Charlotte Motor Speedway's infield road course has existed in various forms since 1971, when it first ran races connected to the speedway's backstretch as part of the 1971 World 600 race weekend. At its original length, reports varied between 1.750 and 1.900 miles; by August 1974 it had been reconfigured to 2.250 miles. The circuit underwent significant modification in 2018 when a backstretch chicane was added to adapt it for NASCAR racing, and further changes in 2019 adjusted one of the chicanes. Additional modifications to two chicanes were announced for 2024.
The Roval layout routes cars into the infield road course section and then back onto part of the oval banking before returning to pit road, creating a circuit that requires drivers to manage both road-course discipline and the high-speed oval transitions. The configuration challenged teams to find setups that could handle both kinds of corners within the same lap, a fundamentally different engineering problem from either a pure oval or a pure road course.
Charlotte Motor Speedway has held NASCAR Cup Series racing since 1960, when the facility opened for the World 600. The oval track hosted the Bank of America 400 (originally the National 500) as a standard oval race from 1960 to 2017. Beginning in 2018, the event was shifted to the Roval configuration, making it one of only two events where the Charlotte facility uses the infield road course in combination with the oval for Cup Series competition. In 2026, the race reverted to the traditional oval layout, ending the Roval's run as a Cup Series playoff venue.
During its tenure as a playoff race, the Roval held a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs elimination round, meaning results at Charlotte directly determined which drivers advanced to the next stage of the championship. This elevated the stakes of Roval racing and produced decisive moments in the title chase.
Charlotte Motor Speedway was conceived in the late 1950s by promoter Bruton Smith and driver Curtis Turner, who combined their efforts after initial rivalry. Construction began in July 1959 on 551 acres adjacent to U.S. Route 29 in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, and the facility opened for the 1960 World 600 despite severe financial and construction difficulties — including surface failures, contractor disputes, and over $1 million in early debts that eventually led to court-supervised bankruptcy in 1961. The facility stabilized under Richard Howard's ownership through the 1960s and early 1970s, before Smith regained control in 1976 with long-serving track president Humpy Wheeler, overseeing decades of major expansion.
The complex grew to a peak capacity of over 170,000 by the late 1980s before demographic and audience shifts led to seat reductions; as of 2021 capacity stands at 95,000. The facility covers approximately 2,000 acres and includes, in addition to the main oval and the infield road course, a 0.200-mile clay short track, a 0.400-mile dirt track, and the ZMax Dragway — a 0.250-mile drag strip that opened in September 2008 after a contentious battle with local government that was resolved when Bruton Smith threatened to close the speedway. Charlotte Motor Speedway has been owned by Speedway Motorsports, LLC (SMI), Smith's company, since 1976. The naming rights were sold to Lowe's from 1999 to 2009, giving the facility the name Lowe's Motor Speedway during that period.
The Coca-Cola 600, Charlotte's spring NASCAR event, is considered a Crown Jewel race on the NASCAR schedule and one of the longest and highest-paying motor races in the world. Charlotte has also hosted the NASCAR All-Star Race — known historically as The Winston — from 1987 through 2019, before the event moved to Texas Motor Speedway in 2021.