Well, the time has officially come. NASCAR has returned to Rockingham Speedway, the first time since 2004. For some, it’s only been a couple years since they’ve visited the historic race track nestled in the heart of the green in North Carolina. For others, it’s been eight years and for the rest, well, this is their first tango with track dubbed “The Rock.”
Everywhere you go, every report you see – everyone is talking about Rockingham. High expectations are on tap for this weekend’s three-day show. Practice begins this afternoon with an hour and a half practice session (12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.) with a final practice set to launch at 3:30 p.m. and close at 5:00 p.m.
After a brief absence from the race-track, CATCHFENCE.com is back on location and will offer exclusive at-track coverage the entire weekend and we’ll see if we can seep some news from Texas Motor Speedway where a plethora of media outlets are expected to make the trek to Rockingham Speedway quickly in time for the Good Sam Roadside Assistance 200 presented by Cheerwine on Sunday afternoon where the 200-lap contest is scheduled to liftoff shortly after 1:00 p.m live on SPEED.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Ramblings:
• Crowd Hyped For Sunday’s Race: CATCHFENCE.com was able to confirm with Rockingham Speedway officials that ticket sales for Sunday’s Good Sam Roadside Assistance 200 presented by Cheerwine are in full-song and coming along very well. The track is expecting a very healthy crowd for NASCAR’s return and track promoter Andy Hillenburg was seen smiling joyfully around the facility Friday.
• Rain, Already: Mother Nature, even though it’s not expected to touch the area of Rockingham Speedway this weekend, there’s a chance it could play havoc at Texas Motor Speedway where the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series are hosting efforts their efforts this weekend. If weather was to come into play tomorrow night as early expressed Friday morning at Rockingham, it could wreak havoc on plans for several in the NCWTS garage. Many crew members were expected to catch a plane right up to Rockingham and driver Kasey Kahne after climbing from his Hendrick Motorsports machine on Saturday night is planning to make the nearly 1,143 mile trip to the one-mile oval to drive the No. 4 Rockwell Tools Chevrolet Silverado for Turner Motorsports. Brad Sweet, who competes for Turner in the NASCAR Nationwide Series is in Rockingham and will practice and qualify the machine.
• More Than A Full Field: Only 36 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series trucks will take the green flag on Sunday afternoon but 41 teams have registered to become a part of history this weekend. Some notables in the field Tyler Young, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Brennan Newberry, Jeb Burton, Wes Burton, Clay Greenfield, Brian Weber, Caleb Holman, Chris Fontaine and Bryan Silas. Fives team will fail to qualify tomorrow afternoon for the third race of the 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season.
• Oldest Manufacturer Style In The Field: According to NASCAR statistics, Chris Fontaine in the No. 84 Glenden Enterprises Chevrolet Silverado will carry the oldest manufacturer body style in the field. Fontaine, who surprisingly missed the field at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway two weeks ago is listed with a 2009 Chevrolet Silverado compared to several teams who have the 2012 style geared up for competition. Fontaine however isn’t the only driver in the field using an older style body. Tyler Young in the No. 02 Young’s Building Systems Chevrolet Silverado is using a 2010, while former ARCA Racing Series champion Justin Lofton in his ESR machine is also using a 2010 body. John King, the current NCWTS point’s leader is in a 2011 Toyota Tundra while teammate and former Rockingham Speedway winner Todd Bodine is utilizing a 2010 Toyota. Other drivers using older bodies include: Joey Coulter (2011); Cale Gale (2011); Ryan Sieg (2011) and Chris Cockrum (2011).
• Three Sanctioning Bodies Racing At Rockingham: Not only is the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series here this weekend at Rockingham, but two other racing divisions are here as well. The UARA-STARS Late Model Stock Tour and the Frank Kimmel Street Stock Series are also on-hand for their perspective races this weekend. All three series will practice Friday with the Frank Kimmel Street Stock also qualifying this afternoon following NCWTS practice. On Saturday, UARA will qualify in the morning then are scheduled to race at 2:00 p.m. before Truck Series qualifying. The Frank Kimmel Street Stock Series tour will race following NCWTS qualifying tentatively scheduled to start at 4:45 p.m.
• First Truck To Tackle “The Rock”: The first practice session for the inaugural Good Sam Roadside Assistance 200 presented by Cheerwine began at 12:00 p.m sharp and Wes Burton in the No. 28 FDNY Racing Chevrolet Silverado for Jim Rosenblum etched his name into the record books by becoming the first truck to grasp Rockingham’s newest adventure. Bryan Silas, the most recent winner at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway last year in the CARS Pro Cup Series was the second automobile to take to the track in his No. 99 Rockingham Speedway Ford F-150 for T3R Racing.
• Several Past Rockingham Speedway Winners In The Field: While the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be making their first inaugural start on Sunday afternoon, several drivers have already visited Victory Lane at the historic short track in one capacity or another. The most notorious name that comes to mind is Todd Bodine. Bodine, driving the No. 11 Toyota / Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra made a daring last lap-three-wide pass alongside Johnny Benson Jr. and Mike Wallace to steal the win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 1995 driving for Ron Parker. He also won in 2001 driving the No. 00 for Billy Jones (Buckshot Jones’s father) after starting third. Ironically in 1995, Bodine led just one lap, the final one. In 2001, he led an astounding 146 of the event’s 197 laps. Others that have tasted victory at Rockingham include: Ty Dillon (ARCA – 2010) and Parker Kligerman (ARCA – 2009). Bryan Silas, however is the most recent winner at Rockingham Speedway as he captured his first career stock-car win in the CARS Pro Cup Series (formally known as the USARacing Pro Cup Series) in November 2011.
• Food For Thought: Nelson Piquet Jr. is no stranger to winning a race at Rockingham, it just happens to be on a different continent. In the early 2000’s, Piquet, the son of former Formula One great Nelson Piquet won at Rockingham Motor Speedway (RMS) in a Formula 3 machine in the United Kingdom.
• Rookie Getting A Lesson From A Veteran: Former NASCAR Drive for Diversity driver Paulie Harraka is taking his debut at Rockingham Speedway seriously. So serious in fact that two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Johnny Benson Jr. is on the grounds helping and coaching the driver of the No. 5 Send A Solider To The Rock Ford F-150. Benson has seven starts at Rockingham with a best finish of third in 1995 after starting on the pole. The Grand Rapids, Michigan native in fact has two poles at Rockingham and has controlled the field for 30 laps during the span of those seven races. Overall, Benson has two top-fives and five top-10 runs to his credit.
• Double Duty For TGJ: Tim George Jr. hasn’t raced a whole lot in 2012, but he’s getting plenty of seat-time this weekend at Rockingham Speedway. In addition to running the No. 2 Applebee’s Chevrolet Silverado for Richard Childress Racing, the former ARCA competitor is also competing in the UARA-STARS Late Model Stock Tour event as well. Spearheaded by Team Dillon Racing, George Jr. will also drive the No. 2 Applebee’s Chevrolet Impala in Saturday’s afternoon affair.
• Bodine Offers Piece Of Advice For Field: Parker Kligerman, driver of the No. 29 Draw-Tite / MOPAR RAM for Brad Keselowski Racing (BKR) mentioned during his media availability on Friday afternoon that two-time Rockingham Speedway winner Todd Bodine instructed the drivers to “use any lane that you want” during Sunday’s Good Sam Roadside Assistance 200 presented by Cheerwine easily portraying that the race fans will be in for a treat for Sunday’s race.
• It’s A Family Affair: During his media availability on Friday afternoon, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year contender Ty Dillon confirmed that his radio flood was quiet due to the fact that his grandfather Richard Childress and father and former Rockingham Speedway competitor Mike Dillon are at Texas Motor Speedway for the NASCAR action there. He did however state that both of them and brother and last year’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Austin Dillon will be attendance for Sunday’s festivities at Rockingham Speedway.
• Plain Decals: After sporting Equipment Express for the first two races of 2012, J.R. Fitzpatrick and his team Turn One Racing have showed up at Rockingham Speedway with no signage and little explanation from the team is being given at this time. CATCHFENCE.com is digging deeper into this story and we’ll see what we can find out before weekend’s end. UPDATE: Catchfence.com further learned on Friday that J.R. Fitzpatrick will not be in the truck on Sunday and Grant Enfinger is listed as the driver. UPDATE II – Statement From Turn One Racing: “Team Owner Stacy Compton and JR’s management team are both fully committed to having JR be in the No. 60 truck as much as possible this season, but there were some holes to fill with sponsorship to make that happen. Unfortunately, we were unable to sell sponsorship for Rockingham and Kansas, which have resulted in JR being sidelined until Charlotte, most likely. Grant Enfinger will be in the truck at Rockingham. Our driver at Kansas is “TBD” at this time. JR is scheduled to be back in the truck at Charlotte.”
• Musical Chairs: It’s no secret that with plenty of veterans on-hand this weekend at Rockingham Speedway including Mike Skinner, Ted Musgrave and Johnny Benson Jr. and Ward Burton just to name a few that we might see some of the veterans climb in some trucks during Saturday’s practice session in order to help the younger more inexperienced drivers tame the rock. Dully noted on Friday in the garage area was the No. 74 KOMA Unwind Chevrolet Silverado driven by Brian Weber. Weber making his return to NASCAR for the first time in nearly a decade is expected to have NASCAR veteran Mike Harmon leap aboard his truck. Harmon is at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday attempting to make the NASCAR Nationwide Series race but is expected to arrive into Rockingham tonight via Roush Air.
• Whoa Rubber: NASCAR officials announced to the members of the media on Friday afternoon that teams will allowed five sets of Goodyear tires for Sunday’s Good Sam Roadside Assistance 200 presented by Cheerwine. Those five sets do not include the two sets the teams have been given for practice or qualifying. Teams will be able to pick up their fifth set of tires when the cross-flags are given on Sunday afternoon. Tire wear and conservation is crucial to success at The Rock.
• What A Difference A Year Makes: Last season Clay Rogers, a former champion in the CARS Pro Cup Series was driving for Ricky Benton Racing. This weekend, RBR is at Rockingham but it’s Chad McCumbee at the helm for practice and qualifying before he’ll hand the wheel over to David Reutimann. No real reason was given for Roger’s departure from the No. 92 BTS Tires Chevrolet Silverado – but his separation from the team could not keep Rogers away from Rockingham Speedway this weekend. On Friday afternoon, Rogers led the final practice session for the UARA-STARS Late Model Stock Tour.
• Sweet Ready To Compete IF Need Be: While the weather forecast continues to change for tomorrow night at Texas Motor Speedway, Brad Sweet, one of the early season surprises for Turner Motorsports in both the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was able to confirm that if Mother Nature pushed backed the NSCS event at Texas Motor Speedway until Sunday that he would steer the No. 4 Rockwell Tools Chevrolet Silverado. Sweet though remained humbling optimistic and did say he expects the weather to play into the team’s favor in the Lone Star State and he will support his team on Sunday from the sidelines.
