PREVIEW: Lots to watch for in NASCAR’s second return to “The Rock”
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
IMAGE: Austin Green, @austingreen2_
LASTCAR TRACKSIDE COVERAGE
This week marks the start of my trackside coverage for the 2025 season, beginning with Rockingham and continuing through next weekend’s action in Talladega, April 25-27. Stay tuned to this website and my Twitter feed @LASTCARonBROCK for more updates!
Friday, April 18, 2025 (Green Flag 5:20 P.M. ET, FS1)
TRUCKS Race 7 of 25
Black’s Tire 200 at Rockingham
2013 Last-Place Finisher: Mike Harmon
ENTRY LIST
Even with the series’ return to Rockingham for the first time in 12 years, this week remains still another short field – the sixth in a row – with just 35 drivers entered for 36 spots. This does, however, lock all entrants into the field.
DRIVER CHANGE: #22-Reaume Brothers Racing
After a 30th-place finish in his Truck Series debut at Martinsville, Cody Dennison is back for his second series start, this time in Reaume’s #22 entry. He takes the place of Tyler Tomassi, who with this team earned a respectable 21st-place finish in Bristol.
RETURNING: #56-Hill Motorsports
Welcome back Timmy Hill, who since his 11th-place finish in this year’s Daytona opener has turned his attention to the ARCA Menards Series East. As it happens, both series will compete this weekend, so Hill will run both races. Hill is also among the few to have competed at the Rockingham track, having finished 18th in the 2010 ARCA national series finale driving for Rick Ware Racing.
MISSING: #84-Cook Racing Technologies
Patrick Staropoli finished 20th and 29th in his first two Truck Series starts the previous two rounds at Martinsville and Bristol, but the Cook team will not attempt this race. Staropoli will be on hand this weekend as he drives for Venturini Motorsports in the ARCA East race.
DRIVER CHANGE: #07-Spire Motorsports
XFINITY Series full-timer Sammy Smith of JR Motorsports will join Brandon Jones (again in the #1 TRICON Garage entry with which he took 32nd in Bristol) in a double-duty bid this weekend at Rockingham. Smith’s ride will be the Spire #07 entry, taking the place of Cup Series regular Kyle Larson, whose loss to Chandler Smith last Friday preceded Larson’s near-perfect weekend.
CUP INVADERS: None
Saturday, April 19, 2025 (Green Flag 4:05 P.M. ET, CW)
XFINITY Race 10 of 33
North Carolina Education Lottery 250 at Rockingham
2004 Last-Place Finisher: Jeff Fuller
ENTRY LIST
There are 40 drivers entered for 38 spots, meaning two will fail to qualify. Not among the entrants is driver-turned-broadcaster Jamie McMurray, who won the last four consecutive XFINITY races at Rockingham from 2002-2004, and will see his streak end on Saturday.
MISSING: #17-Hendrick Motorsports
As with the Truck Series, Kyle Larson is not entered following his dominant victory at Bristol last Saturday.
MISSING: #24-Sam Hunt Racing
The Sam Hut team will enter only its primary #26 for full-timer Dean Thompson, and will not bring the #24 with which Corey Heim finished 8th last week in Bristol – two spots ahead of Thompson. Heim will instead focus on today’s Truck Series race with TRICON Garage.
RETURNING: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing
RETURNING: #87-Jordan Anderson Racing
After a difficult Cup debut last month in Phoenix, Katherine Legge returns to the XFINITY Series for her sixth series start and first since a 38th-place finish at Road America on July 29, 2023 – a last-place finish caused by a faulty fuel pump that left her stranded on track. Legge this time drives Jordan Anderson’s returning #32 entry with sponsorship from her Indy 500 backer e.l.f. Cosmetics. She drives the #32 in place of Austin Green, who will return to action for the first time since alternator issues left him 36th in Las Vegas. This time, Green will drive still another Anderson car with the #87 – his car number from Trans-Am, which teammate Mike Skeen piloted last fall at Watkins Glen. Green will also compete in the ARCA East race, driving Mark Webb’s #28.
RETURNING: #33-Richard Childress Racing
The return of “The Rock” sees the return of one of the Cup Series’ most popular drivers. As a rookie in 2004, Kasey Kahne finished a close 2nd in a photo finish with winner Matt Kenseth in what remains the last Cup Series race held at the track. Kahne was also there for the track’s first reopening in 2012, when he led 46 of 200 laps to win the first Truck Series race held there. Now, another 13 years later, Kahne pilots a Richard Childress entry with HendrickCars.com sponsorship. Interestingly, in the five XFINITY Series starts Kahne made at Rockingham from 2002 though 2004, he finished no better than 16th.
DRIVER CHANGE: #45-Alpha Prime Racing
Rockingham will also mark the series debut for Vicente Salas, who last year made his first two Truck Series starts with a best finish of 25th at Gateway for the Bill McAnally team. Salas will this time take the wheel of Alpha Prime’s #45 Chevrolet, replacing 25th-place Mason Massey, and carries sponsorship from Miramar Financial Group.
DRIVER CHANGE: #53-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen
The preliminary entry list showed “TBA” in place of Mason Maggio, who finished last at Bristol after a mechanical issue put him into the wall both in practice and – after hours of repairs – in the early laps of the race itself. That driver is J.J. Yeley, who if he qualifies, will make his first Rockingham start in his 393rd series race, and his first of the season following a DNQ in the Daytona opener driving for RSS Racing.
MISSING: #66-MBM Motorsports
In addition to Cody Dennison taking his Truck Series ride, Tyler Tomassi is not entered in Carl Long’s #66 following a DNQ in Bristol.
TEAM UPDATE: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
The Rockingham track has a checkered past with the Harmon team. It was here in 2021 that NASCAR handed the team a costly penalty for a testing violation stemming from their car’s appearance in a vintage racing event at the track. They now arrive after denying a rumor that the team was shutting down after withdrawing Dawson Cram’s car from Bristol. Cram is again entered this week with returning sponsorship from DriveTanks.com, and the team stated their withdrawal was to allow more time to prepare for this race.
DRIVER CHANGE: #91-DGM Racing x JIM
Josh Bilicki returns to the seat of Mario Gosselin’s #91 in place of 33rd-place Bristol finisher C.J. McLaughlin. During his appearance on RJStarcevic’s “The Motor Stardom Show,” Bilicki said he would not be racing next week in Talladega as he will be competing in a sports car event at Road America.
DRIVER CHANGE: #07-SS-Green Light Racing
Patrick Emerling will put Bobby Dotter’s #07 through its paces this weekend in place of 35th-place Bristol finisher Alex Labbe, who struggled with a power steering failure. This will be Emerling’s 55th series start and fourth of the year, his first since a 33rd-place run in Homestead.
CUP INVADERS: None
Sunday, April 27, 2025
CUP Race 10 of 36
Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Christopher Bell
The Cup Series takes the Easter weekend off this year, and will return next week in Talladega, where I again plan on performing trackside coverage at the superspeedway.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (April 18, 1993): Jeff Gordon picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Winston Cup Series career in the First Union 400 at North Wilkesboro when his #24 DuPont Auto Finishes Chevrolet crashed after 25 laps. That October, Gordon would also finish last in the fall race after a stack-up at the green flag cut short his race after 117 laps, leading to his 1993 LASTCAR Cup Series Championship.
