Roval at Charlotte is the big race worth watching

CONCORD, N.C. » If there was just one race to watch the entire NASCAR season it would be the one on Charlotte’s newfangled “roval” thing.

NASCAR has claimed the “best drivers in the world” and they are on display Sunday on a bonus day on network NBC at the same time as the NFL. Come watch them try to conquer this new Charlotte Motor Speedway, a mystery track where seasons are on the line because four drivers will be bounced from the 16driver playoff field.

Add in a desperate freeagent season in which a slew of veterans are hunting the very few available jobs. Times are tough in NASCAR and jobs are going to cheaper, younger drivers, so everyone needs a good race Sunday to show they are worthy of a seat.

And so they get the roval, the brainchild of Marcus Smith and Speedway Motorsports Inc., and this track has vexed these drivers.

Well done, scream the fans, energized because this roval is something new.

“We need to take more risks,” roared retired fivetime champion Jeff Gordon, now a television analyst who has taken an active role in stopping NASCAR’S spiral.

“We need to step outside of that comfort zone and take more risks. There’s a potential for Sunday to be a big day.”

Smith has gone outside the box because he’s got a boring 1.5mile speedway. The roval, good or bad, is his baby. It’s already a success because fans are genuinely giddy about Sunday, in part because it could be a disaster for four playoff contenders.

“When practice is fun to watch, imagine how fun the race is going to be?” Smith said, somewhat earnestly about what is just one of many forwardthinking SMI projects.

The hybrid 17turn, 2.28mile course, which has a 35foot change in elevation, uses a portion of Charlotte’s speedway along with a dip through an infield road course. It has indeed been entertaining to watch every session in which those “best drivers in the world” are put to the test around the roval.

But it’s been miserable for many of the drivers.

Start with Bubba Wallace, who wrecked when he was the first driver to hit the track in the first test over the summer. Well, he’s had five more incidents this weekend alone.

The iconic No. 43 was crumpled in a headon crash into a tire barrier so bad it stopped Saturday practice so the barrier on the backstretch coming out of turn 12 could be repaired. Within moments, playoff contender Erik Jones destroyed his car and the barrier was again heavily damaged.

NASCAR moved the angle of the barrier back roughly four feet before the final Cup practice, and

Smith insisted he’s open to whatever changes the drivers might need. The tires are there, Smith said, because the drivers asked for them as visual aids. If they need to be altered, let him know, he said.

Well, everyone has an opinion, especially after they’ve bounced all over this peculiar layout. The

Xfinity Series was fairly clean, and Justin Marks, a veteran sports car racer who has been on layouts all over the world, compared it most to the road course in Montreal. Chase Briscoe, the race winner, said he relied on his experience at the Eldora Speedway dirt track in Ohio to attack the roval.