They said it in 2018, when a man nearly no one in Richmond County had heard of bought the dilapidated Rockingham Speedway and promised a resurrection. They said it three years later, when North Carolina government officials set aside $50 million to do much-needed work on the Tar Heel State's big three racetracks.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to Rockingham for the first time since 2004 with the North Carolina Education Lottery 250 on April 19. NASCAR dropped Rockingham Speedway off the schedule on 2004, and only the Truck Series has returned for a time more than a decade ago.