NASCAR’s Charlotte Roller Coaster Ride

With the report from The Athletic‘s Jordan Bianchi that NASCAR will be moving the Charlotte Motor Speedway fall race back from the ROVAL to the oval, it’s time to take a walk down memory lane.

This was one of the series’ most outside the box ideas at a time where road course racing initially wasn’t a big time focus and, in its early years, provided complete and utter chaos.

However, as the years went by, the novelty of the ROVAL fell by the wayside, with debate heating up as to whether the fall oval date should return.

Just how exciting was the road course in its eight-year lifespan? It’s one big, thought-provoking, mixed bag when it comes to its best and worst moments.

The Maiden Dance

In the debut ROVAL race, Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson were locked in a heated battle down the stretch. Johnson was eight points above the cut line as the leaders entered the final chicane en route to the checkered flag. The seven-time champ threw caution to the wind and eventually eliminated himself from the playoffs 250 ft. later.

What was once an eight-point advantage was erased, removing Johnson from his final playoff run in what became a featured narrative throughout the ROVAL’s history. Ryan Blaney slalomed around the spinning cars to take the win in a finish that tore the house down.

Simultaneously, Kyle Larson was limping around a junked Chip Ganassi Racing car, in a dead heat with Aric Almirola as cars were spinning everywhere on the final lap. In NASCAR’s first prom, they brought the fans a real date to the dance, with the ROVAL continuously putting on exciting racing during its Gen 6 days.

Chase Elliott‘s 2019 Bank of America ROVAL 400 was one of the most spirited drives in the last decade of NASCAR. Leading with 45 laps to go, Elliott completely smoked turn one and hit the wall, bringing out the caution.

No matter. As the checkered flag flew, it was the driver of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 who found himself doing burnouts back at the scene of the crime.

Two races in and the drivers, for better or worse, had put on chaotic shows that had fans at the track and home on the edge of their seats.

Harvick’s Heartburn

Coming off a passionate confrontation at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2021, Kevin Harvick and Elliott were not on the best of terms.

After the scuffle in Thunder Valley, Harvick was dead set on making Elliott’s life difficult at Charlotte.

Early in stage two, Harvick drove through Elliott, sending him into the wall with big rear-end damage. At one point there was a possibility of Elliott’s race being over but instead he hunted the Stewart-Haas Racing veteran right back down. The invisible ghost of his car forced Harvick into a mistake as he was making his comeback, going straight on at the former heartburn turn.

Harvick’s exit from the playoffs capped off a rivalry and Gen 6 era of racing that gave the ROVAL the character the schedule was missing.

A Last-Ditch Playoff Dive

One of the consequences of the ROVAL playoff race was its spot amid the eliminations. Most years, it was the Round of 12 finale, and in 2025, we saw one of the moments were the racing went off the rails at the end.

While Shane van Gisbergen was off and winning to the tune of a 17-second lead, Ross Chastain was dropping like a rock on old tires. He was in a dogfight with Joey Logano (who owned the tiebreaker) over the final transfer spot, clinging on to it by one point as the white flag flew.

Once Denny Hamlin motored by, Chastain had quite a few car lengths to make up in the final chicane, at which he elected to dive bomb Hamlin.

There was more ire with the playoff circumstances that Chastain found himself in than the actual aggressor but at the end of the day, people saw one car pile drive another from a different zip code in order to achieve the goals set by the system.

The Redesigns

The 2024 and 2025 ROVAL races featured new elements within the road course. Turn 7 went away from turning further inward on the infield for a wrapping right turn that lead into a hairpin. Additionally, the final chicane featured blue turtles to discourage corner cutting along with the change of all restarts filtering through the left and right instead of the regular frontstretch.

Both changes invited more aggression. Turn 7 had numerous dives and pileups, including Tyler Reddick sustaining early damage as he was on the playoff cut line, while the blue turtles became famous for Alex Bowman flying through the air and eventually failing post-race inspection due to minimum weight.

The result allowed Logano to advance in the playoffs and eventually win the 2024 championship.

Thomas is in his second year covering NASCAR at Frontstretch. A Bay Area NASCAR fan for over 15+ years, he found his love for the sport through Jeff Gordon.

Thomas has enjoyed several trips to Sonoma Raceway in his time and currently covers college football in the Bay Area, also writing about the California Golden Bears.