No one questioned if “The Rock” was an intermediate NASCAR circuit when the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. used his strength to navigate the high-banked turns at North Carolina Motor Speedway. The Rockingham oval, at 1.017 miles, was the ideal distance between Charlotte’s expansive design and Bristol’s constrained space. However, when NASCAR returns to Rockingham Sppedway this weekend after a 12-year hiatus, fans found an oddity hidden in NASCAR’s notes: the historic track has officially been reclassified from intermediate to short track status, measuring 0.94 miles. This change was made with little fanfare after the facility’s 2022 repave.
In NASCAR, track classifications are more than just semantic differences. They have an impact on everything from how teams approach races to the computation and comparison of driver data. Because Rockingham is not a track with a lot of horsepower or a typical short track where bumping is common, it has been a barometer for driver potential for decades. The importance of the original configuration in NASCAR’s evolution is demonstrated by Richard Petty’s 11 victories there. The reclassification coincides with NASCAR’s eagerly anticipated return to “The Rock” this weekend. After being dropped from the Cup Series schedule in 2004, the circuit was abandoned for years until undergoing significant improvements under new management in 2004. With $9 million in state assistance, the repaving project was finished in December 2022 and appears to have changed more than just the surface quality.
The NASCAR Media papers state that Rockingham’s current distance is 0.94 miles instead of 1 mile or 1.017 miles, which is more than the unofficial one-mile boundary between intermediate and short tracks. Fans have strong opinions on Rockingham’s makeover on social media, of course.
From No Man’s Land to Short Track: Supporters Discuss Rockingham’s New Label
So, rather than being an intermediate, it is now formally a short track. Strange,” a fan wrote on social media. “Classifying it as an intermediate was probably the right choice, even though it always felt like it was in no man’s land between the two.” Although it doesn’t race as well as a short track, I would still classify it as more of a short track than Phoenix currently is, so I’m okay with it.”
The unique place Rockingham has traditionally occupied in NASCAR’s environment is encapsulated in this sentiment. It is a short track with intermediate racing characteristics because of its increasing banking (22 degrees in turns 1-2, 25 degrees in turns 3-4). “I’ve always called tracks like Dover, Rockingham, New Hampshire, Milwaukee, and Phoenix ‘Mile tracks,'” said another fan, offering a more sophisticated classification scheme. They ought to be in a different group, apart from intermediates, in my opinion. This viewpoint emphasizes how these “tweener” facilities, which offer unique racing, are not adequately represented by the short track/intermediate binary classification. Rockingham races differently than both conventional short tracks and true intermediates because of its abrasive surface, which has historically caused considerable tire wear.
Fans’ perceptions of NASCAR history are also altered by the categorization. According to a longtime fan, “the running joke back when Rusty was racing was all his wins were at short tracks.” “No, he wins at Rockingham,” was the reply. I suppose that Rockingham is now a short track. Indeed, a large number of Rusty Wallace’s 55 career Cup wins were at lesser NASCAR racetracks, including as Martinsville, Richmond, and Bristol. His triumph at Rockingham, where he established the Cup Series qualifying record in 2000 at 158.033 mph, was frequently used as proof of his adaptability outside of short courses. The “short track specialist” thesis is now strengthened retroactively by those same victories.
The adjustment was perceived by some supporters as a part of a concerning trend. One commenter compared the NASCAR track reduction to the consumer practice of “shrinkflation,” in which products shrink while costs stay the same. “We know businesses have been shrinkflationing things by cutting product sizes, but this is ridiculous,” the commentator said. The remark raises more general issues regarding NASCAR’s preservation of heritage as the sport changes. Fans question whether something intangible would be lost in Rockingham’s transition from a historic intermediate to NASCAR’s newest short track, even though Gio Ruggiero’s test lap of 167.270 mph in January broke Wallace’s previous record because of the new surface.
