NASCAR: Charlotte roval expectations – Expect the unexpected

The NASCAR Cup Series is set to race for the first time at the Charlotte Motor Speedway roval on Sunday in the final race of the first round of the 2018 playoffs.

Normally when discussing the upcoming weekly Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, you’ll get a bunch of hoopla about who will be good and who may struggle. The general consensus I’ve gathered looking at Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets suggests that nobody really has any clue what is going to happen on Sunday.

Just when I think I know what is going on this Sunday, I watch a video of a lap from the driver’s window. If you’ve followed any of the videos from practices earlier on in the year, you can see spins all over the place.

The worst crash, in my opinion, was that of William Byron, who had a brake lock-up and went directly into the turn one tire barrier.

Hopefully, all of that is out of the drivers’ systems and we can see a safe, clean race. However, I don’t see this being the case when the green flag is dropped on Sunday.

Throw away everything you know about Charlotte Motor Speedway. The roval race levels the playing field for every driver. Not a single driver headed to Charlotte this weekend knows where the best spots to pass are or in what areas to avoid trying to pass altogether. With that said, here are three things to expect this weekend.

Three things to expect

Tow trucks need to be on high alert early

I expect the first lap to be like a scene from a demolition derby. Every driver will approach the first turn with little idea about when the best time will be to begin braking. Will someone get greedy and try to go from 10th to first place after turn one? This is the most exciting part of the roval race this Sunday: not knowing what is going to happen at all when the green flag flies.

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A playoff driver or two will go home very frustrated

A decent race for Clint Bowyer and/or Jimmie Johnson could put both of them in the round of 12. Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones need to be great to have any chance pf getting there.

However, with not knowing what is going to happen, we could see all four drivers who currently sit on the outside looking in find their way into the next round and four others left wondering what if. One mistake, especially early on in the race, could be the difference between making it to the round of 12 or racing seven weeks for pride.

The driver with the best chance at winning is…

In trying to decide which driver has the best chance of winning the inaugural roval race this Sunday, I really had to sit back in my chair and think, which, at times, is a tough task. However, after arguing with myself for a few minutes, I decided that the driver who will win this weekend will be named Kyle.

Half of me thinks this will be the weekend during which Kyle Larson finally gets a win in 2018.  He is the kind of guy who can excel at a new track with the field being leveled. The other is not Kyle Petty. I know there is quite a bit of unexpected going into this weekend, but Petty returning is not going to happen. The other Kyle I am referring to is Kyle Busch. Busch is always good at Charlotte Motor Speedway, as he is the most recent winner at the track, he is and always in contention at road courses. The roval race this weekend will not be any different for him.

What are your expectations for the roval race this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway? Do you expect it to provide fans with good racing, or do you expect it to be more of a chaotic mess? Tune in to NBC at 2:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, September 30 for all of the Bank of America Roval 400 racing action.