DFS NASCAR: Bank Of America Roval 400 Practice Notes

Final Practice for Bank of America Roval 400

Charlotte Motor Speedway

Saturday, September 29 1:30 pm ET

50 minutes in length

Weather

Temp of 83 degrees I Feels like 88 degrees I Rain coming later in the afternoon

Penalized Drivers

No one served a penalty this session

Top-20 Speeds (one lap)

Best Lap Averages

Items of Note:

• The tire wall will be angled a bit more for this practice to give the drivers more room to navigate the exit of the back stretch chicane
• On restarts for the race the cars won’t have to go through the front stretch chicane and instead will restart in the normal restart zone like they would for a normal race on the oval.
• Denny Hamlin is in his second practice in a backup car and is now just trying to improve the speed he has in the car for the race.
• Kevin Harvick has had a clean week but just hasn’t shown great speed to this point in the weekend.
• If the drivers miss the backstretch chicane it will be a stop-and-go penalty in the normal restart zone before continuing on with the lap. If they cut the front stretch chicane off they will have to do a stop-and-go penalty on the asphalt that says Charlotte Motor Speedway on it near the start/finish line.
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ran right over the blue curbing in the back stretch chicane and while it didn’t do visible damage yet but the underbody parts likely can’t take that hit all day long.
• The Hendrick cars aren’t downshifting into the chicanes, including the front stretch chicane, which is different than most others are doing and possibly allowing them to carry more speed.
• A few cars have driven straight over the blue curbs in the chicane and it has proven to be quite a deterrent without the tire wall being there.
• Ryan Newman has damaged to his front left fender, rocker panel, and structure under the car after running over the blue curbing in the chicane.
• AJ Allmendinger has said that this course reminds him of his Champ Car days and racing on street courses with the walls all around them on the infield section.
• Turn 8 (entering back on to the oval) is starting to be cut by drivers in this practice and they are getting out of it faster than than were even in the morning session.
• Brad Keselowski carried too much speed into the front stretch chicane and ran the car head on into the wall in front of the stands on the front stretch. It happened with 10 minutes left and the car is being towed to the garage. He is going to a backup car this week and will start in the back of the field.
• Rodney Childers (the Crew Chief for Kevin Harvick) has said the 4-car is running practice at what they feel race pace is and wants the car in one piece heading to the race.
• Clint Bowyer said over the radio is that surviving the race will be big for the race. They consider Turn 1, Turn 3, and the back stretch chicane are the spots the stated are “dangerous.”

Second Practice Bank of America Roval 400

Charlotte Motor Speedway

Saturday, September 29 11:00 am ET

50 minutes in length

Weather

77 degrees and cloudy with storms expected in the afternoon

Penalized Drivers

No drivers were penalized this session

Top-20 Speeds (one lap)

Best Lap Averages

Items of Note:

• Very early in practice Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had an issue with the front stretch chicane and had to turn around and reenter it.
• With 45 minutes left in practice Ryan Blaney hit the tire wall coming out of the back stretch chicane and damaged his front left fender and tire well. He had yet to complete a timed lap at that point.
• Turn 8 is becoming one of the trickiest turns on the track as drivers tire not to chatter the tires going back on to the front stretch and accelerate into the normal Turn 1 and Turn 2 corners.
• Bubba Wallace absolutely crushed the tire wall off the backstretch chicane and drove straight into it and literally spun the tire wall 180 degrees. He will go to a backup car has the entire front end of his car is destroyed.
• Aric Almirola spun for the second practice in a row in the same spot doing nearly the same damage to his car.
• Drivers who have been hitting the wall in Denny Hamlin yesterday, Ryan Blaney and Aric Almirola and others have gotten out of their cars to help the crews repair the damage
• Brad Keselowski worked to find passing zones with 30 minutes left in the session.
• Kurt Busch had a mechanical issue with 25 minutes left and his car simply died on the front stretch and had no power.
• Daniel Hemric has been .2-.3 seconds faster than anyone else through the backstretch chicane in this session. The only one close is AJ Allmendinger.
• With 25 minutes left (after they added five minutes to the end of the session) the track was quite congested with a lot of car running in the same spots on the track.
• William Byron and Denny Hamlin were racing each other throughout a lap with 22 minutes left and Byron was faster through the back chicane but struggled off Turn 8 getting back on to the front stretch and in fact Byron was the radio asking for more drive off of Turn 8.
• Erik Jones got a bit free out of Turn 4 with 19 minutes left in the session
• Clint Bowyer was talking about the end of pit road speed and making the turn at the end of pit road back onto to the track. It brought up good questions about where guys are timed and how they can change their line into the exit without hurting their timing mechanism.
• Jimmie Johnson has looked good in this practice and running top times lap after lap but he has had issues with smoking the brakes into the front stretch chicane like several other cars have had.
• With six minutes left, Erik Jones ran through the back stretch chicane. He was behind Ryan Newman and tried to take a peak around him then hit the blue curbing and went completely airborne into the barrier and then landed on the front bumper. They have gotten a backup car out of the hauler even before they tow the car off the track. He qualified P12 but will need to go to the back of the field for the race.

Opening Practice for Bank of America Roval 400

Charlotte Motor Speedway

Friday, September 28 12:05 pm ET

50 minutes in length

Weather

Temps were in the mid 70s with overcast skies

Penalized Drivers

No drivers served penalities in this session.

Top-20 Speeds (one lap)

Best Lap Averages

The only driver who drove 10-consective laps was Bubba Wallace in this session.

Items of Note:

• Bubba Wallace spun out in Turn 6 with 46 minutes to go in the session
• Aric Almirola spun out in Turn 3 into the tire wall with 45 minutes left and was way loose getting into the entry
• Denny Hamlin ran over the blue curb in the back straightaway chicane and bent the splitter the wrong way and mess up the front end what he says is really bad
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is in the wall coming out of Turn 4 with 40 minutes left in practice
• Kyle Busch drove through the grass at the end of the front stretch chicane and nearly hit the wall on the lap before that with 40 minutes left.
• Bubba Wallace spun out in Turn 6 but went into the grass this time instead of into the wall with 39 minutes left in the session
• Jeffrey Earnhardt and Austin Dillon spun out in Turn 2 and Turn 4 respectively but Earnhardt didn’t hit anything whereas Dillon went into the grass and hit the wall
• David Ragan had a lap time disallowed for cutting through the chicane on the front stretch with 27 minutes left in practice.
• Chase Elliott hit one of the blue curbs and messed up something on the bottom of the car and has been in the garage for a decent portion of the practice.
• Ryan Blaney hit the tire wall on Turn 11 with 10 minutes to go in practice and it did a lot of damage to the front left corner and tire well.
• The tire barrier that Blaney hit can be replaced or moved back into position throughout the weekend and race if need be.
• Bubba Wallace has spun three times with the third time being in Turn 2 and he spun it into the painted asphalt run-off between turn 2 and turn 3.
• Late in practice several teams switched to qualifying trim including Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott and others.
• Several drivers also had lap times disallowed because of cutting the course, mostly in the front stretch chicane because they can’t slow down enough to make the final two turns.
• Austin Dillon was on a qualifying lap very late in practice and absolutely drilled the tire wall off the back stretch chicane and it tore the front left corner off the car. He will likely be going to a backup car.
• Erik Jones said the laps were fun we they were running by themselves but he is still nervous as to what it will be like with racing and multiple cars in packs.
• Daniel Hemric is also running the Xfinity race this weekend and the added practice time on Thursday helped him in the first MENCS session.