CONCORD, N.C. – This weekend’s NASCAR activities at the new 17-turn, 2.28-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL provide both interesting storylines and mental anguish for teams as they look to solidify their places in the playoffs.

Of particular notice will be Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event, the Bank of America ROVAL 400, which will serve as the cutoff race for the round of 16 in the playoffs and eliminate four drivers from championship contention after 109 laps.

That scenario is a disaster for both teams and drivers, neither of whom have any race data to fall back on and prepare themselves with before they have to go to battle on Sunday, making this year’s event at Charlotte the ultimate wild card and a true test when it comes to playoff advancement.

“There is not a part that I see that is not terrifying and treacherous,” noted former Cup Series champion Dale Jarrett of the ROVAL. “I thought it was a challenge running a passenger car around there at 60 mph. That being said, it’s going to make this weekend’s race very challenging and very wild.”

With valuable points and a potential automatic berth into the next round on the line for the driver that can visit victory lane on Sunday, former driver-turned NBC Sports analyst Jeff Burton sees only one strategy for those who are hovering around the cutoff line for advancement.

“All the guys (on the playoff bubble) have to go attack the race track, a place they have never been to, and a place where we have seen all these crashes in practice,” explained Burton. “There are so many unknowns. That is a recipe for disaster, but they have no choice.”

After winning at Richmond (Va.) Raceway last weekend, Kyle Busch has no worries when it comes to this weekend’s race because he already knows he’ll be in the round of 12.

That doesn’t mean that Busch doesn’t have a plan in place to try and win the race, however.

“One of the strategies should be to qualify up front and stay up front, because there will be a lot of opportunities for guys to make mistakes,” said Busch. “Crashes will happen, but you want to do what you can to not be one of those guys who gets caught up in the mess.

“The most exciting thing for fans, I think, is the fact that they’ll be seeing cars going around Charlotte Motor Speedway in a different fashion,” Busch added. “We’ve always been accustomed to the oval and going 200 miles per hour. Now, you’re gonna see guys slowing down and turning into the infield. It’s going to be way different.”

For a driver like Ryan Blaney, who comes into the weekend a scant four points above the cut line, Sunday afternoon will likely have him sweating bullets and hoping to avoid the chaos that many are predicting will unfold during the 400-kilometer distance.

“It’s hard enough to get out there by yourself and when you put 40 cars out there, it’s going to be tough. It’s a pretty treacherous race track,” noted Blaney. “It’s really hard to get around and try to make speed. It’ll be very exciting for people to watch.

“With it being an elimination race, it’s going to be pretty stressful,” Blaney continued. “Hopefully we’re in a good spot … because the unknown can be pretty frightening. You just are going to have to try to put yourself up front when it counts.”

Then there’s seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, who enters the weekend six points below the cut line and at risk of being eliminated in the opening round for the second time in his career.

Johnson believes he’s just going to have to survive until the end and hope for the best when it comes to points and potentially moving on.

“Surviving is going to be the biggest thing. It’s going to be a true wild-card race,” he said. “We all look at Talladega as one but now Charlotte’s becoming one. For our fans to be able to sit in the stands and watch us turn left and right is going to be different. Having a road course where you can see it all is something that’s probably never happened in the highest levels of auto racing.

“The likelihood of there being contact between second place and first, late in the race, is very high at the ROVAL,” Johnson continued. “At Talladega, you can fall back, hope for the best, get some decent track position and a decent finish if you just survive. I don’t think we’ll have that luxury here.

“Track position will be key on the ROVAL and we’ll just have to do all we can on Sunday in the race.”