Goodyear to test three backstretch chicanes at Charlotte roval

When the final design of the 2.4-mile course was unveiled last week, it included a permanently-designed chicane off Turn 4 and a temporary chicane entering Turn 3 on the backstretch.

The participating teams, track and Goodyear officials will test several different options for the backstretch chicane on Tuesday, the first day of the test.

“NASCAR and the race track haven’t nailed down what exactly the backstretch chicane is going to look like. We have three different options that we’ll evaluate,” Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing told Motorsport.com on Sunday.

“That’s most of (Tuesday) morning, finding out which chicane works the best operationally for the race track and to try to hit the target speeds that we’re looking for.”

Four drivers are participating in the two-day test: Kurt Busch, Paul Menard, Martin Truex Jr. and Jamie McMurray.

Next September, the infield road course race will be the cut-off race for Round 1 of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and it will be the first road course event in the playoffs since the format debuted in 2004.

The course is also the first new track on the Cup schedule since Kentucky Speedway was added in 2011.

Stucker said the exact location of the chicane and how it’s shaped will be important in determining what tire Goodyear eventually brings to the track for the event.

“Depending on where it is, depending on how tight it is or how open it is, obviously that will dictate what kind of speed they’ll have coming into Turns 3 and 4 and subsequently what kind of exit speed they will have coming off Turn 4,” he said.

“We’ll watch that very closely and see where it ends up.”

Goodyear and the teams involved have agreed to approach this first tire test with everyone focused on a more traditional road course setup.

Goodyear took part in a test of the original layout of the course in January with driver A.J. Allmendinger but at that time there were no chicanes and virtually the entire oval course was utilized in the design.