The Little Track That Could

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I think Kasey Kahne had some unfinished business at Rockingham. In the last Cup Race at "The Rock" in 2004, he lost to Matt Kenseth by only .0010 seconds. I'm sure that was on his mind as he climbed into his Number 4 Turner Motorsports Chevy, and drove to the last row where he had to start due to not qualifying. Kasey finally pushed to the front on lap 155 and held off James Buscher , his Teamate, after a restart with 20 laps to go. The race wasn't as close as the 2004 ending, but gave Kahne his 4th Camping World Truck Series win in just five starts.

It was nice to see a race from The Rock again. From the looks of it on Television, new track owner Andy Hillenburg had the old track ready for this opportunity and had a pretty good crowd with just over 27,000 in attendance to witness the old tracks return to racing.

The Rock is a 1.017 mile D-Oval track with 22 and 28 degree banking in the corners and 8 degrees on the straightaways. It's rough asphalt surface tends to give crew chiefs tire management nightmares. For older Race Fans such as myself, who really enjoy short track racing, it was awesome.

During a time when Nascar was experiencing a rapid upward spiral in popularity, fans and Television support, the small 34,000 seat track was declining in attendance and viewed as old, too close to Charlotte and not up to date with all of the new safety features mandated after Dale Earnhardt's death at the 2001 Daytona 500. The venue wasn't worthy of the new higher end Nascar fans, so all racing was relocated to warmer weather cities that had other entertainment for the fan base on race weekends. Thus, with it's close proximity to Charlotte, became a good place to test. With Nascar's newer rules regarding testing, it was ideal for teams to have a track where they could go.

I am hoping Mr. Hillenburg can put together more racing at this track and convince Nascar they need this historical track back on the schedule. The one roadblock that I see, is Race Sponsorship. As in all events today, the Corporate Muscle behind an event can make or break it. Some of the old demons that plagued the track in 2004 are still present. It is still a small venue and not on peoples destinations for their entertainment dollars. It isn't enough anymore to just have great racing, we have to be totally entertained for the whole time we visit.

Who knows, with the decline of attendance and popularity that Nascar is experiencing now, maybe they will turn their attention back to the roots of stock car racing and get back to the loyal race fans they have always had. Here's hoping!