From daring moves to explosive incidents to fan-favorite victories, the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval had many exciting moments during its eight seasons on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule.
With the news now official that the fall Charlotte race is set to return to the oval for the first time since 2017, beginning this October, now is the perfect time to reflect on what was.
Without further delay, let's relive some of the best Roval moments, as we officially say farewell to the 17-turn, 2.28-mile (3.669-kilometer) Concord, North Carolina layout.
NASCAR's top Charlotte Roval moments
Ryan Blaney steals win in inaugural Roval race
Everyone knew the first race on the Roval was going to be exciting, and it didn't disappoint. The first turn earned its nickname "heartburn turn" from day one in September 2018.
After the chaos of turn one, headlined by Brad Keselowski plowing into the turn one wall and causing most of the track to be blocked, was behind them, it looked like the race would come down to Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. The pair of Cup Series champions appeared like they would duke it out coming to the final chicane.
What followed was utter chaos. Johnson didn't need the win, as he was in a points position to advance to the round of 12 of the playoffs anyway. Despite that, Johnson went for a move and blew the chicane, knocking his No. 48 Chevrolet and Truex's No. 78 Toyota around, and giving the lead and win to Ryan Blaney, exciting the lively crowd in Charlotte. Johnson was eliminated from championship contention as a result.
Chase Elliott crashes, then rallies to win
If the first race at the Roval wasn't enough excitement, jump forward to the 2019 running. Chase Elliott was in the midst of a massive road course winning streak that would end up extending for another couple races after his come-from-behind win.
However, before he could celebrate, Elliott made a massive mistake on a restart going into "heartburn turn". Elliott drove his car head-on into the barrier. Although it knocked him outside of the top 30, he stayed in the race.
From there, he drove from the rear in the closing laps all the way back to the front to take the victory. The image of him standing on his car after doing a burnout in the exact spot he crashed into the wall will live on for years to come.
Hendrick Motorsports three-peats at the Roval
The Charlotte Roval quickly became a Hendrick Motorsports playground, with Elliott winning once again en route to his 2020 Cup Series championship, and again doing so after overcoming a late-race hiccup, before Kyle Larson won in 2021 en route to his own first Cup Series championship.
A season-saving win from Christopher Bell in 2022 and a win from A.J. Allmendinger in 2023, his first full season since 2018, led into yet another Larson win in 2024.
Next Gen car seals Roval's fate
The Next Gen car certainly took away a lot of the fun of the Charlotte Roval, even during its first three years, and the butt-kicking Shane van Gisbergen put on the field in 2025 certainly didn't help the track's future. It turned out to be the eighth and final race on the road course at Charlotte.
That race did produce quite a nice final dramatic moment, as SVG's teammate, Ross Chastain, finished backwards across the line, in a failed attempt to advance to the round of 8 (pictured).
Whatever you think about the Charlotte Roval and the racing it produced, it is a bit sad to see it go. But like most road course racing these days, things got stale, and in this case, it was easy enough to switch back to the track's 1.5-mile oval for this coming autumn's Chase race.