As of the 2018 season, the event is run as a 400 kilometer (248.5 mi) race using the infield road course configuration the track calls "The Roval"; previously, the race was run at a distance of 500 miles using the regular oval. A. J. Allmendinger is the defending winner of the event.
The 2018 Bank of America Roval 400, the first race held on the road course configuration
The fall Charlotte race was originally held on the main oval layout until 2017, in which it was a Saturday night race from 2003 to 2016 following a rating boost from the 2002 race being delayed to later in the night (coincided with television primetime hours), although the final two races were held on Sunday afternoon due to rain delays. The 2017 race, the final race on the oval layout, reverted to a Sunday daytime race.
Starting in 2018, the race utilizes a 2.28 miles (3.67 km) road course configuration of Charlotte Motor Speedway, with a race distance of 400 kilometres (250 mi) over 109 laps.[1][2][3]Ryan Blaney would win the inaugural Roval Cup race after Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson collided on the final lap.[4]
Realignment
In 2020, the Bank of America Roval 400 was moved from late September to the middle of October and beheld as the final race of the Round of 12; the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway took Charlotte's former spot. Although rain was present, the 2020 races were run without any delays as cars continued in the wet with limited lighting, as was the case in the Xfinity race, making it the first NASCAR Cup race to use wet tires.[5]
2018: After a late-race caution of the inaugural Roval event, Jimmie Johnson made gains on Martin Truex Jr. in the final two laps. Coming to the final chicane on the final lap, Johnson tries to pass Truex Jr. but he lost control of his car, sending it spinning into the chicane and taking out Truex Jr. With both of them taken out, Ryan Blaney overtakes both Johnson and Truex Jr. coming out of the final chicane to earn his first win of the season with a last-lap pass. With Johnson spinning out and finishing 8th, that put him, Kyle Larson, and Aric Almirola in a three-way tie for the cut-line position in the first round of the Playoffs. As most of the field crosses the line, Daniel Hemric spun Jeffrey Earnhardt exiting the final chicane, with Jeffrey's car ended up hitting the outside wall. He corrected his car but ended up stalling mere meters before the finish line, enabling Larson to pass him in a badly-damaged car and give Larson the extra point he needed to bump Johnson out of the Playoffs.
2019:Chase Elliott returned from locking up his brakes and colliding head-on with the turn 1 barrier to win his second road course win of the year.
2020: For the first time in NASCAR Cup Series history, the Cup cars raced in the rain when they declared a wet start for the green flag. Forecast to be a rainy day, the sun came out and remained mostly cloudy, defying the forecast. At the end of Stage 1, drivers decided to forego the treaded tires for the traditional slicks for the rest of the event. Chase Elliott, the defending race winner came down pit road for a loose left front wheel. Just like last year he made his way to the front and pulled away on his way to the win. The win gave him the distinction of just the second driver to win four-straight road-course events with the other being Jeff Gordon. Multiple drivers adjusting to slicks on the damp surface created unpredictable outcomes with cars slipping off track, kicking up grass and spray from standing water.
