Friday, February 27, 2004
The Subway 400 may have been the speedway's last Nextel Cup race.
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. (AP) -- They raced bumper-to-bumper for 30 miles, three cars chasing each other around the abrasive pavement of North Carolina Speedway.
It ended with Matt Kenseth edging rookie Kasey Kahne at the line in the fourth-closest finish in NASCAR history, capping yet another terrific race at Rockingham.
Now it's up to NASCAR to decide if that take-your-breath-away ending to the Subway 400 on Sunday was the stock-car racing finale for the 1.017-mile track tucked away in the North Carolina sand hills.
"I like historic places and the roots of it. Just as a plain racer, it's sad for me because I love racing here," Kenseth said. "It's sad that there's only one race here."
First time in 1965
NASCAR's elite series first came to Rockingham in October 1965 and had two races a year from 1966 until 2003. But as NASCAR began to grow past its Southern roots and look toward expanding into major markets, something had to give.
The sanctioning body picked Rockingham, which is owned by International Speedway Corp., NASCAR's sister company.
The track hasn't sold out a race in years and has the poorest attendance of all the facilities in a saturated Southern market. It lost its November race so California Speedway could host two events a year, and received no assurances that it will hold on to its remaining race past this season.
So the teams -- who refuse to mask their love of Rockingham and the tire-chewing surface that returns race strategy to the crew and car control to the driver -- spent much of last weekend as if they were at a final farewell party.
Attendance is off
With glaring holes in the grandstands, which fell about 10,000 people short of the 60,000-seat capacity, the competitors sounded as if they knew the end was near.
"I want to say how much I enjoy coming to Rockingham, how much I'm going to miss the race going forward," winning car owner Jack Roush said before heading off to celebrate Kenseth's victory.
"The fact that we get to race on a track where a driver's judgment and crew chief's anticipation have a great degree of influence on the result -- this is racing the way I enjoy it."
NASCAR recognizes what a great show Rockingham has and the breathtaking finishes it has produced: just last year, Dale Jarrett and Kurt Busch battled back and forth over the final 10 laps in a finish as dramatic as Sunday's.
Because of the sandy surface, tires fade away fast and drivers slip and slide around the track. And there are several different fast "grooves" around it, allowing for more passing than at other tracks.
"Even if we ran bad here, I'd still love coming here because it's such a different track," Kenseth said. "It's really more of a challenge than what we have at a lot of the new types of tracks they're building."
Empty seats
But the sanctioning body can't overlook the empty seats, which are difficult to fill.
There are two other tracks in the region -- Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and Lowe's Motor Speedway in suburban Charlotte -- that challenge Rockingham for entertainment dollars.
Weather often wreaks havoc on the race weekend, with chilly temperatures and rain often making advance planning hard for fans.
And Rockingham's remaining date is the weekend after the season-opening Daytona 500, a glamorous 10-day affair. It's also followed by a race in Las Vegas, a true vacation destination for the fan looking for a getaway.
So the drivers spent last weekend practically begging NASCAR to find a solution, or at least try to give the track a chance, before wiping it off the schedule altogether.