Charlotte Motor Speedway fall weekend returns to oval layout in 2026
For the first time since 2017, NASCAR’s fall weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway will return to the oval in 2026.
Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith confirmed Tuesday on the “Dale Jr. Download” podcast that the classic 1.5-mile oval will host the NASCAR Cup Series, O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and Craftsman Truck Series Oct. 9-11, shifting away from the Charlotte Roval after eight seasons on the road course-oval combination. The news was first reported by The Athletic.
Charlotte has hosted NASCAR at least twice annually since the facility opened in 1960, featuring the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Weekend in May in addition to a fall weekend in October. For 57 years, all of those events were held on the 1.5-mile oval until the Roval debuted on the sport’s calendar in 2018.
In a year earmarked for a return toward NASCAR’s roots as the sport returns to The Chase, Smith and his team determined the time was right to retire the Roval and return to the oval.
“Charlotte Motor Speedway has always been about innovations and opportunity,” Marcus Smith, president and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, said in a release. “The Roval delivered dramatic racing when many fans were calling for a road course in the playoffs. Now there’s an energy around the return of The Chase and fans are seeing the excitement that oval racing continues to generate on mile-and-a-half tracks. This feels like the time to bring the fall race back to the legendary oval at a place where NASCAR history is made every year.”
The Bank of America 400 on Sunday, Oct. 11 will be the site of the Cup Series’ sixth race in The Chase, a return to the championship format that will determine the series’ title winner by points accumulated over the final 10 races of the season. The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Blue Cross NC 250 on Oct. 10 and the Truck Series’ EcoSave 250 on Oct. 9 will also serve as events in the respective series’ championship Chase.
The Roval event debuted in 2018, using most of the oval-track configuration with portions of the infield road-course layout that had been used in sports-car competition. The 2.32-mile circuit arrived during a road-racing boom for NASCAR’s top series, and the Roval became a fixture as an elimination race each year under the previous postseason format.
For more Industry News, please Click Here
