Truex on Charlotte Roval test: "All kinds of craziness going on"
Some of the final details have yet to be worked out but one thing seemed clear from this week’s Goodyear Tire test on the new Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval – next season’s NASCAR races shouldn’t lack for drama.
“It’s interesting. It’s been growing on me a bit since we started yesterday,” current Cup series playoff leader Martin Truex Jr. said during a lunch break Wednesday. “It’s definitely an interesting track; we’re still trying to figure it all out.
“It’s not your typical road course. It’s been a unique challenge here with the banked track and the flat infield course. Those transitions have been pretty challenging and tricky. So far, we’ve been having a lot of fun out there today.”
“There’s a lot of exciting parts of the track. It’s very narrow, it’s very rough, there’s a lot of swells and loop-de-doos – there’s all kinds of craziness going on.
“Turns1 and 2, pretty wild, narrow, concrete walls on both sides – it’s a little intimidating. There were a lot of spots that made me a little nervous yesterday but I’m getting more used to them now.”
“It’s just a unique track,” he said. “I don’t know that I’ve ever run on anything like it.”
Truex and Busch said it was clear on the first day that tire may well be too hard and teams may gravitate toward a softer tire, similar to the one currently used at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.
“There’s a lot of things moving and shaking and we’ll continue to refine it,” Busch said. “The mindset coming here with that the roval was more similar to Watkins Glen and now that we’ve driven on it, it’s more similar to Sonoma.
“The speeds are much slower on the infield section than we anticipated and the oval is wide open all the way through there. Ideally, you can treat the oval like a straightaway and focus on the infield section to find your grip.”
Busch said while the Charlotte course is similar to the one used at 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway during its annual 24 Hours of Daytona sports car race, the compacted space of a 1.5-mile track infield intensifies the racing.
“There is no room for taking a break, or having a deep breath down a straightaway,” he said. “Literally, as soon as you’re in high gear off Turn 4, you’re into a chicane.
“As soon as your back up through the gears in Turn 4 and get to fourth-gear and wide-open, you’re down-shifting and back on the brakes to go into the frontstretch chicane.
“It’s a very busy track.”
https://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/news/nascar-truex-charlotte-roval-test-967059/