Before Saturday’s (April 19) NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Rockingham Speedway, it had been over 20 years since the series last competed at the one-mile North Carolina track. In that final event way back in 2004, Jamie McMurray won in a relatively clean race that saw just four cautions over the course of 197 laps.
However, it’s safe to say that Saturday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 250 was far more chaotic than it was clean, as the race saw a track-high 14 cautions and numerous large crashes that took many drivers out of contention. There was also some strategy drama in the closing laps, as multiple teams attempted to stretch their fuel in order to stay up front and keep their track position, with varying degrees of success.
Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love crossed the finish line first in overtime, but was disqualified in post-race inspection, giving the victory to JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith. Smith also took home the fourth and final Dash 4 Cash check of the season with the strong result. Parker Retzlaff, Harrison Burton, Brennan Poole and Taylor Gray rounded out the top 5, while Austin Hill, Josh Williams, Jeb Burton, Daniel Dye and Jeremy Clements rounded out the top 10.
The Winners
While it looked like Smith had come up just short of the victory, that all changed after post-race inspection, when Love’s car was disqualified due to a rear suspension violation, handing the win to Smith. While it was certainly an unconventional way to score his third career victory, there’s no doubt that the Iowa native has been running well lately, as he has now finished inside the top 10 in four consecutive races — something he hadn’t done since 2023. In addition, Smith scored the first Dash 4 Cash prize of his career, joining teammate Justin Allgaier in winning the $100,000 bonus this season.
The comeback of the day award goes to Alpha Prime Racing’s Retzlaff, who finished a career-best second despite facing adversity earlier in the race. The Wisconsin driver qualified on the front row and seemed on pace to have a career day, before blowing a right front tire with 103 laps to go. However, Retzlaff rebounded and through strategy found himself back towards the front of the field in the closing laps, along with his Alpha Prime teammate in Poole. Both drivers managed to survive the chaos of the closing laps to finish second and fourth, respectively, marking the first time in Alpha Prime Racing’s history that they placed two cars inside the top five.
It was a great day for the Burton cousins, as both Harrison and Jeb put up strong results for their teams. Harrison came all the way from 29th on the grid to finish third for AM Racing, while Jeb finished inside the top five in both stages and ended the day in eighth for Jordan Anderson Racing. Success at The Rock must run in the family, as both Ward and Jeff Burton (Jeb and Harrison’s fathers, respectively) have won Cup Series races at the one-mile track.
It was also a strong effort for Kaulig Racing, as Williams and rookie Dye finished seventh and ninth, respectively. The result marks Williams’ first top-10 finish of the season.
Lastly, props to Clements and his small race team, who scored points in both stages and went on to earn their second top 10 of the season with a 10th-place result following Love’s disqualification.
The Losers
It looked to have been an impressive victory for Love, who led 53 laps and seemed to have the fastest car all day. The Californian started seventh and ran inside the top three for most of the race, but he faced several fierce challenges for the lead from multiple drivers, including Carson Kvapil and Ryan Sieg. On the final overtime restart of the race, Love moved Smith up the track in turn one, allowing him to get underneath the JR Motorsports driver and retake the lead. However, Love’s Whelen Chevrolet failed post-race inspection, taking away the win and relegating him to a 37th-place finish.
It was an up-and-down day for JR Motorsports’ Connor Zilisch, who won the pole but had to start the race from the the rear due to a flat tire. The rookie driver methodically worked his way up the running order but then had another flat tire during stage two, forcing him to pit under green and lose two laps to the leader. Through all of the cautions, Zilisch managed to get both of his laps back and had miraculously re-entered the top 10 by the final stage, but then spun out while racing three-wide during one of the late race restarts. That relegated him to a 13th-place finish.
Zilich’s spin also collected several other drivers, including Sam Mayer and Kvapil, who finished 26th and 16th, respectively. Kvapil had also started deep in the field, but through strategy was able to get his Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet up front, where he battled fiercely with Love for the lead during the second stage of the race.
It was a short day for Sheldon Creed, who looked to have one of the fastest cars in practice but was taken out in a crash on lap 109, when Joe Gibbs Racing’s Justin Bonsignore got loose in turn one and collected the Haas Factory driver. Creed finished 35th, while Bonsignore ended the day in 38th after being disqualified after the race along with Love.
Kasey Kahne made his long-awaited return to NASCAR on Saturday and showed great speed in both practice and qualifying, but the Cup Series veteran faced adversity early in the event when he was caught up in an incident between rookie William Sawalich and Katherine Legge during stage one. Legge attempted to leave a lane open for Sawalich to pass her in turn one, but the young driver ran into the back of Legge’s slower car and spun her out. Sawalich and Legge finished 25th and 36th, respectively, while Kahne rebounded to finish 14th, but the result was not indicative of the speed that the 18-time Cup Series winner showed throughout the weekend.
Perhaps the driver with the most disappointing result of the day was Sieg, who finished third in the opening stage of the race and through strategy positioned his Sci Aps Ford at the front of the field during the final stage. The Georgian led a career-high 77 laps and battled hard to keep Love’s faster Chevrolet behind him, but lost the lead with less than 15 laps to go when he ran out of fuel under caution.
Sieg was then involved in the biggest wreck of the day on the restart with 10 laps to go, when Kaulig Racing’s Christian Eckes ran out of fuel on the frontstretch in front of the field, collecting numerous contenders including Brandon Jones, Allgaier and Nick Sanchez. Sieg ended the day in 18th, while Jones, Allgaier and Sanchez finished 12th, 21st and 31st, respectively. It was a particularly disappointing result for Sanchez, who led 52 laps and won the opening stage of the race.
Fuel for Thought
While Saturday’s race may have been a bit too chaotic and wreck-filled for some fans, there’s no doubt that Rockingham put on a compelling and entertaining event, and with a sell-out crowd it’s clear that race fans want this track back on the schedule for years to come. However, the question remains: should Rockingham get a Cup Series date? While I’d like to think that the current Cup Series drivers would put on a great race at The Rock, I also worry that with the current Next Gen race car, it may be too difficult for drivers to make passes and race side-by-side like what we saw today. In addition, there may still be some infrastructure issues that the track needs to address before NASCAR’s top series returns to the historic speedway. However, based on what I saw today, I think that Rockingham deserves to be back on the Cup Series schedule someday, although maybe not until NASCAR makes some improvements to the Next Gen car.
Paint Scheme of the Week
Austin Green’s Overplay Chevrolet was one of the most eye-catching schemes on track Saturday. Green ran inside the top 15 in the closing laps of the race, but ended the day with a 30th-place result.
The #87 of @austingreen2_ making some noise late in the going as he maintains 5th with 84 to go! pic.twitter.com/khtNMbiH3S
— Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport (@JARnascar) April 19, 2025
Where to Next?
Next Saturday, the drivers of the NASCAR Xfinity Series head south to Talladega Superspeedway for the Ag-Pro 300. Last year’s event was won by Love, who led 28 laps and scored his first career series win. Coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET with television coverage on your local CW channel and radio coverage on the Motor Racing Network.
Jake Altmayer joined the Frontstretch team in 2025, assisting as a news writer and contributing to other weekly columns and articles, such as Friday Faceoff and Xfinity Breakdown. A 2024 graduate of DePaul University, Altmayer has closely followed NASCAR's national series (Cup, Xfinity and Trucks) for nearly a decade and has attended more than a dozen races over the course of that time. In his free time, he enjoys cycling, spending time with his loved ones, and listening to his favorite band, the Beach Boys.