1. What can we expect out of the new Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL configuration?
This weekend’s trip to the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL will look a bit different than the ones in years past.
This year will mark the debut of the track’s new reconfiguration, which features a wider turn 1, a sharper backstretch chicane and a complete remodification of turns 6, 7 and 8 that will feature a sharp, slow, 180-degree hairpin turn 7.
Initial reactions to the new layout? Here’s a NASCAR Xfinity Series driver and an owner chiming in.
Denny Hamlin was equally unimpressed with the potential for pandemonium that the new configuration presents in a press conference at Talladega Superspeedway last weekend.
“I think [turns 6 and 7] are set up for chaos, truthfully,” Hamlin said. “I think that they were very strategic in making sure that they created … the normal racing line will be fast, but there’s going to be an option to shortcut it and just wipe out whoever’s in front of you.
“What other reason would we have changed it, other than to create more chaos and things like that?”
Whether that was the intended or unintended decision behind the changes, turns 6 and 7 will be the calamity corner in this weekend’s races, especially if there’s a late-race caution that bunches up the field in an overtime restart.
It’s do-or-die time in an elimination race, and the drivers will be taking any risks they feel necessary to advance.
If the race has a nice orderly conclusion and ends on a long and mid-length green flag run, turns 6 and 7 may only serve as new corners that the field needs to learn and get down. But if the races do come down to the wire in points or on a restart, all bets are off.
2. Does Dave Elenz’s departure really change anything?
Dave Elenz was dismissed as Erik Jones’ crew chief earlier this week by Legacy Motor Club.
The two-time Xfinity championship-winning crew chief had been atop the box for Jones since 2022, and Ben Beshore — the crew chief for John Hunter Nemechek — will move over to the…
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