IHRA Stuns NASCAR: Snatches Rockingham, Heartland — France Family on Notice
The International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) has quietly accelerated a string of track acquisitions that could reshape grassroots stock-car racing. During the Cup Series offseason the group confirmed purchases of Memphis Motorsports Park and Rockingham Speedway, and most recently bought Heartland Motorsports Park — a versatile facility with multiple layouts and a drag strip. IHRA owner Darryl Cuttell said Heartland “matters to racing” and signaled plans to restore the venue while honoring its history and community role.
IHRA isn’t new to Heartland: it ran the last official events there in 2023 after NASCAR largely vacated the site. Heartland has hosted O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Truck Series and ARCA Menards events in the past, and IHRA has primarily used the track’s drag facilities since. The recent acquisitions follow a pattern: IHRA announced plans to renovate and reopen Memphis after it sat abandoned, and it picked up Rockingham — a former Xfinity and Truck venue — from the France family’s orbit.
Those moves come alongside IHRA’s November 2025 announcement that it will launch a new stock-car series with a $2 million purse, intended to emphasize driver skill, smart setups and lower costs rather than massive budgets. The series is pitched as grassroots racing rather than a direct one-to-one rival with NASCAR, but the combination of new venues and a substantial purse could attract younger drivers and teams who find NASCAR’s costs prohibitive.
By assembling multiple historic tracks and building a stock-car pathway, IHRA is positioning itself as a serious alternative for grassroots competitors and fans. Whether that effort becomes a sustained competitive threat to NASCAR’s dominance remains to be seen, but the acquisitions and the new series make clear IHRA intends to grow its footprint in American stock-car racing.
Latest News
