When it opened in 2012, the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas was constructed as a sprawling, state-of-the-art, 3.4-mile, 20-turn race course designed to host the top racing series in the world. And while COTA wound up attracting everything from Formula 1 to MotoGP to IMSA to IndyCar, it was missing just one thing -- the top racing series in all of the nation featured in its name.
That was rectified with the first NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas in 2021, and the now four-year history of stock car racing at this facility continues this weekend with the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. COTA marks the first road course race of the season, and this track has quickly become an anticipated race date on the Cup calendar thanks to the three event-filled races in its history: whether it be a race in a downpour in 2021, Ross Chastain's last lap bump and run to earn his first win in 2022 or a duel between Tyler Reddick and William Byron that gave way to a series of chaotic restarts one year ago.
Sunday could be an interesting one too as Byron, the 2024 Daytona 500 winner, will be sitting in pole position when the race kicks off. Byron earned his second straight pole in this event on Saturday afternoon when he edged out Reddick and Ty Gibbs. Gibbs will join him on the front row and both will be among the favorites when the green flag waves.
How to Watch the NASCAR Cup Series at Circuit of the Americas
Date: Sunday, March 24 | Location: Circuit of the Americas -- Austin, Texas
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
TV: Fox | Stream: fubo (try for free)
Echopark Texas Grand Prix starting lineup
- #24 - William Byron
- #54 - Ty Gibbs
- #45 - Tyler Reddick
- #20 - Christopher Bell
- #7 - Corey LaJoie
- #1 - Ross Chastain
- #19 - Martin Truex Jr.
- #11 - Denny Hamlin
- #9 - Chase Elliott
- #23 - Bubba Wallace
- #2 - Austin Cindric
- #16 - Shane Van Gisbergen
- #51 - Justin Haley
- #13 - A.J. Allmendinger
- #5 - Kyle Larson
- #8 - Kyle Busch
- #48 - Alex Bowman
- #77 - Carson Hocevar (R)
- #99 - Daniel Suarez
- #17 - Chris Buescher
- #3 - Austin Dillon
- #42 - John Hunter Nemechek
- #15 - Kaz Grala (R)
- #41 - Ryan Preece
- #50 - Kamui Kobayashi
- #38 - Todd Gilliland
- #34 - Michael McDowell
- #12 - Ryan Blaney
- #21 - Harrison Burton
- #47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- #4 - Josh Berry (R)
- #14 - Chase Briscoe
- #31 - Daniel Hemric
- #71 - Zane Smith (R)
- #22 - Joey Logano
- #6 - Brad Keselowski
- #66 - Timmy Hill
- #43 - Erik Jones
- #10 - Noah Gragson
What to Watch
This weekend at COTA will mark the much-anticipated season debut of Shane Van Gisbergen, who will compete in seven Cup races this year in a collaboration between Kaulig Racing and Trackhouse Racing after winning in his debut at Chicago last July. The former V8 Supercars champion, who is competing full-time in the Xfinity Series this season, headlines the road racing flair featured on this week's entry list.
A.J. Allmendinger, who has three Cup wins on road courses including the most recent at the Charlotte Roval last fall, will serve as a teammate to Van Gisbergen in a third Kaulig car. Meanwhile, former F1 driver and 24 Hours of Le Mans champion Kamui Kobayashi will make his second Cup start in a third car for 23XI Racing. The last time all three drivers were in the field together was at Indianapolis last August, where Van Gisbergen was best in class with a 10th-place finish.
Restart zone for COTA pic.twitter.com/ss9IVIqgUM
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 18, 2024
Those three, as well as all the Cup regulars in the field, will have to adapt to some slight differences in Circuit of the Americas compared to the past. The track has been partially repaved between turns 1 and 2, through turns 9-11 and in turns 18 and 19. In light of chaotic restarts in previous races thanks to an extremely sharp turn 1, NASCAR has also moved the restart zone for this year's race to the exit of turn 20.
Theoretically, the change in the restart zone will lead to the field being more spread out at the end of the front straightaway entering turn 1, lessening the possibility of multi-car pileups caused by divebomb moves on corner entry that have been commonplace on late-race restarts at COTA. NASCAR made a similar change in the restart zone last year at the Indianapolis Road Course, which ultimately proved successful as restarts entering the track's extremely sharp turn 1 proved far more orderly than they had been before.
Exactly how the change in restart procedure as well as the sections of new pavement will create more or less "passing zones" will be worthy of monitoring throughout the weekend, and especially come Sunday's race.
News of the Week
- NASCAR announced Thursday that they have acquired the lease to operate historic Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., and will now manage racing operations for the legendary quarter-mile track. Bowman Gray stands as the longest-running weekly racetrack in stock car racing, and it was the very first paved track that NASCAR ever competed on in 1949. The track hosted 29 Cup Series races from 1958 to 1971.
- Viking Motorsports has hired Matt DiBenedetto as the new driver of their No. 38 Ford in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, replacing C.J. McLaughlin. DiBenedetto, a former Cup Series star and playoff driver, will run at least the next five Xfinity Series races on ovals beginning next weekend at Richmond.
- NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been in the news cycle a number of times this week. Not only was it announced that Chase Elliott will run a throwback paint scheme to Earnhardt's 2014 Daytona 500 win at Darlington in May, but Earnhardt himself will also once again compete in the Xfinity Series race at Bristol in September as part of a renewed agreement with sponsor Hellmann's.
Pick to Win
Alex Bowman's fourth place finish cones at a very opportune time. He's headed to Circuit of the Americas where he has two top three finishes in a row.
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) March 17, 2024
Bowman says he has an understanding of COTA compared to other road courses and is looking forward to racing there. pic.twitter.com/xbZ7JBU7Cm
Alex Bowman (+2500) -- In three races at COTA, Alex Bowman has an average finish of 4.3, with an eighth-place finish in 2021 coming before a runner-up finish in 2022 and a third-place run last year. He and his race team have every reason to be confident going into this weekend, as two top fives in five races to start the year have offered ample evidence that Bowman is returning to his old form after being hampered by a back injury for much of 2023.
While I'm sure there would be some who'd be surprised to see Bowman contend for the win this weekend, I'm going to shove my chips to the center of the table and bank on it happening.
So who wins the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix 2024, and which longshots are a must-back? Check out the latest 2024 NASCAR at Austin odds below, then visit SportsLine now to see the full projected 2024 NASCAR at COTA leaderboard, all from the model that has nailed 17 winners.