The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continue today with the Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. Read on below to see my prediction for who will win the race, as well as my top 10, dark horse, and driver to fade predictions.
Winner: AJ Allmendinger- Allmendinger is a road course racing legend, with 8 of his 12 career NASCAR wins coming on road courses. Running a part-time Cup schedule this year, Allmendinger has 2 top 5’s and 3 top 10 finishes in 4 starts, including a win in the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard. Allmendinger has led 53 laps enroute to winning the Charlotte Roval race 3 times in 3 career Xfinity starts and finished 7th here in his lone Cup start in 2018. Allmendinger is having a career year and his confidence level is through the roof right now. In what would be considered an upset by many, I predict that AJ Allmendinger is going to sweep the weekend and win on the Roval today!
Top 10: Chase Elliott- Elliott is one of the best to ever tackle road course racing, with 7 wins and 12 top 5’s in 19 career Cup starts. Elliott has raced well on road courses this season, with 2 wins and 5 top 5’s in 6 starts. Elliott has also won back to back Cup races at the Roval and has finished no worse than 6th here in his career. Elliott is always a threat to win on a road course, but a top 10 finish is a lock.
Dark Horse: Chase Briscoe- Briscoe has had his best performances on the road courses this season, with his 3 top 10 finishes coming from finishing 6th at COTA, 6th at Road America, and 9th at Watkins Glen. Briscoe has had past success on the Roval in the Xfinity Series, with a win, 2 top 10’s and 77 laps led in 3 starts. Briscoe has been surging late in the season, with 4 straight top 16 finishes, and I predict he can turn that into even more success with a solid top 10 run today.
Driver to Fade: Ryan Newman- The Roval has not been kind to Newman in his career, as he has finished outside the top 30 twice in 3 career starts. Newman only has 2 top 20’s in 6 road course starts this season and his best road course racing days are far behind him. Newman is a lock to finish outside the top 20.