Here’s hoping the Boys in the Shop enjoyed their weekend on the lake.
Because now we’re looking at four months of Sundays before there’s another weekend like that one. It’ll be Aug. 1-2 before the next free weekend for the Cup teams, who put seven races in the mirror before last week’s break.
Now it’s 16 straight weekends of a grind that eventually separates the legitimate challengers from those who only speak of such things to keep the sponsors happy. It’s not like we haven’t already gotten a little taste of the schedule’s natural way of equalizing expectations and keeping dreams roped off from reality.
New Dale Earnhardt book coming out soon
We’ll get to that below.
We’ll also detour through Hollywood to see what Dennis Quaid is up to. Well, probably not Hollywood, but wherever the crews do their work these days to, ahem, facilitate proper logistics and friendlier bottom lines.
And we’ll venture about as far away from the glitz and glamor as we can get. Actually, Rockingham might not be the Middle of Nowhere, but it’s been suggested you can see it from there.
Let’s roll …
First Gear
Let’s go ahead and start with Year 2 of Rockingham’s return to the NASCAR itinerary. With the Cup Series returning to an Easter break, the Trucks and O’Reilly Series again had the weekend to themselves this past Friday-Saturday at The Rock, which sits just above the Carolinas line.
We say Rockingham is within a couple frontstretches of the Middle of Nowhere because it’s an hour north of Darlington, 90 minutes east of Charlotte and 90 minutes south of Raleigh. But in fairness, it’s only 20 minutes west of Laurel Hill (reminder: the annual LaurelFest is fast approaching!).
On some soap boxes, you’ll hear longtime onlookers say the one-mile banked oval might be the perfect track for stock-car racing — not too long but long enough, not too short but short enough. It’s Phoenix with higher banks and a twang.
There’s one unavoidable problem: Before NASCAR’s return last year, the track had to be repaved, and during its long Cup Series tenure (1965-2004), unforgiving asphalt was a big part of The Rock’s charm. Going forward, the racing figures to get better as the blacktop takes on a salt-and-pepper look (who can relate?).
For the here and now, we bring you the chicken and egg. Judging from personal reviews, there seems to be a serious lack of modern amenities at Rockingham Speedway. Does Rockingham need to spend on such things before, say, landing the preseason Clash or All-Star Race, or does it need that date before spending the money?
Second Gear
We don’t need the Way Back Machine for this one. It’s just a short jaunt back to early March, following the Cup season’s third event of 2026, the road-course race in Austin.
The early-season standings weren’t necessarily a Who’s Who, but more of a Who’s That? And how’d they get here?
Such things happen when you begin the season with two place-races (Daytona, Atlanta) and a roadie (COTA).
Someone around here looked ahead to the coming six weeks of “honest ovals” — no road races, no speed-reducing rules — and suggested order will soon be restored. Should we take a look at how that played out?
Of course we should. Also obvious: If it hadn’t played out as predicted, we’d be ignoring this. However …
After Race 3 in Austin, the top-10 points standings included the following drivers (along with where they now stand, four “honest ovals” later):
2. Bubba Wallace (now tied for 10th).
5. Shane van Gisbergen (14th).
7. Daniel Suarez (16th).
8. AJ Allmendinger (20th).
9. Michael McDowell (17th).
10. Carson Hocevar (15th).
This was hardly a surprise. Somewhere on the outskirts of Borneo, there’s a message on the wall of a jungle cave, etched some 40,000 years ago. It says, “Water seeks its own level.”
Third Gear
And somewhere on an old barn in Wisconsin, you’ll find the first sign informing farmers, “Cream rises to the top.”
In other words, if we’re gonna point out those who have deployed anchor or even released the chute, we have to make note of the usual suspects who have done some climbing over the past month.
Here’s where they are and where they were after COTA:
3. Denny Hamlin (was 23rd).
5. William Byron (was 13th).
6. Ty Gibbs (was 17th).
7. Christopher Bell (was 24h).
8. Brad Keselowski (was 12th).
9. Kyle Larson (was 15th).
As for those still awaiting some form of liftoff, we have Ross Chastain in 19th and Chase Briscoe in 21st. Yes, Kyle Busch is 24th, but that’s not as shocking as it should be, which in itself is saying something, and not something good.
Also, Connor Zilisch needs to find that eighth cylinder eventually, right? Right?
Fourth Gear
Remember “Thunder Alley,” the mid-’90s sitcom with a legitimate TV star (Ed Asner) starring as a retired NASCAR star turned garage owner? That’s about all the NASCAR the show had in it.
Anyway, of course you don’t remember Thunder Alley. It lasted just 27 episodes. Comedy ain’t easy, they say.
Now, some 30 years after Thunder Alley, NASCAR is back as a theme, and while they’ll skip comedy this time and aim for drama, they’re not venturing far off the grid for the name of the upcoming series: “Thunder Road.”
This one also has a tried and true veteran of screens large and small — Dennis Quaid. He plays a retired racing legend named Duane Whitlock, known from Daytona to Dover as “The Wrecking Ball.”
Early literature says it’ll center on “the multi-generational saga of the Whitlock family, whose legacy in stock-car racing is as deep as the family’s ties to the southern hill-country roots that shaped them.”
It’ll be an AMC production, but … “in association with NASCAR,” which hopefully means it’ll rein in some of the hooey that always leaves real fans rolling their eyes.
But don’t go looking for AMC on your dial just yet (dial?). Production doesn’t start until this summer.
— Email Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR back at Bristol. Rockingham reviews. A Dennis Quaid tease, and I told you so.
Reporting by Ken Willis, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
