Fans have been looking forward to the return of racing at Rockingham Speedway since NASCAR announced the 2025 schedule last year. Friday night’s Truck Series event marks the first time a NASCAR national touring series will run at The Rock since 2013 when the trucks last raced on the mile-long track. Prior to that, the track played host to the Cup Series from 1965 to 2004.
With the Truck and Xfinity Series returning to the North Carolina Sandhills in 2025, there’s understandably hope that Cup drivers might be making a return to the track in the near future.
On Friday, Fox covered the first laps on the track with the trucks running practice and qualifying. Fans noticed a change at the beginning of the network’s broadcast before the trucks started turning laps when Jamie Little, Michael Waltrip and guest analyst Carson Hocevar weren’t broadcasting from the track, but in front of a bank of televisions remotely from the studio.
“FOX commentators aren’t even at Rockingham,” wrote one fan. “Bruh”
“i hate fox so much…..” another responded to the news.
“First time this year,” another fan mentioned. “Also first time trucks not with cup. Would expect once fox isn’t doing cup then all truck races are at studio.”
FOX commentators aren’t even at Rockingham
Bruh
— Skid (@WhoisSkid) April 18, 2025
“It’s about 80 miles from Charlotte,” one fan noted.
“[expletive] brutal,” an upset fan said.
“Wow, what a lack of effort,” another fan wrote. “@NASCAR The [expletive] storm is really piling up.”
It’s hard to argue with the sentiment of the frustrated fans. After years of not racing and now finally returning to the historic venue, the network tasked with covering the Trucks couldn’t spend a little extra money and send its broadcast team to cover NASCAR’s much-anticipated return to the facility, which is located, as one fan noted, a little over an hour’s drive away.
NASCAR expects fans to show up at the track. It shouldn’t be too much to expect the broadcast crew to do the same.
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