EKN’s Paddock Insider is part of our Trackside coverage, bringing you notes, updates and breaking news as it happens. The article will feature notes from trackside at ROK Vegas 2026 presented by ROK Cup USA, held at the Rio Hotel & Casino Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is insider info will not be seen anywhere else.

RIO, RIO

It’s back to the Rio for the ninth edition of the ROK Vegas event presented by ROK Cup USA. This is the eighth year of the race at the Rio Hotel & Casino after running outside Plante Hollywood back in 2021. The Rio has not changed much with the new ownership with restaurants inside changing names and the parking lot still the same condition. But the joy of just walking out of the hotel room and down to the track remains one of the key amenities of racing at the Rio.

The track walk on Tuesday evening provided the over 350 entries to review this year’s layout. It is like last year’s, except going in the clockwise direction this year. Two new hairpins were added as well. The common comment talking with drivers last night was ‘technical’. It will not be an easy track to drive and to race. There will be multiple passing zones during the first 3/4 of the lap and then the last corner combination will test driver’s abilities to defend the position and still get a good run down the straight to the finish line. Aside from the two long straights, the rest of the course is narrow, leaving no room for error.

Talking with drivers coming off the track from the early morning warm-up sessions, the track is fun to drive, but very tight. Passing will be difficult with the narrowness of the layout, however, the technical side of the layout should help separate the good from the bad. Defending around the race track will be easy to do.

This year’s format is changing with the removal of progressive heat racing. Now, drivers will start their first, second and third heats from where they qualify, which puts a lot of emphasis on that session Thursday afternoon. The heat points will line them up for the Super Heat, and for the ROK SV Senior, Junior, VLR Senior and Junior, decide if they are part of the top 30 to transfer into the Super Heat, or have to race the Last Chance Qualifier for one of 10 transfer positions. The main events will start 40 drivers in those categories.

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