gets first win since 2019

At the end of the Truck Series race, it was Tyler Ankrum standing alone with fuel in his truck. He outlasted the field as leaders such as Corey Heim had to pit late.

Ankrum broke a 130-race winless streak, the longest winless streak to ever be broken in the Truck Series. If he can do it, Kyle Busch can get a win in the Cup Series this season, too, right?

Katherine Legge buys JJ Yeley out of his seat

Despite outqualifying five other drivers, Katherine Legge was left out of the Xfinity Series field due to the six provisional Owner Points positions. Tough break that has happened to plenty of teams over the years.

With Legge having a limited schedule this year and support from Chevy, she was able to get into the No. 53 car that JJ Yeley originally qualified for the race. The team then went to work swapping the decals on the car.

Brent Crews is going to be a problem

In the ARCA Menards Series East race, Brent Crews was unstoppable. He led almost every lap on his way to an overwhelming win over William Sawalich.

Crews is only 17 years old, but he is insanely talented. He has Truck Series starts lined up with Tricon Garage later this season, and it would not be shocking to see him win one of those races.

Connor Zilisch wins pole with a flat tire

With NASCAR Xfinity Series action on Saturday, Connor Zilisch showed once again he’s not a one-trick pony. The JR Motorsports driver was SMOKING during his qualifying lap. Literally.

The aggressive qualifying setup led to more than a few cars smoking the right rear tire. Zilisch happened to win the pole even as his tire went flat coming out of Turn 4. Unfortunately, he had to go to the rear.

Legge gets booted, Kasey Kahne takes damage

Katherine Legge was doing well in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Rockingham until she wasn’t. Nick Sanchez lapped her, and William Sawalich was next to go. Legge was in an awkward race line, but with Sanchez going by, she likely figured she was fine.

As Legge slowed in the corner, Sawalich hadn’t quite ducked under her yet. She slowed up, he went right into the left rear and spun her out. Kasey Kahne got a good hit to the right front, and it hindered his top-five run at the time. A tough exit for Legge.

Rockingham delivers on excitement, attrition

In both NASCAR races, Rockingham was great. 14 cautions and two red flags in the Xfinity Series didn’t feel and look as sloppy as it sounds. There were plenty of wrecks, big ones at the end as drivers ran out of fuel, but it was because that is what the track delivered.

Drivers weren’t diving in and making bad moves. No, drivers were holding on for dear life in each corner, on every caution lap, if you weren’t trying to avoid spinning out on the greasy tire rubber laid down throughout the evening, then you were trying to rattle fuel into your engine. Beautiful racing.

Jesse Love wins… Sammy Smith wins?!

To cap off Saturday night, things got even more dramatic. Jesse Love won the race, at least he was the first to cross the line. Then time went by and NASCAR hadn’t announced postrace inspection results from Rockingham. Then they did.

Love’s No. 2 car had a rear suspension violation. Richard Childress Racing is appealing the decision, but for now, Sammy Smith is the NASCAR Xfinity Series winner from Rockingham. Smith also cashed the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash check before the DQ.