NASCAR on TV this week
NASCAR Xfinity Series Rockingham- #1: Carson Kvapil, JR Motorsports, Bass Pro Shops/Clarience Tech Chevrolet; #51: Jeremy Clements, Jeremy Clements Racing, Chevrolet; #20: Brandon Jones, Joe Gibbs Racing, Menards/Barracuda Toyota Supra
(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Thinkin’ Out Loud: Rockingham Rocks, But It’s Not Time for Cup Return

by

What Happened?

Jesse Love overtook Sammy Smith in an overtime restart to come across the line first for the second time of the NASCAR Xfinity Series season in what was the series’ long-awaited return to Rockingham Speedway. Finishing behind the duo on Saturday, April 19 was Parker Retzlaff, Harrison Burton and Brennan Poole to round out the top five.

However, nearly three hours after the checkered flag, Love was disqualified, and Smith was promoted to the winning position. Taylor Gray was promoted to fifth.

It’s Smith’s third career Xfinity victory and JR Motorsports’ fourth of the year. Poole and Reztlaff’s top-five results also marks Alpha Prime Racing’s first-ever double top five in its history.

See also
Xfinity Breakdown: Sammy Smith Wins, Jesse Love DQ’d in Wreck-Filled Rockingham Return

What Really Happened?

You might be hard-pressed to find anyone that didn’t enjoy NASCAR’s return to The Rock this weekend. With two races that had nail-biting finishes that resulted in the wins of two drivers that don’t see victory lane often combined with some thrilling racing and fuel mileage strategy that reminded even the most diehard NASCAR fan what the sport used to look like, it’s hard to imagine why anyone wouldn’t enjoy what they saw.

Plus, to top it all off, it was a sellout weekend.

Yet despite the successful return, let’s not bring the NASCAR Cup Series back just yet.

How soon we forget that we are coming off of a weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway that featured a lackluster Cup feature that left outrage among fans of short tracks. You’ll find countless posts and headlines calling for the removal of the Next Gen car and the collective head scratching of everyone within the industry on what can be done to help with the racing product on the beloved circuits. Some even question if Bristol is even a good racetrack anymore – a blasphemous allegation.

So, why on Earth would we risk that drama for a beloved circuit we just returned to? It isn’t guaranteed a Cup race at Rockingham would be stinker, but with the way the Next Gen car has performed on tracks a mile long or less, the odds aren’t in its favor.

Now, let’s think about it realistically. Would it be cool to see it? Absolutely it would, but it wouldn’t last.

In a similar story in 2023, the Cup Series returned to the North Wilkesboro Speedway for its annual All-Star Race – a near unthinkable event only three years ago after the circuit had been almost entirely abandoned and dilapidated for decades.

The result? A rather boring Cup race that saw a whopping three lead changes. Despite that, the novelty of the event itself made it into a massive success that had plenty of happy fans wanting more. It’s likely that a Cup return to Rockingham would be little different.

But novelty can only get you so far. After a while, its sweet nostalgic coating wears off, and all that you have left is what’s underneath. It will happen to North Wilkesboro.

In fact, it already is.

Let’s not do that to Rockingham. For now, let’s wait for NASCAR to figure out the route to go when it comes to short tracks and just enjoy the fact that The Rock has finally returned, and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

Who Stood Out?

While he may not have led a lap and was caught up in an early crash that saw him resulting in a 14th-place finish, there is no doubt that Kasey Kahne‘s return to NASCAR was the talk of the town.

This wasn’t some fluke return, either. Kahne actually seemed to have a chance. After qualifying fourth – the highest out of any of his Richard Childress Racing teammates, the 45-year-old stuck around in the top 10 for the first 50 laps.

However, a run in with Katherine Legge and William Sawalich on lap 52 handed the No. 33 significant damage that slowed its pace.

The high attrition count allowed the 18-time Cup race winner to cross the line 15th before being promoted to 14th with Love’s disqualification.

However, while Kahne was nursing his No. 33 around the top 20 in the final laps, the story shifted from him to race leader and pending Cinderella story Ryan Sieg.

In the history of NASCAR, there may never has been a more snakebitten driver than Sieg. In 377 Xfinity Series starts — that’s 14th all time — the 13-year Xfinity veteran has earned 21 top fives and 69 top-10 results, but in none of those finishes has he been a race winner.

There have been plenty of close calls in the past year for the Georgian. He finished second three times in 2024 alone with one of them being only by literal inches.

And on Saturday, after leading a career-high 77 laps — more than anyone else that day — his luck really looked like it was finally going to change.

Sieg had stayed out during a caution and held the track position needed to stay at front of the field. With a track record-setting 14 cautions and multiple restarts, the No. 39 had ample opportunity to save fuel and held off eventual provisional winner Love in a compelling duel for the lead.

With less than 10 laps to go, however, he was out front under caution when his engine started to sputter. Fearing he was out of fuel, Sieg had no choice but to pull over before refiring and being forced to resume where he ended up, seventh.

On the next restart, his luck went from bad to worse when he was caught up in a multi-car crash.

He resulting damage gave him no chance of returning to battle at the front. He finished 18th.

See also
Ryan Sieg Posts Career-High 77 Laps Led at Rockingham

Who Fell Flat?

While series rookie Gray seems to have escaped the mayhem and scored a well-earned top-five finish with Brandon Jones not far behind him in 12th, their Joe Gibbs Racing teammates did not share much when it came to the joy of the return to The Rock.

No teammate of theirs needed a top-five result more than the No. 18 of Sawalich. In the last six races, the 18-year-old has a best finish of 24th and only two top 10s in 2025 as a whole.

Yet early on Saturday, Sawalich was having the day he needed. While running in the top five, he seemed to have the speed to contend with his rivals at the front. However, on lap 52, he caught the backend of the lap traffic of Legge. It resulted in the aforementioned crash between he and the female British racer.

Should Sawalich have checked up? Should Legge have gotten out of the way? It seems like both can take some blame, but everyone will voice their opinion.

Regardless, the incident took the No. 18 out of the running. After being involved in another crash with Poole and Thomas Annunziata that damaged his car further, he finished 25th, eight laps down.

But as bad as that seems, it was an arguably worse day for teammate and four-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Champion Justin Bonsignore.

After starting 19th, the New Yorker was running mid-pack when he was involved in an accident that ended Sheldon Creed‘s day.

The ensuing damage put Bonsignore mired further in the pack, but his day officially ended on lap 159 when he received what appeared to be a slight tap from Jeb Burton that sent him into the inside backstretch wall.

The 37-year-old was done for the day, but that’s not where the story ends.

Around three hours after the checkered flag, the No. 19 was disqualified during post-race inspection. Not only was he credited with last place, but he received only one point despite all his struggles.

Paint Scheme of the Race

On Easter weekend, a holiday that is known for decorating things with bright vibrant colors representing the springtime season, one would think there would be plenty of paint schemes that were adorned with special warm color designs.

Yet for almost the entire field, that wasn’t the case.

Almost the entire field.

As much as I wanted to go with Kahne’s No. 33 Hendrickcars.com design, we’ve seen the now iconic blue and white livery every single week on trucks, Xfinity and Cup cars alike for the last few years.

However, Garrett Smithley‘s No. 14 SS Greenlight Racing Chevrolet at least provided that holiday theme design even if that may not have been what they were going for. Additionally, the Molly Strong charity golf tournament partnership makes for a case helping the No. 14 team.

What’s Next?

The Cup Series hosts its third superspeedway race of 2025.

After a week off, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to its largest oval circuit of Talladega Superspeedway. The Jack Links 500 will be broadcasted live on FOX on Sunday, April 27 at 3 p.m. ET.

NASCAR At Track Coordinator at Frontstretch

Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loud column, co-host of the Frontstretch Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.

Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT

1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments