ROCKINGHAM, N.C. The NASCAR Xfinity Series will compete at Rockingham Speedway for the first time since 2004 with the running of Saturdays North Carolina Education Lottery 250.

The Rock is not the same track on which driver-turned-television analyst Jamie McMurray won the last four Xfinity Series events held at the Richmond County speedway. Repaved in late 2022 and remeasured at 0.94 miles, the iconic track is unfamiliar territory to all but one driver in Saturdays field, as far as actual racing is concerned.

Only Kasey Kahne has competitive Xfinity Series experience at the track, with his last series appearance coming in the final race there in 2004. On Saturday, Kahne will make his first Xfinity start at any track since 2017 in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

Kahne, a sprint car driver and team owner, quickly acclimated to the stock car in his return to pavement during an organizational test in January.

It had been six and a half years, said Kahne, who won a Truck Series race at Rockingham in 2012. It was really nice to be back in a car. I didnt know exactly how it would feel and if I would have to refigure out how to drive in a way.

But truthfully, once I got to Turn 3 coming to the start of practice and the car loaded into the corner, I instantly felt right at home and felt like I had been doing it for a while. From there on, it was a solid practice for the next four or five hours.

Despite the lack of competitive reps, other drivers arent coming to Rockingham with empty notebooks. Sheldon Creed, Brandon Jones and series leader Justin Allgaier participated in a Goodyear tire test last November.

And the organizational test in January gave a broad range of drivers in both the Xfinity and Truck Series a sense of what they will face on Easter weekend.

In Allgaiers case, theres more on the line than the race trophy. The driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet is competing for a record eighth $100,000 bonus in the final Xfinity Dash 4 Cash race of the season.

To win the bonus, Allgaier will have to finish ahead of three other eligible driversteammates Carson Kvapil and Sammy Smith and Joe Gibbs Racings Brandon Jones.

Its really cool to be heading back to Rockingham with our BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet, said Allgaier, who won two of the first three Dash 4 Cash bonuses this season, at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway.

No one really knows what to expect this weekend, but I feel like the test we had here back in January gave (crew chief) Jim (Pohlman) and all the guys on this team a good playbook to start with.

Weve had a lot of momentum on our side here lately, and hopefully that will carry over and well have another great run on Saturday.