NASCAR announced in September 2011 that Rockingham Speedway would host a Camping World Truck Series event for the 2012 season. The inaugural race took place on April 15, 2012, and was won by Kasey Kahne, marking a significant return of national-level NASCAR competition to the storied North Carolina facility.
The 2013 edition is the most controversial of the Rockingham truck races. Kyle Larson claimed his first Truck Series victory that year in only his first full season, but the event is better remembered for an incident involving veteran driver Ron Hornaday Jr. Hornaday made contact with Kyle Busch Motorsports rookie Bubba Wallace, tapping Wallace's truck and sending it into the wall. The move drew immediate comparisons to an earlier incident at Texas Motor Speedway in which Kyle Busch had been parked for wrecking Hornaday himself. Hornaday took responsibility and stated the contact was unintentional, but video replays showed him appearing to glare at Wallace's truck before making the tap. NASCAR issued penalties including a black flag, a $25,000 fine, and probation through June 12 of that year. Many fans, drivers, and media figures felt the punishment was insufficient compared to the harsher treatment Busch had received at Texas, noting that Rockingham's lower speeds made the incident less dangerous but did not make it less deliberate.
The Truck Series did not return to Rockingham in 2014 due to financial difficulties at the track. The venue went dark for national NASCAR competition for over a decade.
Rockingham's return to the schedule came about through Track Enterprises, a short-track promoter affiliated with Spire Sports + Entertainment that also manages various ARCA and regional series events. The promoter had previously held a Truck Series race at the Milwaukee Mile in 2023 and 2024, but was unable to reach an agreement with the Wisconsin State Fair to continue at that venue. Rockingham was selected as a replacement, and the race was scheduled during what was the only off-week in the Cup Series calendar, coinciding with Easter weekend.
Tyler Ankrum won the 2025 return race. The following year, defending series champion Corey Heim claimed victory, establishing himself as the race's most recent winner.
Rockingham Speedway's on-again, off-again relationship with the Truck Series mirrors the broader story of short and intermediate ovals navigating the demands of NASCAR's scheduling priorities. The 2013 Hornaday–Wallace incident in particular remains a reference point in discussions about NASCAR's consistency in penalizing deliberate contact, drawing a direct line to the Busch–Hornaday incident at Texas that preceded it. The track's persistence as a venue, despite long gaps in national racing, reflects the continued appeal of traditional Southern oval racing markets.