CONCORD, N.C. — The Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL has a new look this weekend, and the new reconfiguration has been the talk of the town.
Reactions to the changes in the garage have ranged from excited, frustrated, anxious and everything in between.
With the new configuration’s potential to generate chaos and throw a curveball to the entire NASCAR Cup Series field, it’s not a surprise that two of the playoff drivers that enter this weekend well below the cut line are the most enthusiastic about the new-look layout.
“100% [in favor],” Daniel Suarez said. “Every time there is change, there is an opportunity. We have worked very hard for these changes, and hopefully we are in the good end of it.”
“I’m honestly glad of the changes just due to the fact that I feel like it just makes it a little bit more of an even playing field and kind of reminds me the first time we came here,” Chase Briscoe said. “There’s a lot of new and nobody really has the advantage of just having laps here, so I’m excited for the new changes.
“I think it fits me a little bit better anyways. That section that they took out was probably my worst part of the racetrack. So yeah, I feel really good about it, for sure.”
The new turns 6 and 7 are widely considered to be the biggest trouble spots, as a sharp, blind, uphill turn 6 leads directly to a slow, nearly 180-degree hairpin turn in 7. The turn is a transition section, marking the exit of infield course and the entrance to the high banks of the oval. It’ll be the slowest section of the track, but it’s configuration will invite the possibility for desperate drivers to divebomb, force their way in and cause calamity.
“I think the best way to describe it is if the race goes green, I don’t think that we’re going to notice much, maybe another passing opportunity to overtake a car in front of you,” Christopher Bell said. “But the real difference maker is going to be on restarts whenever we’re all bottled up and we’re trying to jam it to turn 7 to gain track position.”
“I’ve run this line in the sim, nothing’s really too different, but I think the race will be big,” Ryan Blaney said. “Just kind of seeing that turn 6, especially turn 7 racing around cars, like the dive bombs into 7. I think they’ll be pretty common if you got a guy a few car lengths back there because the entry has to be so wide to get off that corner.
“You’re going to have guys just ship it in there and use you as a bumper guard. I’ll be watching that [NASCAR Xfinity Series] race for sure, just kind of seeing how it races.”
Tyler Reddick was concerned about how the changes would impact passing zones, and he felt that turn 7 won’t lead to many opportunities.
“Just with how fast turn 5 is and how fast turn 6 is, it’s going to be hard to pass there, so I don’t know how it’s going to look for us,” he said. “It’s going to be difficult to stay close enough to make a move into turn 7 without it being pretty reckless.”
He also noted that the sharpening of the frontstretch chicane will impact the passing zones as well as the entry drivers take heading into turn 1.
“Thinking about the lap and passing zones, I feel like the front chicane somewhat was a passing zone on the entry aspect of it, that’s going to be a little more difficult now,” Reddick explained. “Certainly, if someone screws up the front chicane, it’s more of a corner now, so you might be able to pass somebody on exit, but because we’re going slow through the chicane, turn 1 is less of a corner, you don’t have to slow down nearly as much, and that can affect passing there.”
Those drivers appeared in the media center before their practice and qualifying sessions, so they only had sim work, a track walk and Xfinity practice to base their judgements on.
Once drivers entered the media center post-practice, they agreed that the blind, uphill turn 6 and the hairpin turn 7 would be the biggest challenges.
“Turn 6 is a bit blind, but I guess it’s probably easier when you’re following someone as long as they don’t drive off the cliff and you follow them,” Martin Truex Jr. said.
“… I think there’s going to be more pileups in [turn] 7 than there used to be in that area of the track for sure. So a couple more zones where things are going to get crazy.”
But frustrations were also expressed regarding one section of the track that largely went under the radar leading up to the weekend: the frontstretch chicane.
Truex was the first one to sound the alarm about how tough the corner is on the drivers.
“Feels like you get a concussion every lap basically if you hit [the turtles]. So yeah, not much fun.”
Similar complaints began pouring in.
“I’m glad [Truex] said it,” Kyle Busch said. “It is.”
Brad Keselowski compared the turn to the bus stop at Watkins Glen International, which had to be redone after data showed it posed a risk to drivers last year.
“[The chicane] reminds me of Watkins Glen before they redid it,” Keselowski said. “You just really crush the curve, but that’s where the speed is at.
“… It doesn’t feel good.”
Michael McDowell agreed but stopped short of calling it a concussion.
“It’s rough but you have to do it,” McDowell said. “I mean, you don’t have a choice. You could go around them, but it’s just slow.
“… You definitely feel it, it’s not smooth, but I don’t feel like it feels like a concussion. But we have our mouthpiece data, so I’m sure we’ll look at that and see what it looks like.”
Conversely, Chris Buescher was the one driver that went against the grain: “It’s really no different than before.”
Saturday’s (Oct. 13) Xfinity winner Sam Mayer noted in his post-race presser that the frontstretch chicane felt rough in the Xfinity car. The Xfinity race also saw multiple drivers run aggressively into turn 7, most notably when Jesse Love divebombed two-wide into the corner and spun Sheldon Creed in the first stage.
Creed was none too pleased with the changes made to turn 7 and the frontstretch chicane, where he was collected in a 10-car pileup and ultimately eliminated from playoff contention.
“I think that’s the idea of the new ROVAL, right?” Creed asked. “They wanted chaos and just dumb mistakes like that to happen.”
As predicted from the moment the changes were announced, the new configuration to the ROVAL looks just as chaotic as advertised. And if the data proves that changes need to be made to the frontstretch chicane to ease the burden on the drivers, it’s a fix that most likely won’t be implemented until next season.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The turtles on the frontstretch chicane have been removed as of Sunday morning.)
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly columns include “Stat Sheet” and “4 Burning Questions.” He also writes commentary, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Can find on Twitter @stephen_stumpf.
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Easy smart fix! Get rid of the ROVALS!!! That’s why the Brain Trust won’t do it!
…send in the clowns…
Drivers should just miss the turtles. That’s the point of them.
Also, on another note, the23 car was busted for short cutting the course in the early going. The exact same replay shows the 24 car also cutting the course no penalty. NASCAR favorites again.
I’m beginning to think that local officials controlling the race aren’t very smart.