CONCORD, N.C. — Three burning questions facing the field (and our writers) heading into Sunday’s inaugural Bank of America Roval 400 (2 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) on Charlotte Motor Speedway’s combination road course and oval: MORE: Starting lineup | Race-day rundown 1. Which driver above the cutoff line should be the most worried? Allie Davison: Alex Bowman has two top-15 finishes on road courses in 2018, but the Roval seems to demand a different kind of taming. He is only one point ahead of Ryan Blaney, who currently holds the final transfer position. The No. 88 will fire off third on Sunday, but being up front could be where danger lies for mistakes or getting caught in messy wrecks or traffic. Jessica Ruffin: Austin Dillon hit the wall of the backstretch chicane in opening practice and while his crew was able to repair the No. 3, there’s still damage. He’s also never finished better than 16th at a road course and is rolling off the grid mid-pack — a scary place to be — in 24th. Dillon may have won at Charlotte Motor Speedway before, but this Roval is a whole different game that he may have trouble playing. Zack Albert: Realize he’s 23 points to the good and in a relatively comfortable spot entering Sunday’s event, but Aric Almirola’s weekend performance thus far means he might be cutting it close. He didn’t crack the top 20 in any of the three practices and his No. 10 Ford sustained damage in a Saturday crash in Turn 3. RELATED: Playoff standings | Roval rules updated 2. What have we learned about the track? Allie Davison: If you miss your line, the chance of you spinning out or wrecking are seemingly much, much higher than normal. Saturday’s Xfinity Series race was the first time we’ve seen cars attempt passing or go two-wide racing … and it’s even crazier than originally thought. Jessica Ruffin: Expect some new faces near the front; road courses typically have their ringers, but this track is even more of a wild card. ‘Big 3’ driver Martin Truex Jr. has been strong, but we’ve also seen speed from drivers like outside pole-sitter AJ Allmendinger, Michael McDowell and even Daniel Hemric in the No. 8, making his second-career Monster Energy Series start. Zack Albert: This might be more of a confirmed hunch than a learning, but the course is exacting. We knew that the scarcity of run-off room would likely mean damage in the case of a misstep, but the curbing (including the feared “turtles”) have been especially bruising. MORE: Drivers, beware of ‘turtles’ 3. Will we see a surprise winner? Allie Davison: Daniel Hemric has logged plenty of laps around the Charlotte road course. The double-duty job may just be the ticket to cap off a weekend that he’ll forever remember, as it was announced Friday that he would race in the Monster Energy Series full-time in 2019 with Richard Childress Racing. He placed 10th in the Saturday NXS event. Jessica Ruffin: Hendrick Motorsports has shown speed this weekend, particularly Jimmie Johnson; the No. 48 Chevrolet topped the 10-lap leaderboard in final practice, led second practice and qualified sixth. Johnson needs a strong run to advance to the Round of 12 and with his veteran driving experience, the tricky Charlotte road course seems like the place where he could do more than that by finally snapping that 51-race winless streak. Zack Albert: Let’s give a nod to AJ Allmendinger, the front-row starter finishing out his term this season in the No. 47 Chevrolet. His road-racing pedigree has always shown up on non-oval tracks and would make for a fond farewell to JTG Daugherty Racing. MORE: Allmendinger offers frank take on ’19 plans<doc-sep>Gif : NASCAR on NBC ( Twitter NASCAR’s running the road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the first time ever this year, and drivers are spinning—and subsequently crashing—more than figure skaters at the Olympics. If this were Wheel of Fortune, do you know how many words we would have spelled out by now? All of them. Advertisement Seriously, people are so bad at this that even the pace car spun out. It rocks. The road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway is actually a mix of its 1.5-mile oval track and its interior road course, a “roval,” which comes out to 17 turns and nearly 2.3 miles. NASCAR’s had to adjust the layout more than once since announcing the roval, including to keep drivers from cheating with shortcuts. NASCAR added the roval after going more than 10 years without a road course in its “playoffs” to decide the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title. It was much needed, since the playoffs have been marred by seemingly repetitive, similar ovals for years. (Now all three top series, the Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series, have playoffs. Here’s how the confusing new system works.) The Cup Series and the Xfinity Series are at the roval this weekend, and it’s the first time NASCAR has ever run the configuration. Previous test sessions haven’t stopped countless drivers from spinning, wrecking and launching off of kerbs during the first few practice sessions so far, and that includes the person driving the pace car—a street version of the Toyota Camry. It is chaos. Here’s a nice thread of all (most? some, even?) of the stuff that happened over the course of an hour earlier: Advertisement If you need me at all this weekend, don’t. The roval will be the only thing that has my attention.<doc-sep>NASCAR Cup Series race results from the Charlotte Roval on September 30th, 2018 Today, the NASCAR Cup Series runs the Charlotte Roval for the very first time. The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway features a 2.28-mile road course with 17 turns and 35 feet of elevation. View full 2018 Roval results below. 109 laps is set for the round 1 cutoff race in the NASCAR playoffs. Kurt Busch and AJ Allmendinger set the front row and lead them to the starting line. Stage 1 Charlotte Roval Laps: 25 Green flag, Kurt Busch is clear into turn one. Kyle Larson slips by Allmendinger for 2nd. Larson is all over Kurt Busch for the lead in turn 12. The front two check out from the field. Lap 5, Kurt Busch opened a gap to Larson. That’s now closed again. Meanwhile, Chase Elliott is in 3rd and running them both down. Lap 7, Kyle Larson looks to the outside of Kurt Busch off turn 14. He has the inside into the turn 15 chicane. Larson is clear. Lap 8, Larson stretches the lead to 7 car lengths. Chase Elliott is all over Busch for 2nd. He looks inside into turn 1. Kurt Busch lets him go. Lap 13, the yellow is out. Stanton Barrett locked of the brakes in turn one. He slammed the tire barrier and has come to a stop. The top seven remain on the race track. AJ Allmendinger is the first car off the pit lane. He’ll restart just outside the top 10. Green, Larson leads Busch out of turn one. 5 to go in stage 1, Larson leads Busch by 1.5 seconds. Kyle Larson wins stage 1 at the Charlotte Road Course! Charlotte Roval Results – Stage 1: 1. Kyle Larson; 2. Kurt Busch; 3. Clint Bowyer; 4. Martin Truex Jr; 5. Chase Elliott; 6. Jimmie Johnson; 7. Kyle Busch; 8. AJ Allmendinger; 9. Alex Bowman; 10. Ryan Blaney; Stage 2 Charlotte Roval Laps: 25 Pit road is open. It’s a split decision on whether or not to come to pit road. The leader stays out, many others do as well. Kurt Busch leads the field off the pit lane of those who did pit. Kurt Busch will restart in 23rd! Many cars pitted at the tail end of stage one. Green, Larson leads Truex run even into turn one. Larson wins the battle off turn one. Lap 31, Blaney is all over Kyle Busch for 3rd. Blaney is through, he takes the position. He trails Truex and Larson by 2 seconds. Lap 36, Kyle Busch is on the pit lane. Lap 37, Larson heads for the pit lane. That passes the lead to Ryan Blaney. Lap 42, Blaney leads Harvick by 4 seconds. Lap 45, Kurt Busch is up to 7th. He flying through the field after pitting at the start of stage two. Trouble for William Byron! He’s slow off turn twelve. He can’t turn into turn 15. Almirola tried to get back on the outside, Byron clipped him on the way by. Almirola bounces off the wall, no caution. Almirola already has a bent frame after practice yesterday, the started the race with the tweaked chassis. Byron heads to the pit lane with a flat tire. Harvick heads to the pit lane under green. Lap 48, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch are around Joey Logano. Johnson to 2nd. Lap 49, trouble in turn 16! Keselowski looked to the inside with late braking maneuver. Keselowski wheel hopped into the corner and clipped Truex. Keselowski and Truex are around. Keselowski has a major tire rub. Ryan Blaney wins stage two on the Charlotte Roval! Charlotte Roval Results – Stage 2: 1. Ryan Blaney; 2. Jimmie Johnson; 3. Kurt Busch; 4. Joey Logano; 5. Clint Bowyer; 6. Austin Dillon; 7. Chase Elliott; 8. Alex Bowman; 9. Daniel Hemric; 10. Kyle Larson; Stage 3 Charlotte Roval Laps: 59 The field heads for the pit lane. Blaney is first in, Joshson is first off. 4 tires for all. Kyle Larson and Daniel Hemric will lead them to the restart in stage three. Green, Larson leads out of turn one. They run three wide deeper in the field. Hemric is dropping through the field quickly. They pass him on the right and left. Hemric has trouble with the drive off turn 17, Johnson gets into the back of him and Dillon gets into the back of Johnson. Hemric is in the way but all cars continue. Lap 58, debris is on the race track. That has brought out the yellow. Several cars head for the pit lane. Green flag, Larson leads off turn two. Kyle Busch has heavy pressure on his back bumper. Allmendinger drives 3 wide on the bottom into turn one. He cooked the braking zone. Allmendinger doors Hamlin, who had no idea he was there. All cars continue. Lap 65, Austin Dillon is hard in the wall off turn 17. He pulls to the pit lane and then the garage. The yellow is out. Erik Jones leads the takers to the pit lane, he was 7th. He’ll restart outside of the top 25. Green, Larson leads Kyle Busch off turn one. Hamlin is dropping through the field. He was inside the top five. A Lap 69, Almirola and Buescher both slide through the grass in separate self spins. The caution is out as Buescher drags track signage with him on his way out of the grass. It’s lodged into his rear bumper. Most of the field heads for the pit lane. William Byron wins the race of the pit lane. Larson is off in 2nd. Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Paul Menard lead them to the restart. Green, several cars bang fenders in turn one. Jones got into the back of Stenhouse to get it started. Kyle Busch cuts the corner completely. Stenhouse and Menard run side by side off turn one. Menard is looking for the lead into turn two, Stenhouse pinches him and holds the lead. Ricky Stenhouse Jr gets sideways in turn five! He missed corner entry completely and runs wide, into the grass he goes. Menard to the lead!<doc-sep>Kyle Busch led an eventful first practice on the Charlotte road course Friday, speeding around a lap at 106.397 mph in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Erik Jones was second in the No. 20 JGR Toyota, making his way around the Roval at 106.382 mph. Joey Logano (106.122 mph), Daniel Hemric (106.081 mph) and Clint Bowyer (106.012 mph) rounded out the top five. RELATED: Full practice results | Scenes from the Charlotte road course The first real look at the new Roval course brought a fair amount of incidents as drivers searched to figure out how to maneuver through turns, around walls and over bumpers. Trouble struck early, about 10 minutes after the green flag dropped, as Aric Almirola spun on Turn 3, sustaining some damage to his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Minutes later, Denny Hamlin suffered damage to the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota when he skipped over one of the blue, artificial bumpers on a turn. MORE: Roval 101 | Turn-by-turn analysis of the course Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove his No. 17 Ford off the track at Turn 4 and hit the wall — necessitating a move to a backup car. The list of cars that spun or veered off track included Bubba Wallace (twice), Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch. Dillon suffered damage to the left front of his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet when he caught the wall jutting out from the backstretch chicane, and Ryan Blaney scraped his No. 12 Team Penske Ford in the same place on the track. NBCSN reported that Ryan Newman and Chase Elliott also reported damage to their cars after making practice laps. The Monster Energy Series returns to the track at 4:45 p.m. ET for Busch Pole Qualifying (NBCSN/NBC Sports App).<doc-sep>
CONCORD, N.C. – If NASCAR’s Friday practice at Charlotte Motor Speedway was any indication, Sunday’s race is going to be 248.52 miles of chaos. Drivers will race on the new “roval” — a half-oval, half-road course — for the first time Sunday in the Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400, which is also the first playoff elimination race and the field of championship contenders will be whittled down from 16 to 12. The track features 17 turns that have been described as slick, narrow and unpredictable, and overall, especially compared with other road courses on the schedule, it’s particularly unforgiving. Is it similar to anything else on the Cup Series schedule? “Hell no!” Clint Bowyer said Friday at the track. “If you spin, there’s nowhere to go,” added Austin Dillon, who banged up his No. 3 Chevrolet during practice. How tough is this thing really though? The first turn off the oval is a sharp one and has been dubbed “Heartburn Turn”, and blue, artificial speed bumps along the curves, known as turtles, are also causing trouble. Multiple drivers — including the pace car — spun out or crashed during Friday’s practice. There’s no real way to describe how hard it will be to race on this track, but these videos from practice get the job done. The first incident happened only about 10 minutes on the track. Kyle Busch scraped the wall, Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. spun out multiple times, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had to turn to his backup car and Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Aric Almirola and Ryan Newman all reported damage to their cars. We're not even through a practice session at @CLTMotorSpdwy, yet the ROVAL has already chewed up and spit out many cars. Sunday's race is going to be nuts. #BofAROVAL pic.twitter.com/2YOX8igHeK — NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 28, 2018 That didn't take long. Aric Almirola got into the tire barrier on the ROVAL in opening practice for the @NASCAR Cup Series at @CLTMotorSpdwy. #BofAROVAL pic.twitter.com/ATFem3Cf7N — NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 28, 2018 Significant LF damage to @Blaney's No. 12 machine after tagging the wall on exit of the backstretch chicane. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/KUx82sPqxy — NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 28, 2018 Bam! #NASCARPlayoffs driver @austindillon3 hits the chicane wall late in practice. Heavy damage to the 3. pic.twitter.com/gnzowKtLhW — NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 28, 2018 Even the pace car driver is getting involved in the calamity at @CLTMotorSpdwy. In short, the ROVAL is HARD. #BofAROVAL pic.twitter.com/jI6pKx34jw — NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 28, 2018 UPDATE: Saturday at practice, Wallace smashed into a barrier that has given several drivers problems. He is OK. Hard crash into the barrier at the chicane for Bubba Wallace, as the No. 43 car even gets some air. He climbed out of the car, and is OK. pic.twitter.com/inh9JnLiWR — NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 29, 2018