This weekend the NASCAR Cup paddock heads to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. However, instead of the oval layout, the drivers will be racing on the inner road course, thus the Charlotte ROVAL. For this season, the track layout has been altered a little. The new change is situated around Turns 5, 6, and 7, with a more narrow corner for the latter. Of course, there have been some misgivings about tackling that tight corner. After all, the NASCAR Cup cars are the complete opposite of light and nimble, so the concerns are pretty valid.

As drivers shared their concerns, CMS president Greg Walter sought to quell any concerns. He precisely took Denny Hamlin’s case and the concerns that the JGR driver had shared earlier when he said, “The reconfigure was designed to create more chaos. You’re going to have to convince me otherwise of that, They make corners sharper and tighter. It was tighter in Turn 7 anyway, but now they made it to a point.”

The layout alteration was not the only change that the Charlotte Motor Speedway witnessed, ahead of the race weekend. As it turns out, the entire track has been resurfaced in the buildup to the Bank of America ROVAL 400. According to Walter, it is only natural to be skeptical, as the drivers are treading uncharted waters. Of course, the drivers would be wary, especially considering that this is the playoff group’s last chance to make the Round of 8. Considering that the last two winners were non-Playoff drivers, desperation may start to creep in.

As Greg Walter sat down with Carla Gebhart for a Dirty Mo Media segment, DJD Reloaded, he said, “We have this culture here, of being constructively discontent. It’s funny, we’ve seen some of the drivers come out here to take a walk. ‘Oh, I’m just out here taking a walk around the course.’ They’re all down there at Turn 7 to see how that’s going to impact them. It’s fun, right? At the end, it’s all about the fans. Our heart is to put on a good show for the fans. In road courses, braking zones equal passing zones. Hopefully what we’ve done is create two new passing zones. This Turn 7, we have worked really hard on getting it right. I’m hoping that delivers for the fans what we hope it will.”

The bottom line is that Walter is hopeful that the alterations and resurfacing produce quality racing. At the end of the day, the fans need to get their money’s worth when they watch the 2024 Bank of America 400. But you’d be surprised to know what they are blaming the 2023 Charlotte winner for.

So ahead of these changes to the 17-Turn track, drivers, veterans, and fans alike are expecting a major shakeup. But what a fan couldn’t forget was the extent of blandness in the 2023 ROVAL race and ended up asking the winner, AJ Allmendinger, if CMS made changes because of his boring run last year. And, to everyone’s surprise, AJ was all sporty and said, “I still hope I make it boring. No, I don’t think that’s true, but it’s it gives me confidence. I’m gonna say yeah, it’s all because of me.” 

Where a Ford driver is expecting a big one at ROVAL, the HMS Golden Boy sounds concerned

Currently, the top 8 looks solid, but keeping in view the patterns and the nature of the sport, Charlotte Weekend could be a game-changer. Austin Cindric currently sits in 11th place, ahead of Chase Briscoe. Last weekend at Talladega, he was ever so close to winning and booking his automatic berth. But in a dramatic twist, his Discount Ford Mustang became the catalyst for the massive 28-car wreck, instantly erasing all his hard-earned momentum.

Cindric admitted, “I think if something happens to the #45, the #9, and the #11 in the first stage, Where they’re not getting points or they’re out of the race or something like that, I think a lot has to happen for us to not just go for the win. Honestly, if you look at these road course events.”

While Cindric’s plan sounds solid, the No. 12 Ford driver Ryan Blaney, who had a win on the track in 2018, shared another strategy as he noted the modifications to the frontstretch chicane. He said, “Honestly, I think the frontstretch chicane is going to be a slower corner, so I feel like you might have some more out-braking potential there, so I think it’s good.”

As it stands for the Austin Cindric, he knows that advancing to the next round hinges on an extraordinary turn of events. He pointed out that he’d need Stage One to deliver a major upset, one that could potentially knock out drivers like Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott, who currently sit in the top 8. Speaking of the HMS driver, with a 13-point cushion above the cutline, he enters the race as the most likely to secure a spot in the Round of 8. His experience as a two-time Charlotte ROVAL winner (2019 and 2020) makes him a formidable opponent and the one to watch as the race unfolds.

The HMS driver also shared his observations and strategy going into the weekend. He said, “To me, I kind of look at it like it’s a new race track, truthfully.”

Additionally, as he noted changes around Turns 6 and 7, Chase Elliott added, “That section of the track is going to change the entire flow of the lap there, so I’ve been kind of approaching it as a new track with my preparation. I’ve spent some time in the simulator, just trying to really memorize the track and where the little bumps are. Typically, those track scans are pretty good. I think that’s probably one of the best things about the simulator is that a driver can go and get familiar with the track layout, surface content, roughness, so on and so forth. It’s really about all I feel like I can do until we get some time on track. Obviously, we have extra practice next week, so hopefully that’s enough to find a good rhythm and get a good flow for qualifying and then obviously for the race.”

Where for Elliott, practice could help, Hamlin’s biggest fear is that the pack will be forced to drive straight into the corner. This could potentially lead to a lot of dive bombs that have the chance of wiping out the driver ahead, as per Cindric’s predictions. It’ll be interesting to note how the race unfolds. Stay tuned for more updates.