by CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — It’s time for elimination in the NASCAR playoffs at the revamped Charlotte Motor Speedway, where changes to the hybrid road course/oval called The Roval have caused unease among drivers competing for a championship battle.
The 12-man field will be reduced to four drivers after Sunday’s race, with Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe all below the cutoff line. William Byron is the only driver already confirmed for the round of eight, but Christopher Bell essentially just needs to start the race to progress.
That means anything can happen on the reconfigured The Roval, the final race in an already unusual second round of the playoffs. A championship-eligible driver did not win at either Kansas Speedway or Talladega Superspeedway, which took a chaotic turn last week at Talladega when 28 cars broke down five laps before the end of the regular season, marking the largest accident in NASCAR history.
Now comes the Roval, which Speedway Motorsports launched in 2018 to complement the traditional 1.5-mile speedway that fans grew tired of due to the lack of varied tracks on the NASCAR schedule. The original layout created some chaos, but drivers didn’t feel like the track had enough passing zones.
Be careful what you ask for: The Roval now has two “passing zones” that look a lot more like “accident zones.”
The changes begin at Turn 5, where a high-speed downhill corkscrew has shown cars bouncing off all four wheels during simulator sessions. Instead of turning right, the straight was extended towards a new Turn 6 in a section that includes an elevation change that changes the driver’s view until he reaches the crest of the hill.
Drivers must slow down into Turn 6 and then sharply enter a tight left-hand Turn 7, which is essentially a 180-degree turn onto the banked oval. The final chicane also has a sharper apex that the drivers must negotiate in turn 16.
“The reconfiguration was intended to create even more chaos. You’ll have to convince me otherwise,” Denny Hamlin said. “They made the corners sharper and tighter. I think they want you to go straight in the corner and take out whoever is in front of you and then in turn 7 it will be a parking lot. Then it will just be like that.” Who can navigate there and get through?
“There’s a blind spot when you’re driving between 5 and 6, you go over a hill and the car gets very high. In the (simulator) it blows up. That probably won’t be the case in real life, but we get to experience this new Roval configuration and I don’t know what else to say about it other than try to qualify and try to avoid the wrecks. That’s about it.”
Title contender Alex Bowman said: “Turn 6 is like 100% blind. You can’t see it until you’re there, which is pretty interesting. And Turn 7 is like a U-turn on a one-way street, so there will definitely be chaos.
Is this fair for the riders who have to quickly learn a new layout while their title chances hang in the balance?
“It’s the same for everyone,” said reigning Cup winner Ryan Blaney. “It will be different for everyone and it will just be a matter of who can adapt to it the quickest. I’ve done some (simulator) work. We’ll see where it goes.”
Damaged vehicle policy covered
NASCAR was forced to meet with Cup Series crew chiefs this week to sort out how the damaged vehicle policy will be enforced for the remainder of the playoffs following its disastrous impact last week at Talladega.
There is confusion over the DVP rule as drivers Ryan Blaney and Josh Berry were involved in incidents in the first round playoff races. Although the damage to both vehicles appeared to be minimal, both cars were considered out of the race in accordance with the previous DVP rule and could not be towed to the pit lane as they were unable to continue after contact.
And when a 28-car accident at Talladega raised the red flag last Sunday, NASCAR struggled to control the cleanup. Numerous damaged cars remained stranded with flat tires at the entrance to Turn 3 and playoff contenders Chase Elliott and Briscoe were towed back to their pits for repairs.
Under the previous implementation of the rule, cars would have had to be eliminated from the race because they had four flat tires and were unable to return to the pit lane.
Worse, the cars towed back to pit road were allowed to work on repairs when NASCAR lifted the red indicator. Only problem? The cars that didn’t crash were pinned down by the pace car on the back straight, requiring a long delay for the cars to get moving again.
Drivers were outraged that those who had to pit for repairs were still stuck, while others – many of whom would have been eliminated from the race – were already working to get back into the race.
NASCAR officials told teams they will apply the DVP policy for the remainder of the playoffs just as they did at Talladega. This means that if a vehicle has flat tires and appears to be able to move forward but cannot be reversed, the car is towed back to its pit box and the team can change the tires and assess and repair the damage within the allotted time frame of seven minutes.
News and notes
Retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, who led a massive rescue and recovery operation as a helicopter pilot in areas of western North Carolina devastated by Hurricane Helene, was named an honorary starter for Sunday’s race. … Recent Hall of Fame inductees Carl Edwards and Ricky Rudd, who were elected in May but have been largely absent from NASCAR since their respective retirements, are the Grand Marshalls. … Briscoe and his wife Marissa welcomed a set of twins this week. He was stressed Saturday because he had to finish work at the speedway and get home to his new family of five. He said his wife was at the emergency room Saturday for follow-up care. Briscoe said the stress won’t affect him Sunday as he faces playoff elimination.
AP Auto Racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
