Rockingham executive reveals chances of hosting Cup Series race after revival weekend

This weekend, NASCAR made its long-awaited return to Rockingham Speedway. Friday, the first Truck Series race since 2013. Saturday, the Xfinity Series’ first race at “The Rock” since 2004.

Could the Cup Series be next? Bob Sargent, president and CEO of Track Enterprises, helped NASCAR get the racetrack ready for the return of the Truck and Xfinity Series. He believes the facility is worthy of being back on the Cup schedule.

“Yes, absolutely, with the caveat that NASCAR is a big, worldwide entity, and when you look at dates, there are only so many,” Sargent told Alex Zietlow of The Charlotte Observer. “There are only so many geographic regions and things like that. So, there are many factors that go into when dates get put where. So, it’s not a magic wand. But I feel comfortable, and am not saying anything out of line that, yes, we did everything we needed to do.”

He added, “It’s a process. But we are on the radar. We are in that process.”

NASCAR return to Rockingham well received

Rockingham, built in 1965, hosted a Cup race from 1965-2004 and an Xfinity race from 1982-2004. NASCAR returned to the track briefly in 2012, with Rockingham hosting the Truck race won by Kasey Kahne. Kyle Larson took the checkered flag in the 2013 Truck race before NASCAR announced a second departure from Rockingham due to financial struggles.

Sargent said he spoke with stakeholders about this weekend’s festivities. The responses were positive for both the Truck race and the sold-out Xfinity race.

“I’m pretty hands on, so I talked to them from Thursday night, when we got here, to all day today,” Sargent said. “Talked to a lot of different people at NASCAR, whether they were here or weren’t here. [Former NASCAR president and current board member] Mike Helton was here yesterday, and I talked to people on the phone today. And the teams that were here, we talked to them a lot.

“Older, veteran drivers that I got relationships with, they were texting me, calling me. And then again, the sponsors who were here, I talked with them all day long. The fans. The officials. My workers. A lot of positives from everybody.”