Back in 2016, NASCAR fans found themselves caught in a swirl of confusion thanks to what turned out to be one of the sport\u2019s more memorable internet pranks. The culprit? A photoshopped image suggesting that Charlotte Motor Speedway, one of NASCAR\u2019s crown jewel tracks, was about to be renamed \u201cPetty Speedway\u201d in honor of the legendary Richard Petty.<\/p>\n
The image looked convincing enough: the speedway\u2019s iconic logo had been altered to display the new name, and within hours, it spread across fan forums, Reddit threads, and even caught attention on X (formerly Twitter). Fans didn\u2019t hold back. Some cheered the idea as a fitting tribute to NASCAR\u2019s \u201cKing,\u201d but many were outraged at what they assumed was another corporate rebranding move disrupting the sport\u2019s history. The reaction was loud, emotional, and immediate until official clarification finally hit. Charlotte Motor Speedway was not changing its name, and the viral image was nothing more than a fan-made joke that had spiraled out of control.<\/p>\n
The entire episode became a reminder of just how protective NASCAR fans are over their tracks and traditions. Tracks like Charlotte, Daytona, Bristol, and Dover carry deep emotional ties for fans, and any suggestion that those identities could be tampered with sends shockwaves through the community. Even though the \u201cPetty Speedway\u201d prank fizzled out harmlessly, it left a lesson that misinformation, even unintentional, spreads fast in NASCAR circles, especially when it touches on the legacy of key venues. Fast forward to today, and the motorsports world found itself experiencing d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu.<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
This time, the battleground was Dover Motor Speedway<\/a>, and a \u201cDoval\u201d prank sent NASCAR fans into a near meltdown, reigniting memories of the Charlotte incident. What started as a tongue-in-cheek name mashup on an X post by nascarcasm, blending \u201cDover\u201d and \u201coval\u201d to suggest a complete rebranding road course rebranding like the Charlotte Roval, quickly took off, with fans genuinely fearing that the Monster Mile\u2019s identity was being wiped clean for marketing gimmicks.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n With the influx of road courses in NASCAR over the last six years and the exit of the Chicago Street Race for 2026<\/a>, fans would not be surprised if NASCAR tried to create another \u2018road course oval\u2019 in Dover, like they have in Charlotte. The backlash that these road courses have received from veteran drivers and former legends alike has been loud, but after seeing this lighthearted prank aimed at NASCAR\u2019s experimental tendencies, fans had the last laugh.<\/p>\n NASCAR fans imagine a world with the \u2018Doval\u2019 instead of Dover<\/p>\n The \u201cDoval\u201d prank at Dover Motor Speedway had fans reeling, and the reactions poured in with a mix of shock and hilarity that kept the internet buzzing. One fan tossed out, \u201cJoker lap on the horse track.\u201d This comment taps into the recent trend of incorporating alternate routes or shortcuts in racing, like the \u201cjoker lap\u201d seen in rallycross events. Fans imagining a Joker lap using Dover\u2019s infield horse track are drawing on that same idea, breaking up a traditional oval or road course with a chaotic alternate route to add unpredictability.<\/p>\n The Dover Downs complex famously houses both the high-banked concrete oval and a horse racing track inside its infield, typically used for harness racing. Turning that into a Joker lap during a NASCAR race would be wild but visually entertaining, and it plays into the fantasy circuit vibe the \u201cDoval\u201d prank has stirred up. It\u2019s a lighthearted nod to how absurd yet appealing such a twist could be in NASCAR\u2019s mostly conventional layouts.<\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Another quipped, \u201cDriving thru that packed casino parking lot would actually make me enjoy a road race.\u201d This fan jokes about incorporating the Dover Downs casino parking lot into a makeshift street circuit. The Dover Motor Speedway shares its grounds with the Dover Downs Hotel & Casino, and NASCAR fans know that during race weekends, the casino\u2019s parking area gets packed. Imagining a road course that snakes through this congested lot satirizes both the frustration of navigating it and NASCAR\u2019s recent push towards adding more street courses to the schedule, like the Chicago Street Race. Instead of a polished urban layout, fans joke they\u2019d rather watch drivers dodge SUVs and minivans in a casino parking lot, making a playful jab at NASCAR<\/a>\u2019s expanding road course calendar.<\/p>\n One creative fan suggested, \u201cWhy not mix it up with a little dirt track action on the horse track on the inside, too?\u201d This is a callback to NASCAR\u2019s brief dirt track experiment, notably the Bristol Dirt Race held between 2021 and 2023. Here, NASCAR fans are imagining Dover\u2019s horse track being repurposed into a dirt section as part of the \u201cDoval\u201d circuit, essentially turning a harness racing oval into a dirt segment mid-race. It blends elements of rallycross and multi-surface events, parodying NASCAR\u2019s occasional forays into non-traditional formats. Fans half-seriously propose dirt just for the chaos of it. After all, Dover\u2019s infield track is real dirt, ready to cause havoc if included in a race layout.<\/p>\n Then, of course, there were the Shane van Gisbergen<\/a> references. One fan wrote, \u201cYep, but SVG runs a pedal car & starts at the back,\u201d while another added, \u201cWhen did SVG steal your X account?\u201d These comments riff on Shane van Gisbergen\u2019s rapid success in NASCAR road racing, where he\u2019s quickly become a fan favorite after winning races at Mexico City, Chicago, and Sonoma. SVG has been so dominant in these races, winning Mexico City by nearly 17 seconds, so it\u2019s no surprise that fans want to see him handicapped on a road course. The Kiwi has three road course wins this season, and broke Jeff Gordon<\/a>\u2018s record by winning them all consecutively from the pole! There\u2019s no doubt he would have been licking his lips at the prospect of a \u201cDoval.\u201d<\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Well, as it stands, there is no \u2018Doval\u2019 but fans seem to have had their fun on X, imagining a world with the Doval instead! Would you like to see Dover turned into a road course oval? Probably not, but let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back in 2016, NASCAR fans found themselves caught in a swirl of confusion thanks to what turned out…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":74201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[1406,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-74200","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-nascar","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114877460899600656","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}