For the first time , NASCAR is racing at a track that’s half oval and half street program. Sunday’s race on the 17-turn, 2.28 street course/oval, the Bank of America Roval 400 in Charlotte Motor Speedway, also marks the final event of this Round of 16 in NASCAR’s playoffs.
Crew chiefs and drivers are having a tough time figuring out how to deal with this particular track, and for bettors, things are only an unpredictable. We break down the Roval from a betting prospective below.
MORE: Updated NASCAR title chances The way to handicap the Roval
The track is not a complete unknown for motorists, as several teams analyzed the Roval this spring and summertime. Most, though, had issues transitioning in the high rates on the large banks to slowing down entering the infield for Turn 1. Let us let Kurt Busch explain the track from a driver’s perspective.
Yeah, it is going to be chaos, but breaking down the tight and narrow Roval, we can discover similarities to other monitors. Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick have made the Maximum driver evaluations on the road courses of Sonoma and Watkins Glen within the last 3 years.
There is less margin for error on the Roval than there is at Watkins Glen and Sonoma. Sunday’s race starts on the new infield road course then uses the oval at its Turn 1 entry. The cars remain on the speedway part of the trail – tapping a chicane on the backstretch — before diving off to the street course again to finish the lap.
Concerning testing, on the final day of the final summer season, Kyle Busch set the quickest rate, followed by Joey Logano and A.J. Allmendinger.
The Roval is comparable to the Rolex 24, a 24-hour sportscar race at Daytona in which cars race on the banks and also on an infield program.
Many drivers in Sunday’s area have won that Daytona road program. Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Jamie McMurray and Playoff driver Kyle Larson teamed to win the 2015 Rolex 24 overall. A.J. Allmendinger won the Rolex crown 2012 with Michael Shank Racing. Jimmie Johnson, another Playoff driver, completed runner-up from the Rolex 24 in both 2005 and 2008. Kurt Busch was third largest in 2008. And Paul Menard has a best finish of 15th in the Rolex in 2010.
Race favorite Kyle Busch led the first practice on the Charlotte road course Friday at a session which abandoned Aric Almirola, Hamlin, Chase Elliott along with Austin Dillon with minor damage.
With the track offering small room to pass, the starting lineup is essential. Kurt Busch (15/1) and road-warrior Allmendinger (30/1) will begin on the front . Alex Bowman (60/1), Elliott (8/1), Larson (20/1) and Johnson (25/1) round from the top-6.

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