The 2018 Bank of America Roval 400, the inaugural running of the event, was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stock car race that was held on September 30, 2018, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Contested over 109 laps, it was the 29th race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, the third of ten races in the season-ending NASCAR Playoffs, and the final race of the Round of 16. The race was won by Ryan Blaney of Team Penske; Chip Ganassi Racing's Jamie McMurray finished second and Clint Bowyer was third for Stewart–Haas Racing.
Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Erik Jones, and Denny Hamlin all entered the race in the last four Playoff positions, meaning they were in danger of being eliminated from the Playoffs. Several major accidents at the exit of the back stretch chicane in the practice sessions resulted in a left-side tire barrier being moved back. Kurt Busch recorded the fastest time of qualifications and won the pole position. Kyle Larson overtook him on the seventh lap and went on to win stage one. He continued leading until he made a pit stop on lap 37, handing the lead to eventual stage two winner Blaney, but reclaimed it once Blaney pitted. After Ricky Stenhouse Jr. skidded off-course, Brad Keselowski overtook him for the lead. Concerns for fuel mileage surrounding Keselowski and Larson's teams were dispersed when a caution was issued with less than ten laps remaining. In the ensuing restart, however, both drivers slammed nose-first into a tire barrier, sparking a 15-car pileup. Martin Truex Jr. and Johnson then raced for the win until the latter overapplied his brakes coming to the checkered flag and spun into the former on the front stretch chicane, allowing Blaney to pass them both for the win.
The race had eight cautions and ten lead changes among eight drivers. Blaney's win was the second of his career and his sole victory of the 2018 season. With the points being reset, Kyle Busch attained the Drivers' Championship lead, while Truex Jr. fell to third in the standings. Despite his damage, Larson managed to overtake Jeffrey Earnhardt on the final lap and was placed in a three-way tie for the final two transfer spots in the Round of 12. He and Aric Almirola were the beneficiaries of the tiebreaker, leaving Johnson, Austin Dillon, Hamlin, and Jones out of the Playoffs. Ford had also claimed the Manufacturers' Championship lead from Toyota with seven races left in the season.
Background
In May 2017, plans were announced for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series to race on the 13-turn roval configuration of Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina for the first time, which combined elements of the oval course and the infield road course. The race's distance was and 130 laps, and it was to be held on September 30, 2018, as the 29th race of the 2018 season and the third of ten rounds in the season-ending NASCAR Playoffs, marking the first road course race to be included in the championship format since its introduction in 2004. This was done to add distinction to the fall event at Charlotte, which Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) president Marcus Smith felt needed "something special." Prior to the announcement, A. J. Allmendinger tested on the circuit in January 2017 and spoke positively about it in a press conference.
The course's layout was altered in October 2017 to add two new chicanes to the front stretch and back stretch in order to allow for more passing opportunities, and again in January 2018 with two of the last three infield corners removed to boost lap times, thus forming a 17-turn circuit. The event was later titled the Bank of America Roval 400 and shortened to and 109 laps, which were split into three stages; the first two stages were comprised of 25 laps each, while the last had 59 laps.
To prepare for the event, Goodyear conducted two private multi-day testing sessions at the roval course of Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 17–18, 2017 and March 20–21, 2018. The second day of the latter session was rescheduled to May 1 due to inclement weather. Two open testing sessions were also hosted at the track by NASCAR on July 10 and 17; they both began at 9:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time, were paused at 12:00 PM for an hour-long lunch break, and ended at 5:00 PM. During the first hour of the session on July 10, numerous racers bypassed the designated front stretch chicane, including Bubba Wallace, who skidded into the turn-one tire barrier. To prevent shortcutting, NASCAR placed additional tire barriers and rumble strips to the chicane, which caused the session to be extended by an hour. Michael McDowell also spun late in the afternoon. Kyle Busch was the fastest overall driver on July 17 with a top speed of , which he set during the afternoon, while Aric Almirola and Joey Logano led the morning session with a speed of . Ryan Blaney crashed into the tire barrier in the third and fourth turns; Alex Bowman and Erik Jones also spun separately in the same area, though neither sustained major damage. In the afternoon, William Byron locked up his brakes and slammed the tire barrier head-on in turn one.
Heading into the race, Martin Truex Jr. led the Drivers' Championship with 2,141 points, 16 more than Kyle Busch in second and 28 more than Kevin Harvick in third. Team Penske teammates Brad Keselowski and Logano were fourth on 2,111 points and fifth on 2,081 points, respectively. Almirola, Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Bowman, Blaney, Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Jones, and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top 16 drivers competing in the NASCAR Playoffs. Because this was the final race of the Round of 16, the latter four drivers—Bowyer, Johnson, Jones, and Hamlin—were all at risk of being eliminated from the Playoffs. Conversely, Keselowski's win at Las Vegas, Kyle Busch's win at Richmond, and the points Truex Jr. had accumulated were enough to ensure the three drivers would advance to the Round of 12. Harvick would also earn a spot in the Round of 12 so long as he started the race. Toyota was leading the Manufacturers' Championship with 1,015 points, followed by Ford with 1,010 and Chevrolet with 915. Goodyear brought 11 sets of radial tires (three for practice sessions, one for qualifying, and seven for the race), along with six sets of wet tires (two for practice sessions and four for the race), for the race weekend.
Several teams opted to change their drivers for the race. IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driver Justin Marks partnered with Premium Motorsports for what was to be his last start in NASCAR, while Ross Chastain drove the team's part-time 7 entry. Daniel Hemric, a regular in the second-tier NASCAR Xfinity Series who participated in the preliminary October 2017 test, was set to make his second start in the Cup Series after competing in the Toyota Owners 400 in April. Five days before the race, Stanton Barrett agreed to drive the Rick Ware Racing-prepared No. 51 entry, marking his first start in the Cup Series since the 2006 Dover 400. Cole Whitt took Corey LaJoie's seat at TriStar Motorsports for the first time since the Go Bowling at The Glen a month prior.
Practice and qualifying Three practice sessions preceded the race on Sunday, all of which lasted 50 minutes. The first was held on Friday, and the last two were held on Saturday. Kyle Busch led the first session on Friday with a time of 77.145 seconds, eleven thousandths of a second quicker than fellow Joe Gibbs Racing driver Jones, with Logano, Hemric, and Bowyer rounding out the top-five. During the session, Hamlin and McDowell's splitters were damaged after they drove over the six-inch-high curb in turn 13, while Blaney and Austin Dillon slammed the left-hand-side wall while exiting the corner and sustained heavy nose damage. Almirola and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. both crashed into the barrier in turn three. Wallace was spotted spinning at least three times. With 20 minutes left, the pace car had even spun on the circuit. Forty drivers were entered for qualifying, the maximum amount that was allowed to race as per NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Friday afternoon's qualifying session began almost four hours after the first practice session ended and was divided into two rounds. The first round lasted 25 minutes and determined the 13th–40th positions. After a ten-minute break, the fastest twelve drivers advanced to the second round, where they were allotted ten minutes to set the fastest laps for the top twelve positions. Kurt Busch was tenth-quickest in round one, but earned his fourth pole position of the season and the 26th of his career with a time of 76.805 seconds, which he set with two minutes left in the session. Allmendinger joined Busch on the grid's front row with a lap time that was 0.041 seconds slower. Bowman qualified third, Elliott fourth, and Larson fifth. Johnson, Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Blaney, Chris Buescher, Hemric, and Jones were the last of the top-twelve qualifiers. Half of the NASCAR Playoffs drivers qualified outside the top-twelve; Truex Jr. took 13th, Kyle Busch 14th, Logano 15th, Harvick 19th, Almirola 20th, Austin Dillon 24th, Keselowski 25th, and Hamlin 27th. Three minutes into the first round, Hamlin lost control of his car at the 13th corner while trying to avoid hitting a left-side tire barrier; he slightly clipped it and crashed into the right-side SAFER barrier with the rear of his car, forcing him to resort to a backup car. After qualifying, Kurt Busch attributed his performance to his time practicing on a racing simulator and adjustments that his team made to his car.
On Saturday morning, Johnson was quickest in the second practice session with a lap timed at 78.043 seconds, ahead of second-placed Hemric, who was over a tenth of a second slower, and third-placed Truex Jr. Keselowski was fourth-quickest, and Kyle Busch took fifth. Stewart–Haas Racing drivers Almirola and Kurt Busch were hampered by troubles in the session, with Almirola backing into the turn-three tire barrier and Busch stalling on the track due to an electrical issue. Two separate incidents occurred towards the beginning and end of the session at the exit of turn 13, where Wallace and Jones both got loose and slammed directly into the tire barrier, destroying the noses of their cars. They switched to their backup cars as a result. After qualifications for the Xfinity Series' Drive for the Cure 200 concluded, NASCAR repositioned the tire barrier in order to provide about five feet of extra space for drivers exiting the back stretch chicane. Keselowski lapped the fastest time of the final practice session on Saturday afternoon at 77.730 seconds, but with ten minutes left, he made heavy contact with the front stretch wall after running over curbing at the exit of the 17th corner; he, too, utilized his backup car for the race. Byron trailed him in second, with Larson taking third, Paul Menard fourth, and Truex Jr. fifth. The start of the session was used by many drivers to practice the restart procedure, in which they were required to drive on the oval portion of the circuit instead of the front stretch chicane.
Qualifying results The fastest lap in each of the two sessions is denoted in bold.