Roval 101: Qualifying format, tire info, story lines and more
The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs are halfway over. The Bank of America ROVAL 400 takes place at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. Four drivers will be eliminated and eight will continue chasing their championship hopes.
Practice is back on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule this weekend ahead of Sunday’s race. Teams will be broken into two groups for 20 minutes of practice. Two rounds of qualifying will begin at 1 p.m. to set the starting lineup. The fastest five drivers from each group will advance to the final round of qualifiers.
Alex Bowman will miss the next two races because of concussion-like symptoms. Alex Bowman is one of the four drivers eliminated from playoff contention. Tyler Reddick has won three of last 14 races. 19 different drivers have won this year, tied for the most all-time. Denny Hamlin is the only driver to start the 2022 playoffs with top 10s in all five races, and he has done it in the last five of 12 races this season. Chevrolet has a series-record 11 consecutive road-course wins.
Goodyear tires are being used at the Charlotte Roval this week. The same tires were used in Road America, Watkins Glen International and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. They were also used for the first road race at Circuit of The Americas in March.
The Roval is the first road course race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The original course was shortened from 18 to 17 turns and 2.28 miles. It is also the longest road-course event in NASCAR at 400 kilometers. In June 2019, Charlotte motor Speedway officials expanded the configuration of the backstretch chicane. In 2019 the chicanes became 54 feet wide.
Hendrick Motorsports have won three of the four races on the Charlotte Roval. Elliott is the favorite at 4-1 odds. Tyler Reddick is 6-2. AJ Allmendinger is 10-5. He will race full-time with Kaulig Racing in 2023.
The 2022 Fantasy Live points leaders are Chase Elliott (1,076), Ryan Blaney (961), and Kyle Larson (943). NASCAR.com is offering the Playoffs Grid Challenge during the playoffs.
NASCAR has partnered with LiveLike to add fan engagement in the NASCAR Mobile App. Log in to the app during the race for polls, quizzes, the cheer meter and more.
