{"id":585712,"date":"2026-04-06T11:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T11:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/585712\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T11:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T11:24:12","slug":"why-an-nc-train-ride-to-rockinghams-nascar-race-was-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/585712\/","title":{"rendered":"Why an NC train ride to Rockingham\u2019s NASCAR race was special"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROCKINGHAM<\/p>\n

Down the steps they rumbled: the fathers holding their 2-year-old sons on their hips, the mothers who\u2019d been cracking jokes all morning, the race fans who wanted to be reminded of something old by doing something new.<\/p>\n

All of them, all 300 or so of them, marched down into the gravel.<\/p>\n

And all of them, at least it seemed like, were greeted by NASCAR royalty.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow are ya?\u201d said a smiling Kyle Petty<\/a>, over and over again, extending his hand for a handshake.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave a great time,\u201d he said, in one way or another, his smile wide.<\/p>\n

\"NASCAR NASCAR legend Kyle Petty greets fans at they exit the Rockingham Special for race day at Rockingham Speedway on Saturday, April, 4, 2026. Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez mrodriguez@charlotteobserver.com <\/p>\n

It was just past 10 a.m. on Saturday. The fans were marching down the steps of an Amtrak train \u2014 the \u201cRockingham Special\u201d as it\u2019s called. They boarded from Raleigh Union Station, or from a stop at Cary or Southern Pines, and took the train all the way to the tracks just outside Rockingham Speedway. The first iteration of such a route was in April 2025, the year NASCAR returned to The Rock for the first time in over a decade<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And this year, a giddy Petty wanted to see it for himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw on the blip on the internet that there was a train coming out of the Raleigh area to Rockingham, and I was like, \u2018I raced down there for a million years, I\u2019ve never heard about a train coming,\u2019\u201d Petty said. \u201cI knew the train tracks were here. So I set my alarm. I set my alarm for 9:40 a.m. so I could just walk over here and see the train.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve flown to racetracks, I\u2019ve driven to racetracks. I\u2019ve never taken a train to a racetrack, so I had to see what that was like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who he met was a bunch of Carolinians. Some first-time NASCAR race attendees. Some NASCAR veterans. Some NASCAR fans who were hoping to reconnect with a sport that maybe they\u2019d lost touch with over the years \u2014 who saw this train as a path back into the sport\u2019s grasp.<\/p>\n

And if there\u2019s anyone you ought to meet coming off such a train \u2014 however you identify as a NASCAR fan \u2014 Petty might\u2019ve just been the right person to meet.<\/p>\n

\"An An Amtrak employee pokes her head out of one of the cabins as the Rockingham Special approaches its stop near gate E for race day at Rockingham Speedway on Saturday, April, 4, 2026. Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez mrodriguez@charlotteobserver.com NASCAR fans are \u2018pumped about being here\u2019<\/p>\n

Petty considers Rockingham Speedway his home track. He grew up in Randleman, after all, 65 miles due north of the speedway. He\u2019d won three Cup races here \u2014 all three between the years 1990 and 1992. He\u2019s the son of Richard Petty, the King, the all-time Cup wins leader in all of NASCAR and the all-time wins leader at Rockingham, too.<\/p>\n

He loves that The Rock is back, he said. Rockingham Speedway, after all, was a longtime fixture of NASCAR racing back when it opened in 1965<\/a>. It was on the Cup schedule twice a year for decades before NASCAR left in 2004. And now, thanks to some serendipity and hard work and community magic, it\u2019s a giant piece of history that is back on NASCAR\u2019s radar, successfully eluding a fate of abandoned disrepair and staying very much alive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You could tell Petty loved his home track by the way he greeted those who hopped off the train. When passengers asked him for a photo, he obliged. When they initiated a conversation, he obliged. When passengers bid their farewells, having to march across the gravel and through the woods and into the speedway fray to catch the ARCA race at 11 a.m. (eventually won by Tristan McKee) and the O\u2019Reilly Series race at 2:30 p.m. (won by William Sawalich), he pointed them in the right direction, matching everyone\u2019s energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cRichmond County, these people are pumped up down here,\u201d Petty said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s something I noticed more than anything else: the excitement of being at racetracks. So many times, you go to a track, they\u2019ve been there forever, and you get jaded to the experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese people were pumped up about being here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NASCAR NASCAR legend Kyle Petty, cenrer, poses for a photo with a fan as people exit the Rockingham Special for race day at Rockingham Speedway on Saturday, April, 4, 2026. Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez mrodriguez@charlotteobserver.com The NASCAR fans Kyle Petty met<\/p>\n

Among the people Petty saw walk by was a father and son from Wake Forest. Nyle Wadsford, a longtime NASCAR fan who used to go to Rockingham for decades, was introducing his son, Braxton, to the track.<\/p>\n

Braxton, 21, is more of a Formula 1 follower. But as the two put it: Saturday was a chance for Braxton to start his stock car racing fandom \u2014 and for Nyle to \u201cstart over\u201d with NASCAR.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to him showing me around,\u201d Braxton said about what he was most excited about on Saturday.<\/p>\n

His father smiled: \u201cIt\u2019s gonna be interesting, man.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were many others curious like them. Take Tyler Long and Hannah Long, a married couple from Franklinton, who as the train cut through pine trees explained their interest in visiting all the old racetracks \u2014 from Martinsville to Bristol to North Wilkesboro to, yes, Rockingham. And the train afforded them the opportunity to do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are old, old tracks in between Raleigh and Durham that are buried in pine trees now \u2014 really classic, old dirt tracks, and now they\u2019re overgrown,\u201d Tyler said. \u201cI like the history behind all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Blake Blake Wade, and his son, Hayes, 2, rode the Rockingham Special from Raleigh to attend the NASCAR races at Rockingham Speedway on Saturday, April 4, 2026. Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez mrodriguez@charlotteobserver.com <\/p>\n

One duo, in particular, was trying to start a tradition. It featured a father, Blake Wade from just outside of Raleigh, wearing a JR Motorsports hat and a Chase Elliot T-shirt. And then it featured a son, Hayes, whose 2-year-old enthusiasm made you recognize the wonders of the world around you: the soothing rhythm of a train\u2019s wheels over metal; the anticipation of hearing snarling racecar engines; the shared ground between generations of fans sharing the same train \u2014 of how much the suburb of Apex has grown, of how beautiful the pine trees look pressed up against a cloudless sky, of how sports have changed and represented a vanishing way of a simpler life.<\/p>\n

A sampling of the conversation between the endlessly curious, Lightning McQueen-fan son and the patient father:<\/p>\n

Where are the train tracks?<\/p>\n

Underneath us, buddy.<\/p>\n

Where\u2019s Mama?<\/p>\n

She\u2019s meeting us there with the pickup truck, bud.<\/p>\n

Why are we slowing down?<\/p>\n

Cuz we\u2019re here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just looking forward to seeing his reaction, having some fun with him, letting him see the cars,\u201d Wade said. \u201cMy family traveled all over and went to NASCAR races when I was his age. And I\u2019m just excited to do the same thing with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Race Race fans exit the Rockingham Special for race day at Rockingham Speedway on Saturday, April, 4, 2026. Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez mrodriguez@charlotteobserver.com \u2018There\u2019s going to be another one\u2019<\/p>\n

After 20 minutes or so of greeting passengers, Petty was about to hop in a golf cart back to the racetrack, back to his duties in the infield. But before doing so, the former Cup driver was asked about his father.<\/p>\n

Specifically about one of the King\u2019s most important wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny,\u201d Petty said, when asked if he remembered his father\u2019s last win at Rockingham. \u201cNo you don\u2019t. Because he\u2019s won so many, you just think he\u2019s won so many, there\u2019s going to be another one. There\u2019s going to be another one. You remember 199 and 200 then you remember 195 or 196.\u201d<\/p>\n

He knew, in other words, that his father\u2019s reign over the sport would end. Just as all things do. He just never knew when such an end would come, when to savor and when to move on.<\/p>\n

Saturday, he didn\u2019t risk letting such a Rockingham experience go.<\/p>\n

\"A A makeshift station for riders of the Rockingham Special, an Amtrak train that transports race fans from Raleigh, Cary and Southern Pines, to Rockingham and back, for the NASCAR races at Rockingham Speedway on Saturday, April 4, 2026. Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez mrodriguez@charlotteobserver.com <\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Alex Zietlow<\/a><\/p>\n

The Charlotte Observer<\/p>\n

Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow\u2019s work has been honored by the Pro Football Writers Association, the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He\u2019s earned six APSE Top 10 distinctions for his coverage on a variety of topics, from billion-dollar stadium renovations to the small moments of triumph that helped a Panthers kicker defy the steepest odds in sports. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22.
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