The famous Circuit of The Americas is a worthy host for the first road course race of NASCAR’s 2024 season. Built just over a decade ago to entice Formula One racing to Austin, Texas, the track is technically challenging and visually spectacular.
NASCAR visited for the first time in a rainy 2021 spectacle and has headed back ever since. Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, will be the series’ fourth race at COTA.
In the past three races, there has never been a repeat winner. Chase Elliott won the first event, Ross Chastain snuck past for victory in the first year of the new Next Gen car, and Tyler Reddick is the defending winner.
Odds via BetMGM
+350 – Tyler Reddick
+900 – Chase Elliott
+900 – Ty Gibbs
+1100 – Christopher Bell
+1200 – William Byron
+1300 – AJ Allmendinger
+1400 – Shane van Gisbergen
+1400 – Kyle Larson
+1400 – Ross Chastain
+1400 – Martin Truex Jr.
Chase Elliott might be the most successful active driver on road courses with seven wins, but Tyler Reddick has won three road courses in the Next Gen era, with all of those wins coming from 2022 onwards, and is on a hot streak now. Elliott, on the other hand, has not won a road course race since NASCAR switched to the Next Gen. Indeed, Elliott hasn’t won a race at all in over a year and will be looking to get back into winning form at this race.
And previous winner Ross Chastain knows just how tough it is to repeat at the track. Despite winning in the past, Chastain says he’s never turned a perfect lap at COTA.
“There’s a lot of mistakes that happen with 20 turns,” he explained. “There’s a lot of mistakes that happen for every driver, every lap. I can’t even dream of the perfect lap at COTA. I just want to minimize the mistakes.”
The entire full-time field will have to face down a hefty challenge from a roster of road course ringers, though.
AJ Allmendinger will be returning to the Cup Series driving the No. 13 for Kaulig Racing. He won at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in 2021 and followed it up at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval last season. The former open-wheel racer turned Xfinity Series star is a perennial threat on the road courses.
Taking Allmendinger’s old No. 16 Kaulig ride for this weekend is standout Shane van Gisbergen. He might be the hottest driver in the series on road courses right now after he came in and won at the Chicago Street Race in just his first-ever start in the Cup Series. The former Australian Supercars driver is competing full time in the Xfinity Series this year in a Kaulig car with Trackhouse support, fulfilling his longtime goal of competing in NASCAR.
Van Gisbergen will be facing competition he hasn’t seen since Indy, however. After watching van Gisbergen win at Chicago as a guest of 23XI Racing, Kamui Kobayashi raced for the team at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. It took him some time to get a handle of the car, but the Japanese driver is absolutely rapid. He holds the current lap record at the Circuit de la Sarthe, home of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in a Toyota prototype and has stood on the podium in Formula One.
This time around, Kobayashi will be driving the No. 50 car to celebrate 50 years of sponsor Mobil 1. Floyd Mayweather’s The Money Team Racing agreed to let 23XI Racing run the number at the track.
Last week’s winner Denny Hamlin, for his part, is just looking for greater consistency at the track. He’s never finished inside the top ten in his three starts there, but that doesn’t color his view.
“First of all, I love the city of Austin, and the track is one of the best road courses we have on the circuit,” Hamlin said. “It’s unfortunate that I haven’t run better than I have there. But what I enjoy about COTA is the challenge of it.
“Even though I’ve struggled, I feel optimistic every time I go there that I’ve learned something new and that it will equal speed and results when I get back there. I’m looking forward to it.”
Xfinity Series returns to a packed house in Texas
The Xfinity Series took a week off, but the competition hasn’t let up heading into the Circuit of The Americas. The Focused Health 250, at 5 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, is the series’ first road-course race of the season and it’s generated plenty of interest.
With forty cars on the entry list competing for 38 spots, even qualifying will be exciting as two cars will fail to make the field.
Fresh faces on the grid include two Cup Series competitors, getting extra practice for their own race on Sunday and bringing the challenge to the Xfinity Series regulars. Kyle Larson will drive the No. 17 car for Hendrick Motorsports, while Ty Gibbs pilots the No. 19 car for Joe Gibbs Racing.
With just one full-time Xfinity season, past series champion Gibbs has four road course wins to his name and will always be a threat. He’s never managed to win at COTA before, however.
One other interesting entry is Brad Perez, driving for Alpha Prime Racing. He’ll have the radio to listen to during the race: Alanis King, writer and content creator, will be spotting for him for the first time alongside her husband.
Perez wrote on Twitter that he’s “so excited to have a married couple both in my ear alongside my team owner during the most important race of my career so far.”
Any driver who wants to win will have to get past the defending champion. He won twice on road courses last season, at Portland International Raceway and the inaugural race at the Chicago Street Course, and he has Cup Series experience at COTA as well.
Custer recognizes, though, that the first step at winning at this track is getting to the end.
“Honestly, we just need to stay out of trouble,” he said. “We proved to be strong on road courses in 2023 with our two wins, but COTA was different. We found ourselves struggling because of how things got heated.
“Just like Martinsville or short-track racing, road courses are a very easy place to get frustrated with other drivers. One wrong move and you could turn someone or get turned. I think it’s all about keeping my cool as a driver and being smart when racing into those corners at COTA. They’re sharp, so you can find trouble there.”
His Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Riley Herbst explained just how tricky COTA is.
“I think each road course possesses its own difficulties, but I still can’t seem to wrap my head around COTA. It’s just such a unique road course because it’s so narrow. You’re used to seeing F1 cars on it, but not a big stock car. I’m still trying to figure out how best to run it and not get turned in the corners,” he admitted.
For Herbst, the strategy is not to get hung up on the Playoffs so early. He finally broke through to get his first career win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last season, but he’s very used to racing for points from past experience and doesn’t want to get hung up on it.
“It’s all about taking it one race at a time. One bad race isn’t going to ruin your season this early on,” Herbst said. “You can’t keep thinking about last week when you have to go back and get in the racecar the very next week. It’s all about your mindset when it comes to that. If you get stuck on the past and mistakes that were made, you’re going to overthink everything.”
Everything’s bigger in Texas for the Truck Series
Everything’s bigger in Texas, and for the Truck Series, the Circuit of The Americas is its biggest track. Or at least its longest. The venue for the XPEL 225, at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, is a 3.426-mile 20-turn racetrack with a unique challenge at every turn.
The competition will be just as big a challenge, particularly the driver of the No. 7 truck for Spire Motorsports.
Connor Zilisch might be the standout driver of the year. A huge success in the Mazda series, a lower-tier IMSA category, he moved up to LMP2 this season where he’s picked up two wins in two starts – and one of those earned him the legendary Rolex Daytona.
Zilisch comes from an oval background and will be making select NASCAR starts in the future. This one allows him to put his road course talent and experience to the test.
Marco Andretti, a two-time IndyCar winner, will be driving the No. 04 Roper Racing Chevrolet Silverado as well. The third generation racer has done a few Truck Series races before.
Additionally, NASCAR Cup Series regular Ross Chastain will be piloting the No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet this weekend. Chastain has won in the Truck Series driving for Niece before and is hoping to do it again. He’s won at this track in the Cup Series already.
The biggest story, though, is whether anyone can end the Chevrolet streak. Every race so far this year has been won by a Silverado.
If one truck has history on its side to do so, it’s the No. 38, which won at COTA in 2021 driven by Todd Gilliland and then again in 2022 and 2023 driven by Zane Smith. Now it falls to rookie driver Layne Riggs to repeat the feat in his first-ever Truck Series road course start and “keep the record strong.”
“COTA is going to be a battle for sure. I have never raced on a road course before, so it’s going to be interesting to say the least,” Riggs acknowledged.
“I just have to execute.”
NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix
The Place: Circuit of The Americas
The Date: Sunday, March 24
The Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $9,740,789
TV: FOX, 3 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 231.88 miles (68 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 15),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 30), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 68)
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Next Race: Focused Health 250
The Place: Circuit of The Americas
The Date: Saturday, March 23
The Time: 5 p.m. ET
The Purse: $1,778,948
TV: FS1, 4 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 156.86 miles (46 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 14),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 30), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 46)
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Next Race: XPEL 225
The Place: Circuit of The Americas
The Date: Saturday, March 23
The Time: 1:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $794,098
TV: FS1, 12:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 143.22 miles (42 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 12),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 26), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 42)
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