ROCKINGHAM, N.C. - They raced bumper to bumper for 30 miles Sunday, three cars chasing each other around the abrasive pavement of North Carolina Speedway.
It ended with Matt Kenseth edging Kasey Kahne in the fourth closest finish in history, capping yet another terrific race at Rockingham.
Now it's up to NASCAR to decide if that take-your-breath-away ending to the Subway 400 was the finale for the 1.017-mile track.
"I like historic places and the roots of it. Just as a plain racer, it's sad for me because I love racing here," Kenseth said. "It's sad that there's only one race here."
Rockingham began hosting NASCAR's elite series in 1965 and had two races a year from 1966 until 2003. But as NASCAR began to grow past its Southern roots and look to expand, something had to give.
The sanctioning body picked Rockingham, which is owned by International Speedway Corp., NASCAR's sister company.
The track hasn't sold out a race in years and has the poorest attendance of all the facilities in a saturated Southern market. It lost its November race so California Speedway could host two events, and received no assurances that it will hold on to its remaining race past this season.
So the teams - who refuse to mask their love of Rockingham and the tire-chewing surface that returns race strategy to the crew and car control to the driver - spent much of last weekend as if they were at a farewell party.
With glaring holes in the grandstands, which fell about 10,000 people short of the 60,000-seat capacity, the competitors sounded as if they knew the end was near.
"I want to say how much I enjoy coming to Rockingham, how much I'm going to miss the race going forward," winning car owner Jack Roush said, unprovoked, before heading off to celebrate Kenseth's victory.
"The fact that we get to race on a track where a driver's judgment and crew chief's anticipation have a great degree of influence on the result - this is racing the way I enjoy it."
NASCAR recognizes what a great show Rockingham has and the breathtaking finishes it has produced: Just last year, Dale Jarrett and Kurt Busch battled over the final 10 laps in a finish as dramatic as Sunday's.
Because of the sandy surface, tires fade away fast and drivers slip and slide. And there are several different fast "grooves" around it, allowing for more passing than at other tracks.
"Even if we ran bad here, I'd still love coming here because it's such a different track," Kenseth said. "It's really more of a challenge than what we have at a lot of the new types of tracks they're building."
IRL: All 16 races will be televised live by ABC, ESPN or ESPN2. ESPN2 will also carry all 12 races in the Infiniti Pro series, a developmental program. The season-opening Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway Sunday will air on ESPN.
