Four Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers participated in a Goodyear tire test on Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s new road course. Paul Menard (No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford), Trevor Bayne (No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford), Kyle Larson (No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet) and Kyle Busch (No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) all logged laps on the intricate layout.
Monster Energy Series drivers will face the road course for the first time in competition during the track’s playoff race, the Bank of America 500, on Sept. 30. It will mark the debut of Charlotte’s road course and serve as the first Playoffs road course in series history.
“You’ll see some passing for sure,” Menard said after testing. “Probably the best spots will be the frontstretch chicane and Turn 1, even though it’s not a really big delta from high speed to low speed. What you look for in a passing zone is going from 170 miles per hour to 100 and you have a big range to make a move. There’s not a lot of that here, but you can see somebody position it at the bus stop on the backstretch and a guy is just going to have to give it up. … There’s definitely some opportunities.”
MORE: Photos from the test
The series currently has road-course stops at Sonoma Raceway in June and Watkins Glen International in August, but this road course is “different,” Menard said.
“It’s definitely a unique race track for a road course. We run Sonoma, which is very slow and slippery. We run Watkins Glen, which is fast. This is somewhere in between. The infield is slow and slippery and the banking still has the speed. We’re trying to find the right camber settings so we don’t wear out the tires. It’s been a challenge thinking, ‘Are we going to be more like Sonoma or Watkins Glen?’
“It’s unique. We got some testing in (in March) and it was much cooler. Today was a lot like what we’ll have when we come back for the race, so this was a truer test. Goodyear’s doing their best to give us a tire that has good grip but also lasts for a fuel run. … The infield section of the track feels like a true road course. It’s pretty wide and has some nice flow to it. There are some nice flowing sections and there are some real point-and-shoot sections. It should be fun.”