North Carolina Speedway

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Facility statistics
North Carolina Speedway
The Rock

Location	P.O. Box 500 Rockingham, North Carolina 28380
Broke ground	unknown
Opened	1965
Owner	International Speedway Corporation
Operator	closed
Construction cost	unknown
Architect	Harold Brasington and Bill Land
Former names
North Carolina Motor Speedway (1965-1996)
Major events
None
Seating capacity
60,113
Current dimensions
Track shape	D-shaped oval
Track length	1.017 miles
Track banking	Turns - 22 and 25 degrees Straights - 8 degrees

North Carolina Speedway is a racetrack located in Rockingham, North Carolina. It is affectionately known as "The Rock" and hosted NASCAR events 1965 to 2004. The track lost all of its race dates as a result of the Ferko lawsuit. Currently, the track is home to the Buck Baker Driving School, and is used extensively for NASCAR testing. It has been used often for television and movie filming, and the 2004 ESPN telefilm 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story was filmed at the track along with some scenes from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. For the filming of the later movie, the walls were repainted to resemble famous tracks on the NASCAR circuit.

The track opened as a flat, one-mile oval in 1965. In 1969, the track was extensively reconfigured to a high-banked, D-shaped oval measuring slightly over one mile in length. The track surface is rather abrasive compared to other tracks on the circuit, due to the high sand content of paving compounds made from local materials. This abrasiveness notoriously contributed to excessive tire wear. This characteristic is often cited as a demanding element of racing at the facility, necessitating strict management of tire wear by teams.

In 1997, North Carolina Motor Speedway merged with Penske Motorsports, and was renamed North Carolina Speedway. Shortly thereafter, the infield was reconfigured, and competition on the infield road course, mostly by the SCCA, was discontinued. North Carolina Speedway played host to two NASCAR Nextel Cup races each year through 2003.

[edit] Demise

For 2004, the Speedway was sold to International Speedway Corporation and one of its two Nextel Cup races was transferred to ISC's California Speedway. The change was made after sagging attendance at North Carolina Speedway. It left the track with only one date, in late February, a highly unpopular date for spectators due to the commonly unpredictable weather. Rumors persisted that the track's lone remaining date was also in jeopardy, as several new tracks in larger, warm-weather markets coveted the date, which was the first race following the Daytona 500.

Despite wide speculation that the race was in its final year, it failed to sell out, falling nearly 10,000 short of the 60,000 capacity. The track indeed hosted its final race on February 22, 2004. In that last race, Matt Kenseth held off then rookie Kasey Kahne on the last lap to win by only 0.010 seconds. This finish was one of the closest in NASCAR history, and viewed by many fans as one of the best races that season. It is also known for a wild crash early in the race in which Carl Long flipped wildly down the backstretch.

In the wake of the Ferko lawsuit, and the sagging attendance, the track's state of affairs was sharply altered. In the settlement, ISC sold North Carolina Speedway to Speedway Motorsports, and the track's lone remaining race was transferred to Texas Motor Speedway. SMI agreed to host no NASCAR events at the track while it was under their ownership. Upon its exit from the NASCAR circuit, The Rock joined such facilities as Ontario, Riverside,North Wilkesboro, Texas World Speedway, and the Nashville Speedway as tracks removed from the circuit.

Most agree that the lack of any other tourist attractions in the area and the relatively small size of the city hurt ticket sales. In addition, other tracks nearby such as Lowe's Motor Speedway and Darlington Speedway (which is near Myrtle Beach) had a tendency to lure away fans looking to catch a race. All of this despite Rockingham's reputation for excellent racing and for having great sightlines for spectators. It must also be mentioned that the facility made limited infrastructure reinvestments over the years while being owned by the DeWitt family, and seemed to lag behind other facilities which continually modernized and updated their business plans, especially after it was sold to pay off estate taxes owed by the DeWitt and Wilson families which had owned the track.

[edit] Testing

Rockingham has become a test track for many NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series teams because of recently imposed testing restrictions by NASCAR to save money. After the track was stripped of its dates, teams began using the circuit to test cars and engines, especially to simulate abrasive wear at certain tracks (Darlington and Atlanta most notably). In 2005, Kyle Petty tested his Darlington car at Rockingham days before its race to not waste one of his five assigned tests.

In 2006, new rules banned all testing at active Nextel Cup tracks except at selected NASCAR-approved open tests during the season, thereby making testing at Rockingham crucial. Penske Racing tested at the track in mid-April 2006, and with the abrasiveness of the Atlanta Motor Speedway surface, which has not been repaved since reconstruction in 1997, and Atlanta's participation in the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup, many teams are considering returning to Rockingham in September or October to test their cars to simulate Atlanta's similar surface.

Testing for the Car of Tomorrow has been active at Rockingham. Michael Waltrip Racing went in mid-September to test the 2007 Toyota Camry Car of Tomorrow with Waltrip and David Reutimann testing the Camrys.

Elliott Sadler tested a Dodge Avenger Car of Tomorrow at Rockingham in November 2006, and before the test, was asked about testing the Car of Tomorrow at Phoenix International Raceway the day after the Checker Auto Parts 500.

"No, I'm going to Rockingham on Wednesday to test the (Car of Tomorrow). We wanted to go to a very bumpy racetrack. The car slams down on the banking very hard at Rockingham and make sure we've got all the springs and all the bumps very smooth feeling. That'll be my first time in the COT. I'm pretty anxious and looking forward to it. NASCAR fans, and we're all fans in this garage, don't like change. We're just skeptical of it, and we've had some really good racing this year, some of the best racing we've had in awhile. We're just starting to learn how to get our cars better with the short spoilers. Nobody really wants to change, but how can you complain or argue with NASCAR? They've done such a good job the past 10 years of growing our sport and making it more fan friendly and appealing to TV and things like that. If they think this is going to help our sport grow, we've got to get in there whether we think it's right or wrong and do it with them."

Robert Yates Racing tested in December 2006 with returning driver Ricky Rudd and second-year driver David Gilliland.

With the debut of the Car of Tomorrow in 2007 for tracks under 1.5 miles, testing at "The Rock" will continue to become a premium importance as it is a legal test to evade NASCAR's testing restrictions.

During the 2007 NASCAR Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder press conference with Greg Biffle, the driver said, "Pat (Tryson, new crew chief) and I are going to Rockingham (January 18) with a COT car to try to learn some things about them, bump stops and all of the things that are new on them, you know, because we are going to race them at Darlington. But those are going to be keys to making the Chase is running well with that COT car and getting our downforce cars to handle good."