NASCAR won’t race on Charlotte’s road course in 2026 playoffs, report says
For now, the Roval is no more.
Charlotte Motor Speedway is expected to remove its road course layout from the NASCAR Cup Series schedule in 2026, according to a report from The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi.
Instead, the track will now use its intermediate oval configuration for both of its race weekends on the NASCAR schedule this season — and that includes the playoff Cup race, which remains scheduled for mid-October.
An official announcement is expected in the coming weeks, per the report.
Charlotte Motor Speedway, the nearly 2,000-acre facility in Concord, opened in 1960. It has hosted two Cup race weekends since doing so. The first race annually is the Coca-Cola 600 — the longest Cup race on the NASCAR schedule that lands on Memorial Day weekend each year. And the second, at least since 2018, has landed in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and has taken place on what CMS branded its “Roval” configuration.
The Roval — which mixes elements of road course racing and oval racing, hence the name — is a 2.3-mile, 17-turn track. It was innovated and championed by Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith, and felt some immediate push-back upon its announcement. Drivers opposed it. Fans were skeptical it could make for good NASCAR racing, too. Jeff Burton, a retired driver and working broadcaster who is an invaluable voice for the sport, had a meeting with Smith upon the announcement urging Smith to change his mind before ultimately changing his tune, he told The Charlotte Observer in 2022.
But the 2018 Roval Cup race ended up producing a lot of excitement and an unlikely winner in Ryan Blaney. So did the ones in subsequent years. It was different and fun, and it flexed the diversity of track configurations NASCAR races on.
But in recent years, public opinion has largely turned against the Roval. That sentiment found footing with the influx of road courses on the schedule in recent years — something some drivers vehemently opposed. The Roval also began to lose favor with the growing realization that the Next Gen car races really well on intermediate ovals; the Coke 600, for instance, has been one of the best races every year since the Next Gen car’s debut in 2022.
Now, NASCAR’s playoff schedule will be raced entirely on oval tracks. The sanctioning body reverted to The Chase earlier this month — a 10-race postseason.
The report also states that NASCAR’s other two national series — the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (previously Xfinity) and the Truck Series — will also shift away from the Roval and return to Charlotte’s oval in 2026.
