Frontstretch Newsletter: Oct. 8, 2021
Volume: XV, Edition CLXXXIII
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- IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams will qualify today for Saturday's Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. The session is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET. The session will be streamed live at both IMSA.com and NBC Sports' TrackPass.
- Super DIRT Week at Oswego Speedway continues with heat races for the Super DIRTcar Series, 358 Modifieds, Sportsman and more. Action is underway right now at
DirtVision.tv.
- The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will be at Port Royal Speedway tonight for the first night of the Nittany Showdown. The action is scheduled to start at 5:45 p.m. ET on
DirtVision.tv
FOLLOW THE FRONTSTRETCH THIS WEEKEND AT VIR THROUGH OUR COLLEAGUE:
Also, don't forget to follow our Twitter page, @Frontstretch as well for updates from Charlotte!!
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Around the World in Motorsports: Oct. 7-8
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- Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton was fastest in Free Practice No. 1 Friday morning at Intercity Istanbul Park with a lap at 141.857 mph. His lap was more than four-tenths of a second faster than Red Bull's Max Verstappen. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was third fastest, then Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz Jr.
- Free Practice No. 2 saw Hamilton set an unofficial lap record at 142.490 mph to lead the pack. His lap was one-sixth of a second faster than Leclerc. Bottas was third, then Red Bull's Sergio Perez and Verstappen.
There were a couple of incidents in the session, but no red flags. Leclerc nearly spun his Ferrari in turn 9 and lost a chance to potentially beat Hamilton. Haas F1's Nikita Mazepin spun off at turn 8 as well, but did not hit anything.
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| | Entry List: 2021 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR
For Saturday's GT-only WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at VIRginia International Raceway, there are 18 cars entered. Kevin Estre joins WeatherTech Racing to replace Mathieu Jaminet, while Alegra Motorsport
returns.
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| | Entry List: 2021 Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix
Sunday's two-hour IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race has 34 entries. Kenny Murillo is in the No. 56 after Jeff Mosing broke his foot, while a new team, New German Performance, enters the TCR class.
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Photos are courtesy of IMSA and our own Phil Allaway.
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Frontstretch Folio: Bank of America ROVAL 400k
by Phil Allaway
This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to Charlotte for their fourth visit to Charlotte Motor Speedway's infield road course, known as the ROVAL. Coverage of the
Bank of America ROVAL 400 starts with Countdown to Green at 1 p.m. ET on NBC. Race coverage will begin at 2:30 p.m. with the green flag falling around 2:45. Radio coverage will be provided by local PRN radio affiliates and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel
90).
Records and
facts
Last year's Bank of America ROVAL 400k started off with the entire field on rain tires due to rain prior to the race. It did not take long for everyone to switch over to slicks. Ty Dillon was one of the first to make the change
and ended up winning stage one as a result.
As the race continued on, Chase Elliott rose up into contention. He took the lead on lap 84, then lost it during the final round of stops during a debris caution. He was able to get it back on lap 92 from Erik Jones and held on
to take his second straight ROVAL victory. Joey Logano was second, then Jones, Kurt Busch and Ryan
Blaney.
There have only been three races on the ROVAL to this point. Elliott has won the last two, while Blaney won the first one in
2018.
Track
Facts
Track / Race Length: 2.28-mile infield road course ("ROVAL"), 109 laps (248.52 miles, 399.954 kilometers)
Banking: 0-24 degrees
Turns:
17
Grandstand Seating:
89,000
Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Pace Car Speed: 55 mph
Opened: 1960
Website: http://www.charlottemotorspeedway.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/charlottemotorspeedway
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CLTMotorSpdwy
Say
What!
"I feel like we
have just have had a good road course package. Like I’ve said for years now, I don’t feel like what I do is anything special. I just think we have a good package and Alan [Gustafson] has done a really good job of honing in on the things that matter at a road course and we’ve just kind of hit on things that work. When you are a young guy and you come into new situations and the foundation is built there for you, it makes it a lot easier for a guy to learn. I think I came into a great foundation
and I was able to really work on myself because we have a solid package and as we improve, the cars and I improve, I think we just landed in a solid place. Does that mean we will be good there forever? No, but I certainly feel that we can improve upon where we’ve been and I can do a better job. We will see where we shake out." - Chase
Elliott
"I’m super
excited. The Roval is where I got my first Xfinity win and led a ton of laps there in the Xfinity car in the last two races where it felt like we were the car to beat but threw it away, so I’m excited to get there in the Cup car. The competition is going to be a lot tougher. The other Chase (Elliott) seems to be really good at the Roval, so we’ll see what we can do. I feel like we’ll have a pretty good shot. We’ll have to drive through a lot of cars but, not being in the playoffs, we can do some
things strategy-wise to steal some track position. Then I think we’ll be fast enough to stay up there. The road courses have been our strongest all year long, so we’ll continue to build on that and hope to do really well this weekend." - Chase
Briscoe
"I feel like the
[Charlotte] ROVAL is kind of its own animal. Obviously, we’ve only raced on it since 2018. I think, overall, everybody has kind of figured it out now for the most part and gotten their cars a lot better through the last few years. It’s unique to itself. The infield section is so tight and so narrow. It almost feels like a go-kart track and we’ve got big, heavy stock cars on it. And then, obviously the oval sections are really high-speed. It’s kind of hard to get your car balanced in all of the
sections of the course. A lot of it is really slow and you’re really trying to get your car to handle well through that infield section." - Erik Jones
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
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