In this NASCAR Inside the Playoff clip, Carl Edwards and Ross Chastain share their thoughts on the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval's updated layout and the challenges that will arise from it.
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00:00Let's talk about the Roval because we are home this weekend and the Roval and
00:03have you ever have you been on the simulator at all in the Roval? Yes. Yes.
00:06Okay so yeah. New or old Roval. The old Roval. Oh that doesn't count. I know I flew in the
00:12other day and I'm looking down like it's totally different so. Okay so what were your
00:15thoughts? Very tough and it seems like it's real slick there's a lot of okay
00:20here's the biggest thing they've changed it we're gonna talk about that coming
00:24on to the longest straightaway is an extremely difficult corner and on a road
00:27course race you know the corners that lead on to the longest straightaway
00:29are the most important. I was terrible in my little podium one rig on iRacing
00:34and now it's even gonna be harder. So what is the Roval Steve? Let's explain
00:38for folks that it's a it's a fancy term. It's a road course inside an oval. Okay.
00:42Therefore the Roval. It's a great little catch term I have to give them it's a
00:45great it's caught on when I first heard it it made no sense but now now I'm on
00:48board. I gotta be honest when they started talking about this I was like
00:51this is the dumbest thing ever. I really thought and now if you're a new fan
00:55tuning in you know you're gonna watch baseball later tonight tune into this
00:59race because it I think it's going to be one of the most dynamic races of the
01:03season. The changes walk us through because you're gonna be up in the booth
01:06calling the changes I'm not gonna be on the you're gonna walk us through the
01:10change. Let Ross know what he expects when he hits that. All right Ross let's
01:13let's show what's different. So the Roval it's a road course inside Charlotte
01:16Motor Speedway it looks basically like this you see the track layout. What's
01:20different this year though is the infield section. Years past you would run
01:22this red area now it's this green area which has really changed the exit of the
01:27infield dramatically. That has some elevation you can't tell it kind of goes
01:30downhill and it feeds you into this much talked about turn seven which is now a
01:35hundred and eighty degree hairpin much like Sonoma much like some other road
01:39courses which leads to a very long straightaway. There it is Ross it's gonna
01:44be exciting. Another small change front stretch chicane that I don't think
01:48should be overlooked they've kind of moved the curb out there's used to be a
01:50little bit of an S now it's a real 90 degree corner I think it's gonna make
01:54passing difficult too wide very difficult and why too wide matters is
01:58because the restart zone leads into that last chicane. So every time we show the
02:03field coming to the green we're gonna see the green flag and they're gonna go
02:06through the chicane. Thumbs up thumbs down what's your thoughts on all the
02:10changes? You say turn seven's like it ain't like nothing. You come on around
02:14an off camber turn six after leaving turn five going up the up the track
02:19breaking blind I cannot see the track in our simulators we'll see when we
02:23actually get there my Silverado EV didn't have me at the right height to
02:26really tell the track when I when I drove it the other day I probably
02:30shouldn't said that on there on air but yeah and then the turn seven is fully
02:34turning right and then basically immediately to turning left so I think
02:38brake lock up could be big there just peeling left out of six staying wide and
02:43getting position on somebody racing super slow corner but hard to get the
02:49traction even though you're going up the track in the banking of NASCAR turn one
02:52AJ Allmendinger has five total wins at the Roval here's what he had to say
02:55about the changes. Yeah the changes to the racetrack allows itself for for more
03:02passing opportunities also with that just more desperation turn seven is
03:06gonna be chaotic I think especially at the end of a race die bombs trying to
03:11get spots or go for the win even the last chicane it's gonna be the same way
03:15so it'll race a little bit different I think it's still track position critical
03:19things like that but it lends itself for for fans to really enjoy the end of
03:24these races. I smell a spoiler Carl I think we're gonna see another spoiler in
03:29the playoffs this weekend. And it might be that guy it was just talking I just I
03:33look at that turn seven and I mean Marcus Smith and those folks pretty
03:37smart they moved that that curbing down to let somebody just drive straight in
03:42there I mean those seats right there they're gonna be worth whatever people
03:45paid for them. Well you mentioned the seats one thing that's overlooked a lot
03:48the Roval inside Charlotte Motor Speedway Daytona has one as well and
03:52Charlotte if you're a race fan and you like road course racing it's one of the
03:55few road courses in the entire country you can buy one seat and see the entire
03:59track. Do you like these changes like how do you feel about these? I do because I
04:03have struggled here so bad. I was teammates with AJ in 2019 and 2020 in
04:12the Xfinity series and he would stand over my shoulder at the simulator and
04:16just coach me at the static sim where it didn't move and he would more wheel
04:19less wheel more brake more gas all this stuff up a gear down a gear and it
04:24taught me a lot and I've been able to race for the wins with him since then
04:27the Roval though I've never even seen AJ on the track I'm on the I'm on the
04:31backstretch they're calling the checkered I'm still in the backstretch
04:33chicane so I yes anything is better put a lot of work into this whether or not
04:37it pays off I know the effort was there and chasing guys like AJ is a humbling
04:42thing in this sport.