NASCAR has seen several unique tracks in its storied history. From the runway road course at the Linden Airport to the three-cornered oval at Pocono, there have been several tracks that have stunned fans. The Charlotte Roval, however, is perhaps the most innovative of them all. It is essentially a hybrid that brings together an oval and a road course.
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This dual character makes the track a tough one to conquer. However, being a hybrid track isn’t the only unique element about it. It’s an extremely tight and narrow race track with just one long straight. It is the shortest of the road courses in the competition. Cup Series star Chase Briscoe recently noted how he could see the entire track from inside his car while running races.
The final race of the Round of 12 is to be held at the Roval this Sunday. Briscoe and his fellow competitors ought to be wary of getting spun since a lot of points and potential Round of 8 seats are at stake. The No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing driver told the press, “The Roval just feels like the short track of road courses.”
“It feels like you’re going to Martinsville or Bristol, where just everything is way tighter, it’s narrower. You don’t have these super-long straightaways and you can see the whole track. Even inside the racecar when I’m going through turn four and turn five, I can see guys on the other side of the racetrack.”
Not a lot of people have been able to master the Roval. Chase Elliott is the only driver to have won races on it more than once. Other winners are some of the best NASCAR has to offer today. Last season, AJ Allmendinger shocked the racing fraternity when he took the checkered flag. Such instances just prove how open the upcoming event is going to be.
Briscoe on how chaos is always just around the corner in the Roval
In an earlier interview, Briscoe had said that the Next Gen car was one of the reasons why he hasn’t been able to do well on road courses. He used to be frustrated with such tracks in the early days of his career since he couldn’t run well on them. But after getting a few wins in the lower divisions, he now eagerly looks forward to road course races.
Regardless, any sort of excuse is not going to fly if Briscoe wants to continue contending for the title. The Roval is one of the trickiest tracks in worldwide motorsports and he knows it. He added, “The Roval is the race where I feel like every single year in the playoffs everything kind of gets flipped upside down. Anything can happen there. It’s tight, it’s narrow and chaos always seems to ensue.”
It is a venue where a lot of points can be made or lost. Watching playoff underdogs like Briscoe and championship favorites like Kyle Larson navigate this challenge is bound to be an interesting watch.
