Who Could Tame the Twists and Turns of the Roval?

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NASCAR

Stratta’s Six: Who Can Conquer Year Five of the Charlotte Roval?

The Round of 12 finale for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs marks the fifth running of the Bank of America Roval 400. The ultra-tight, tricky, and technical layout inside Charlotte Motor Speedway will see four driver’s bids at the Bill France Cup end on Sunday. As the sixth and final road course event of the season, can we see a familiar face in victory lane? Here are ones to watch out for Sunday at the Charlotte Roval.

Chase Elliott

Little more needs to be said than Chase Elliott is the odds-on favorite entering the Roval. The winner last week at Talladega, the Napa 9 car enters the Roval with nothing to lose and valuable Playoff bonus points to gain. The Roval winner in 2019 and 2020, Elliott was 12th a year ago after being wrecked mid-race by Kevin Harvick. Beaten, bruised, taped together, but still running, the 9 recovered to finish just outside of the top 10 that day. How does Elliott feel going into the Roval this year?

“At Talladega, we really just wanted to have a solid day and try to get as many points as we could,” Elliott said. “Honestly after that second stage, I was super happy with our day. Regardless of what happened from there, I thought we had done a really good job. We had gained some good stage points and that was going to keep us in a position, we had hedged our bet to have a pretty solid points day regardless of how the finish ended up. To have the win on top of that was just icing on the cake. Now we can try to have a good weekend here at the Roval. Gives us an opportunity to short those stages and not have to go for stage points and hopefully we have enough pace to fight for the win.”

With Stage points being of little value to this Hendrick team, Elliott is free to chase the checkered flag Sunday. While winless so far in 2022 on road courses, Elliott does boast four top-10s in five races. Oddsmakers have Elliott heavily favored to make it a hat-trick Sunday at the Roval.

Tyler Reddick

Perhaps the new road course king, Tyler Reddick has two victories this year at Road America and Indianapolis. While no longer a Playoff contender, Reddick hopes to play spoiler again Sunday. The 8 has been among the best out there at every road race this year, so do not expect that to change.

“When we tested there last year after the ROVAL race, we were trying things and found some stuff and we were really fast in that test,” Reddick explained. “I was like ‘Man, when we come back here it’s going to be crazy.’ These teams and our competitors are just so smart. Where everyone was with this car when we last tested there and now are just two different places completely. It’s going to be a tough race for sure, but we’ve been doing a really good job this year of making our cars better little by little. I’m very excited about it. We had a really good test and made it faster every time and we had a lot of speed. We’re all pretty close on setups nowadays so it all comes down to who does the best job preparing for the race weekend and who executes properly. It should be an interesting race. This car is going to be going through the infield there faster than ever before and it’s going to be a physical race for sure.”

Much like Elliott, stages mean almost nothing to this RCR team, so their strategy can shift to taking the overall win. Reddick was a close second in this race a year ago, the 8 hopes to be one spot better this time.

Kyle Larson

The defending winner of the Roval, Kyle Larson hopes to go back-to-back. Far from safe entering the Roval, Larson enters this elimination race sixth in standings, only 18 points above the cut line. With such a narrow cushion to elimination, how does the 5 team plan to attack this treacherous course?

“I don’t think so – well, maybe a little bit,” Larson said on if his Playoff position impacts how he races. “You may look at a situation and think risk versus reward and maybe hold back on a move early in the race. Our road course program has been really good and I hope it carries over to this weekend. I’ve been above the cut line several times before here and have had some crazy races and results.”‘

At the Roval in 2021, Larson only led the final eight laps en route to the win. Hendrick Motorsports has been quite stout on all road courses so far this year, as the 5 went to victory lane at Watkins Glen in August. Larson will be gunning for two-straight road race victories Sunday, as he is one of the favorites for another Roval win.

Ross Chastain

Trackhouse Racing has been lights-out quick on nearly every road course in 2022, can Chastain earn another win? The COTA winner from March has two additional road course top-10s this season. Trying to re-enter the championship discussion though, Chastain may need a win to maintain his early season momentum.

“I feel ready to win,” Chastain said. ” I’m ready to jump back in the Chevy simulator and brush up on a few things. That’s been the road course that I’ve been focused on the most. I’ve focused a lot on road courses in my career, but I haven’t shown the speed at that course like I have at other ones. So I’m looking for that next step there in speed for overall raw lap times.”

“We’ll just have to be mindful of what is around our No. 1 Chevy. We need to know at all times what is going on. We’ll be aware of the points and not put ourselves in the position to fall out of the race. Aside from the that, we’ll just go and try and make fast laps.”

The Roval may be the last race of the year where Chastain could shine as a dominant force. Both Trackhouse drivers have found great success on road courses this year. The Roval could be a return to form for Chastain and the 1 team.

Ryan Blaney

The inaugural Roval winner from 2018, Ryan Blaney enters this weekend once again winless on the season. After coming within feet of victory at Talladega, Blaney will try and return the 12 to another familiar winner’s circle. That day four years ago, it took a great amount of luck and circumstance to put the 12 in victory lane. A truly underrated road course racer, Blaney has perhaps the best chances of any to become the 20th different winner at the Roval.

Denny Hamlin

While Kyle Larson won the Roval 12 months ago, it was Denny Hamlin who led late. After a top-five run at Talladega, Hamlin enters a shot at Roval redemption above the cut line by 21 points. The 11 may have been quick here a season ago, but no Toyota has been close to winning any road course this season. Despite this, Hamlin still should not be counted out of a possible upset win Sunday.

“The Roval is always crazy and obviously we need to get our program better on road courses,” Hamlin said. “But we have somewhat of a cushion there to survive the day and make sure we do the things we know how to do and stay out of trouble. We should be fine, but you never know. You could have a winner from the bottom four and everything changes. We’re going to do everything we can to fight to keep our season alive.”

Hamlin has a top-10 in every Playoff race so far this year. While the FedEx 11 may not be the fastest on Sunday, Hamlin should be in position for a strong finish in the closing laps. History has shown us that the fastest car doesn’t often win at the Roval, so Hamlin could be a dark horse contender.