{"id":50979,"date":"2025-04-18T16:20:35","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T21:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=50979"},"modified":"2025-04-21T14:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T19:36:07","slug":"nascar-friday-rockingham-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/18\/nascar-friday-rockingham-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Friday Rockingham Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

For Kasey Kahne, absence made the heart grow fonder of NASCAR racing<\/b><\/p>\n

ROCKINGHAM, N.C.\u2014Kasey Kahne had an itch he couldn\u2019t wait to scratch.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kasey Kahne, driver of the #33 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, looks on in his car during practice for the NASCAR Xfinity Series North Carolina Education Lottery 250 presented by Black\u2019s Tire at Rockingham Speedway on April 18, 2025 in Rockingham, North Carolina. (Photo by James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Nearly seven years removed from a successful NASCAR Cup Series career, Kahne grew nostalgic for pavement racing.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t just a whim. The 45-year-old from Enumclaw, Washington, actively worked on a deal to drive in Saturday\u2019s North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Presented by Black\u2019s Tire NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Rockingham Speedway (4 p.m. ET on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last year, I\u2019ve been watching (NASCAR) more and more and wanting to see what it was like again and get those feelings that I had for so many years,\u201d Kahne said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I put this together. I did this all on my own so I could get back here and do this race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very fortunate to get Hendrick Cars and Caravan Trailers and Curb Records behind me. Then RCR (Richard Childress Racing) wanted to do it with us. So it\u2019s been a really cool partnership, but I put some work in to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kahne is driving the No. 33 RCR Chevrolet with Andy Street as his crew chief.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kasey Kahne, driver of the #33 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, drives during practice for the NASCAR Xfinity Series North Carolina Education Lottery 250 presented by Black\u2019s Tire at Rockingham Speedway on April 18, 2025 in Rockingham, North Carolina. (Photo by James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Kahne\u2019s NASCAR national series career began with a Xfinity Series start at Rockingham in 2002. Over the next 16 years, he accumulated 18 victories in the NASCAR Cup Series, eight in the Xfinity Series and five in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.<\/p>\n

The grind of racing every week, however, took a toll on Kahne\u2019s health, and after the 2018 season, he left the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as my health, I\u2019m in a good place right now, because I don\u2019t do this all the time,\u201d said Kahne, who has maintained his competitive chops as a driver and team owner at the highest level of 410 sprint car racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t do the long races\u2014it got worse as soon as the summer months came and every week after that it was draining me those last couple years I did it. So I saw 88 degrees (for Saturday\u2019s race), and I thought, \u2018That\u2019s nice. I\u2019m fine with that. I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Kahne with 18th fastest in final Xfinity Series practice on Friday. <\/p>\n

\"\"

Carson Kvapil, driver of the #1 Bass Pro Shops\/Clarience Tech Chevrolet, drives during practice for the NASCAR Xfinity Series North Carolina Education Lottery 250 presented by Black\u2019s Tire at Rockingham Speedway on April 18, 2025 in Rockingham, North Carolina. (Photo by James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Rookies pace NASCAR Xfinity Series final practice at Rockingham<\/b><\/p>\n

Sunoco rookies and JR Motorsports teammates Carson Kvapil and Connor Zilisch paced Friday afternoon\u2019s NASCAR Xfinity Series practice in preparation for Saturday\u2019s North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Presented by Black\u2019s Tire at Rockingham Speedway (4 p.m. ET on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

On his 26th and final lap of the session, Kvapil covered the 0.94-mile distance in 22.899 seconds to top the speed chart at 147.779 mph. Zilisch was second fastest at 146.799 mph (23.052 seconds).<\/p>\n

The temperatures during final Xfinity practice differed widely from those during an organizational test in January, when drivers got their bearings on the repaved track, which will host its first Xfinity race since 2004.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it\u2019s 30 to 40 degrees hotter than it was at the test, so it\u2019s going to be a lot slower,\u201d Zilisch said. \u201cBut very similar\u2014just less grip, and we\u2019re slipping around a little bit and moving around a little bit more than we were at the test when it was 30 or 40 degrees, and we were all stuck to the race track.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the session, drivers ran the bottom lane of the track. Kvapil hopes that won\u2019t be the case exclusively on Saturday<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of rubber laid down,\u201d said Kvapil, fresh from a second-place finish last Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. \u201cEven before we got on the track, I thought there was a lot of rubber (from NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series practice and qualifying).<\/p>\n

\u201cThat changed some stuff. It definitely drove different. It was pretty hard to pass. I got behind a few cars that were a little bit slower than us, and it seemed like when I got to them, I kind of stalled out\u2026 Hopefully, it does open up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Led by Kvapil and Zilisch, Chevrolet drivers occupied eight of the top nine positions on the speed chart. The exception was Ford driver Sheldon Creed, who was third fastest at 146.741 mph.<\/p>\n

Taylor Gray (145.912 mph) was 10th in the fastest Toyota.<\/p>\n

Venturini Motorsports comes full circle with announcement of sale at The Rock<\/b><\/p>\n

Billy Venturini Jr. couldn\u2019t have chosen a more appropriate location to announce the sale of Venturini Motorsports to new owner Nitro Motorsports.<\/p>\n

After all, it was a race at Rockingham that established the iconic ARCA Menards Series team as a contender.<\/p>\n

In the spring of 2008, Venturini convinced Joe Gibbs Racing president J.D. Gibbs to let him \u201cborrow\u201d 18-year-old driver Joey Logano for an ARCA Menards Series race at “The Rock.”<\/p>\n

To secure the deal, Venturini assured Gibbs that Logano would win the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember walking out and my dad (team founder Bill Venturini) looked at me and said, \u2018What the hell did you just say?\u2019\u201d Billy Venturini said.<\/p>\n

The outcome couldn\u2019t have been better. Logano won the pole for the Carolina 500 and beat veteran Ken Schrader to the finish line by 4.164 seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really the race that put us over the top with Joey,\u201d Venturini said. \u201cWe had the opportunity and came out here and did something pretty special that day. And it put us on the map.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venturini, 49, opted to sell the team to Nitro, founded by Nick Tucker, to pursue other interests. Nitro will assume ownership on Oct. 15, 2025 and will maintain VMS\u2019 long-term relationship with Toyota Gazoo Racing.<\/p>\n

Billy Venturini will remain with the organization as general manager through 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service For Kasey Kahne, absence made the heart grow fonder of NASCAR racing ROCKINGHAM, N.C.\u2014Kasey Kahne had an itch he couldn\u2019t wait to scratch. Nearly seven years removed from a successful NASCAR Cup Series career, Kahne grew nostalgic for pavement racing. It wasn\u2019t just a whim. The 45-year-old from Enumclaw, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":50997,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,1003],"class_list":["post-50979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-rockingham-speedway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2210914040-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-dgf","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50979"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51002,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50979\/revisions\/51002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}