Ahead of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season, NASCAR made a change that many fans had long been asking for by adding a road course race to the playoff schedule. But instead of adding a new venue to the postseason, NASCAR simply moved Charlotte Motor Speedway's playoff race from the 1.5-mile oval to the track's interior "Roval" road course layout.
The 17-turn, 2.28-mile (3.669-kilometer) Concord, North Carolina track provided the sport with many memorable moments over the years, but in the Next Gen era, the race had begun to emerge as one of the more lackluster races on the calendar.
As a result, NASCAR opted to remove the Roval from the schedule entirely and move Charlotte's playoff race back to the oval for the foreseeable future, starting with this Sunday afternoon's Bank of America 400.
Charlotte set for first oval playoff race since 2017
The Charlotte oval hasn't hosted two Cup races in a single season since 2020. In addition to the annual Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Weekend, it hosted another race in late May of that year to make up for cancelations elsewhere on the schedule due to COVID-19-related restrictions.
It also hosted two oval races in 2018 and 2019, even with the playoff race having moved to the Roval. It hosted the All-Star exhibition race in both of those years, and it was scheduled to do so again in 2020 before the pandemic caused multiple schedule changes. It hasn't hosted the All-Star Race since.
The 2026 postseason is also set to be the first postseason without any road course races since 2017. Watkins Glen International moved into the playoffs back in 2024, but that change was short-lived. While it is still on the schedule, it moved back to the regular season for 2025 and remained there in 2026. The New York track is set to return to the postseason as the lone playoff road course in 2027.
As far as venues go, the only venue on the 2025 postseason schedule that did not make it back in 2026 is New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Homestead-Miami Speedway has instead been brought back to the playoffs as the host of the season finale, after Phoenix Raceway hosted it each year from 2020 to 2025. Phoenix is still in the playoffs, but it is scheduled to host next weekend's race, which is the seventh race of the postseason.
The Bank of America 400 is set to be shown live on USA Network from the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, October 11. Don't miss the sixth race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs!
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