NASCAR Hall Of Famer Previews ‘Roval 400’ Track Changes

This is one of busiest and best times of the year for sports fans. Baseball is entering the pennant race and the chase for the World Series. Basketball is a month away from kicking off its season. Football has kicked off. And NASCAR has 10 races to determine its season champion. One of those races is the "Roval 400" at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and Ricky Rudd recently conducted a drive along of the track to preview the course changes for this year's race.

Before we get to Ricky Rudd's drive along, for those not in the know, who are confused by the name of this race, here we go. The "Roval 400" is the second of two races held annually at Charlotte Motor Speedway (along with the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend). It is contested on a 2.32-mile road course constructed especially for the race that combines traditional aspects of the track and road course. The "Ro" (in the Roval 400 name) represents road course, while "val" signifies the utilization of the oval track of Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Okay, okay, we're getting there. First, what are the changes to the Roval 400 course? This year's track will feature three new sharp turns and an elevation change. As far as the changes go, Ricky Rudd tells WXII during the ride along, "This is the new section right here. You see, it's kinda like you don't know where you are for a minute. I don't even know where the racetrack is, and then it just appears." The Roval 400 race takes place at Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 13.

Crashing ruins the promise of a race day for NASCAR betting fans as well as drivers. It is possible for multiple cars to slide sideways at some tracks, sending the unluckiest among them taking heavy damage and ending their events early. Bookies.com crunched the data and found out which NASCAR drivers wreck the most and which wreck the least.

See the rest of the current NASCAR Cup Series drivers ranked by the percentage of races they have finished in their careers here.

You may be surprised by some of these numbers. First, it's obvious that the Dillon boys are grandchildren of a race team owner because they know how to take care of equipment. Harvick, for example, has averaged fewer than two DNFs per season over a period of two decades. Good drivers don't just compete but also avoid other drivers' messes, and the prospect of a crash shouldn't deter any bettor from backing them.

McDowell is on the other end of this list. Firstly, he won the 2021 Daytona 500, so we know he can race at a high level in extremely tight traffic. The reason why McDowell's crash rates are so high is that he raced for lower-end teams during the "start-and-park" era following the 2008 financial crash-when sponsors dried up, NASCAR race fields got sparse, and shoestring teams were able to collect a few grand by taking the checkered flag, coasting at the back for a few laps, and then reporting a breakdown.