U-turns? Concussion risks? Drivers brace for Charlotte ‘chaos’ in NASCAR elimination race

Chase Briscoe admitted that his life is a bit chaotic at the moment.

A lot has to do with that.

Part of it, for one, has to do with the fact that the NASCAR Cup Series driver’s wife, Marissa, gave birth to twins earlier this week. Marissa is still in the hospital, Briscoe said Saturday in the Charlotte Motor Speedway media center, and he has admittedly not spent a ton of time in the race shop this week because of that.

Part of his descent into chaos, for another, is that he only has a handful of races left as a Cup driver for Stewart-Haas Racing, the race team that announced its planned closure earlier this season and has had some pestilent, if predictable, problems arise from that.

But an undeniable part of all of his living chaos? Briscoe sits solidly 12th in the Round of 12 heading into the elimination race Sunday — and he needs to win to move on to the Round of 8.

And the race he’ll need to conquer? The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway — a road course that’s no stranger to mayhem, and has only gotten more formidable this year with its fear-inducing course reconfiguration.

“I think Turn 7 is going to be very interesting when the race starts, just because the racing line really opens you up to just get taken advantage of,” Briscoe said. “So you’re going to have to play a lot of defense there. And it’s definitely going to create a ton of passing opportunities, I think, not only in that corner but even into the back straightaway. So I think they did a really good job with it.”

Briscoe isn’t alone in thinking Sunday will see some passing. Other drivers predict more madness. Dive-bombs into tight turns. Spinouts. Drivers getting overzealous and taking room that isn’t theirs. Tempers flying. And even if the changes may suit someone like him — “That section that they took out was probably my worst part of the racetrack” — he acknowledged that the newness of it all creates an added dynamic to Sunday’s spectacle.

The “Roval” — a course that mixes in the most challenging parts of road and oval courses, hence the name — features 17 turns over 2.28 miles, just as it always has since it debuted in 2018. But this year’s event, scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday on NBC and MRN Radio, has drivers curious about how an already treacherous course might’ve grown even more tough.

The biggest emphasis is on Turn 7, as mentioned, when drivers essentially will have to hit a U-turn going left before rechanneling back onto the outer oval. Playoff drivers have a lot to say about the change.

One of those drivers is Denny Hamlin, who sits fourth in the standings and really just needs to avoid “a horrible day” — in his own words — to move on to the Round of 8.

“I think as time goes on, everyone is going to adapt their style to a very similar style, as we do on most tracks,” Hamlin said of that treacherous Turn 7. “It certainly is inviting to go in there and dive-bomb, and that’s going to get rewarded sometimes. And sometimes it won’t. Same track for everyone. Someone’s going to win. And so you just hope you’re him.”

Chase Elliott, who right now would be the last driver in to the Round of 8 on points, agreed.

“I think I would have a little more comfort without a layout change,” Elliott said “But with the layout change, I just think it’s a total reset button here for this track. And I think it’s going to totally change how it races, how it drives. Hopefully I can adapt quickly and well and get our pace where it needs to be. But I have no expectations because I’m treating it like I’ve never been here before.”

Challenges beyond Turn 7: ‘Concussion’ risk at Roval?

Drivers shared different issues or challenges beyond Turn 7 on the course as well.

Kyle Busch said he dislikes where the restart zone is located and that unnecessary calamity could come from that. Fellow veteran driver Brad Keselowski said all the turns are blind, but that that’s the deal when you go to a road course like this.

Martin Truex Jr., in his final run at Charlotte Motor Speedway, said he was happy that he’d never have to race here again because the track “has not been good to us” over the years. He added that the racetrack has some added dangers. Among them come when he runs over the “turtles” on the track — the 6-inch-tall, 100-pound steel blocks bolted to the asphalt that keep the drivers on the Roval course. Contacting the turtles is unavoidable to keep speed, which could spell trouble.

“Feels like you get a concussion every lap, basically, if you hit them,” Truex said. “So not much fun.”

He added: “It just hurts when you hit those turtles and the car bottoms out when it lands. It’s pretty crazy. Try not to hit them, I guess. Some guys will hit them a little bit while still going fast. I don’t know if it’s something we’re doing, but if I touch them at all, it’s brutal. So it’s missing something there.”

Other drivers, including Austin Cindric and Busch, said the bounce off the turtles is violent.

“It’s not overblown,” Busch said, referring to Truex’s concussion statement, after qualifying. The word “concussion” is a dangerous one in the NASCAR world, after all; it prematurely ended the career of NASCAR great Kurt Busch in 2022 and was thrust into the spotlight thereafter and prompted changes to the Next Gen car.

“My head hurts,” Busch said.

Said Keselowski: “I mean, you get hit upside the head, it doesn’t feel good. But at some point, that’s the deal, I guess. It doesn’t feel good.”

‘We’re all racing the same thing’

If Truex and other drivers have an issue with that one part of the course, Kyle Larson has to overcome some bad luck associated with the whole track.

Larson, the Hendrick Motorsports driver, is not new to the idea of chaos at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Consider his last trip to this racetrack: He flew in on a helicopter fresh off the Indy 500 in an attempt to do “The Double” — 1,100 miles of racing that featured 500 in IndyCar’s premier race and 600 at NASCAR’s longest race — and arrived just in time for the rain to come and wash away his hopes at history.

The road course element of it all for the race’s wins leader — at five wins — is on his mind, too. He hopped in the Chevy racing simulator this week as he prepared for this weekend, which is something the generational driver rarely does.

His response to what he’ll expect?

“I don’t know,” he said, smiling because he knew he didn’t provide a satisfactory answer. “We’ll see once we get racing. I mean, who knows if it will be chaos or not until we really get out there? So we don’t know what to expect.

“But regardless, we’re all racing the same thing. So it’d be fun to see what the changes may bring.”

NASCAR Cup Series playoffs: Charlotte Roval

1. William Byron (already won in Round of 12, is set for Round of 8)

2. Christopher Bell (3105 points)

3. Kyle Larson (3100)

4. Denny Hamlin (3078)

5. Alex Bowman (3074)

6. Ryan Blaney (3073)

7. Tyler Reddick (3062)

8. Chase Elliott (3061)

9. Joey Logano (3048)

10. Daniel Suarez (3041)

11. Austin Cindric (3032)

12. Chase Briscoe (3029)

NASCAR race at Charlotte Road Course

• Race: Bank of America ROVAL 400
• Place: Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course
• Track Type: 2.28 Mile Asphalt Road Course
• Date: Sunday
• Time: 2 p.m. ET
• Purse: $8,056,677
• TV: NBC, 1:30 p.m. ET
• Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
• Distance: 248.52 miles (109 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 25), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 50), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 109)

Charlotte Roval starting lineup

Shane van Gisbergen, the winner of the inaugural Chicago Street Race in 2023, will start on the pole for the Cup race. He races full-time in the Xfinity Series. Could another non-playoff Cup driver win the Roval again — much like AJ Allmendinger did a year ago?

This story was originally published October 13, 2024 at 5:30 AM with the headline "U-turns? Concussion risks? Drivers brace for Charlotte ‘chaos’ in NASCAR elimination race."

Alex Zietlow

The Charlotte Observer

Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the Pro Football Writers Association, the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He’s earned six APSE Top 10 distinctions for his coverage on a variety of topics, from billion-dollar stadium renovations to the small moments of triumph that helped a Panthers kicker defy the steepest odds in sports. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22. Support my work with a digital subscription