Speedway Motorsports reconfiguring Charlotte Roval for playoff race

CONCORD, N.C. — Speedway Motorsports will reconfigure the Charlotte Roval ahead of this season's playoff weekend in October.

Announced Sunday, the reconfiguration will emphasize passing and competition with multiple heavy braking zones. Speedway Motorsports will first extend the straightaway out of Turn 5 and create a new Turn 6.

Drivers will encounter elevation changes as they go uphill and then immediately downhill. They will then head into the tight hairpin that now makes up Turn 7.

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The second major change will be on the frontstretch. SMI will construct a sharper apex in Turn 16. SMI will also have "robust" turtles in this final chicane to encourage drivers to remain on the track instead of attempting to cut the corners.

"The heaviest braking zone out there is going to be (Turn) 7 and you're gonna see a lot of a good passes there as far as people getting runs and just kind of diving in there and taking chances," Ryan Blaney said during the reconfiguration announcement.
"and I thought that corner was tight the way it was before. And it's going to be even tighter now."

The Charlotte Roval will still feature 17 total turns and a length of 2.28 miles. There will be 35 feet of elevation changes that the drivers will contend with during the Xfinity and Cup races.

"So two really distinct braking zones that are going to really help for the competition, for the overtaking opportunity," SMI President and CEO Marcus Smith said Sunday. "Drivers are going to make decisions.

"And one of the biggest things that we've heard here about off-throttle time and oval racing in road course racing, you want as much opportunity for a driver to play in, whether it's the brake pedal, the gas pedal or the steering wheel. So that's what I think a really well-designed track is going to provide, are those overtaking opportunities."

According to SMI, this reconfiguration has been in the works for about 1.5 years. They met with multiple drivers as far back as the championship race at Phoenix, attended multiple competition meetings to discuss safety and worked with iRacing to make the new configuration available to competitors upon the announcement.

"Chase (Briscoe) was really good, talking through some things and how we can make these breaking points what they need to be," said Steve Swift, Speedway Motorsports SVP of operations and development. "Breaking points, that's always... make sure we don't put them in the wrong spots or whatnot. He was really good input."

Once the Coca-Cola 600 is complete, SMI will begin the reconfiguration. They will dig into the dirt and start moving things around so that the track is ready for the playoff races in October.