The Charlotte Roval has a new look ahead of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff race. Two sections of the track have been changed. First, a hairpin was introduced as turn 7 after a long straight between 5 and 6 and a sweeping right-hander. Second, turn 16 has been made a lot sharper than before.
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Both areas are heavy braking zones, leading to overtaking and wrecking opportunities. Many in the NASCAR camp believe that this will improve the quality of the racing.
Earlier, the turn 7 section was a lot more sweeping and cars did not have to slow down much before getting onto the Oval part of the track. It made passing quite unlikely at that part of the track.
With the hairpin, cars are expected to slow down by quite some margin which will bunch them closer. The idea behind the new Turn 16 is the same. A sharper corner will force drivers to slow down, making them vulnerable to the car behind.
“I definitely think it’s going to race way better. It’s going to create more passing zones, it’s going to create more chaos too, which I think is always exciting from a fan’s standpoint. I do think it’s going to race really, really good.”
“That whole section that they added the corner to, that was kind of a non-passing zone all the way once you got into the infield until you got back on that back straightaway,” Cup Series driver Chase Briscoe said in a recent interview.
The Stewart-Haas Racing driver might not have the best record at road courses but he is excited to race in Charlotte. The two changes certainly make things interesting and drivers will be hoping to take as much advantage as possible.
Last year’s Roval winner expects at least one turn 7 pile-up
AJ Allmendinger was last year’s winner here and he believes that there will be at least one pile-up at turn 7 during the weekend. The veteran is a master of road course racing and he proved that last year in Charlotte.
He will be hoping to repeat that achievement but things are going to be a lot more challenging. The Kaulig Racing star does however have more experience than most of his competitors.
“It (Turn 5) will be a quicker corner now. It’s kind of a right kink but really makes it a little bit more challenging in the fact that if you carry too much speed in, you will definitely crash out. Late race, I’m gonna see some divebombs here (Turn 7),” he had said.
The Roval was always an unpredictable wildcard race. The changes to the track have only increased the unpredictability. A lot of drivers are yet to drive through the new turns and it will take quite a lot to master navigating through them on such short notice.
