NASCAR: Why is the Charlotte road course called a ROVAL? What is a ROVAL anyway?

You’ve undoubtedly heard the word ROVAL thrown around ahead of the NASCAR Playoffs race at Charlotte, but what exactly does it mean?

Almost everything about the cutoff race for the first round of the NASCAR Playoffs is a giant ball of uncertainty. The Charlotte Motor Speedway road course is brand new, and even though drivers have had a chance to test on it, they’ve never run on it in an actual race prior to this weekend. Still, there’s one thing you can take to the bank about this inaugural event, and that’s the fact that you will hear the word ‘ROVAL’ about a million times.

It’s more than just a catchy marketing hook, though it certainly is that. ROVAL is a portmanteau of “road course” and “oval,” and it’s fitting because the layout at Charlotte actually incorporates a big chunk of the oval track that NASCAR has used for years for the Coca-Cola 600, the All-Star Race, and, prior to this season, a fall race as well.

As you can see in the map below, the road course consists of 17 turns, and while it obviously takes an extended trip through what is normally the infield, it also uses nearly all of the oval as well, including a lengthy trip around what is normally turns 1 and 2, where speeds should be highest.

The original ROVAL layout also didn’t have the chicane on the back stretch, so was even more oval than the final version. In addition, the race length was originally set for 500 km (and the image above reflects that), but has since been shortened to 400 km, or 109 laps that will come in just under 250 miles assuming no overtime.

You can now consider yourself fully prepared to answer your friends when ROVAL gets thrown around this weekend (don’t forget, the XFINITY Series has a playoff race on it too). Which it will. A lot.