All roads in the Round of 12 lead to Charlotte, N.C.
The NASCAR Cup Series prepares to wave goodbye to four more title hopefuls in the cutoff race for its quarterfinal round at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL. With Talladega Superspeedway in the rearview mirror, drivers who are not locked into the Round of 8 shouldn’t sleep much better given the new unknowns of the ROVAL.
Turns 6 and 7 will look much different than in the past for the drivers, creating even more uncertainty in what has already been an unprecedented playoffs. The NASCAR Xfinity Series will also dismiss four playoff contenders to set up its semifinal round.
With a championship on the line, things are gearing up for a wild weekend, and plenty of big names will be on hand to witness it.
Grand Marshals: 2025 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees Ricky Rudd and Carl Edwards will return to their old stomping grounds at the race track to give the command to fire the engines for the Bank of America ROVAL 400.
Rudd won 23 races in his Cup career, with six of those victories coming on road courses. Nicknamed NASCAR’s Ironman, Rudd made 788 consecutive starts at one point, which stood as the record for the most consecutive starts until Jeff Gordon surpassed it in 2015. Rudd’s 906 starts are second all time.
Edwards is no stranger to victory lane at Charlotte, triumphing in the 2015 Coca-Cola 600, as well as taking home $1 million in the 2011 All-Star Race. The Columbia, Mo., native won a total of 28 Cup races.
National Anthem: Kannapolis, N.C., native Josh Sanders will perform the national anthem ahead of the Round of 12 cutoff race. Sanders was a fan-favorite contestant on season 25 of NBC’s The Voice.
Pre-Race Concert: Taking to the stage to pump the crowd up for the Cup race will be the Eli Young Band. The country group has received a nomination for a GRAMMY award and has charted 16 times on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart. The group’s single “Crazy Girl” is a five-time platinum hit, and it was named the Academy of Country Music Award Song of the Year.
Luken Glover joined the Frontstretch team in 2020 as a contributor, furthering a love for racing that traces back to his earliest memories. Glover inherited his passion for racing from his grandfather, who used to help former NASCAR team owner Junie Donlavey in his Richmond, Va. garage. A 2023 graduate from the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is the author…
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