DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 26, 2026) — NASCAR today announced a new partnership with Graza, naming the fast-growing, chef-loved brand the Official Olive Oil and Mayonnaise of NASCAR. The expanded collaboration builds on Graza’s recently announced partnership with RFK Racing in the olive oil category and brings the brand to the national NASCAR platform as the Official Olive Oil and Official Mayonnaise of NASCAR.
As part of the partnership, Graza will introduce a custom food truck concept set to appear at multiple NASCAR race weekends, designed to elevate the tailgate atmosphere and deliver bold, high-quality flavors directly to fans at the track. The activation complements the brand’s integration with RFK Racing and deepens its presence within the sport.
Graza will also leverage NASCAR’s integrated marketing ecosystem, including NASCAR Digital Media, Hospitality and Fan Experience, NASCAR Fan Rewards and a forthcoming broadcast integration to engage fans across platforms and touch points throughout the season.
“NASCAR fans are known for their passion — not just for racing, but for the full race-day experience,” said Craig Stimmel, chief commercial officer of NASCAR. “Graza has already demonstrated its commitment to the sport through its partnership with RFK Racing, and we’re excited to expand that momentum at the league level.
“From creative at-track activations to digital and broadcast storytelling, this partnership gives Graza a powerful platform to connect with our fans and grow its presence within the NASCAR community.”
The collaboration allows Graza to drive brand awareness across key markets throughout the country by leveraging the sport’s national scale and year-round fan engagement.
“We’re thrilled to build on our partnership with Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing and expand our presence across the NASCAR platform,” said Graza co-founder and CEO Andrew Benin. “NASCAR fans show up with unmatched passion and loyalty, and we’re excited to connect with them in new and creative ways.”
Additional details around Graza’s at-track presence and fan programming will be announced ahead of its first race activation.
The NASCAR Cup Series season continues this Sunday at Circuit of The Americas (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The first two races of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season were pretty good to Shane van Gisbergen, all things considered.
For one thing, SVG actually made it to the end of both — not a given, considering the nature of the tracks (Daytona and EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta) and the chaos around him these past two Sundays. After a hard-luck 30th-place finish from 13th on the grid at Daytona, van Gisbergen rebounded at EchoPark by overcoming multiple spin-outs — and an average running position barely inside the top 20 — to work his way up into overtime contention and finish sixth, his best-ever non-road-course result in Cup.
The same couldn’t be said for Connor Zilisch. The teenage phenom’s first full-time Cup campaign opened with a wreck at Daytona — courtesy of one of the all-time broadcaster jinxes from Mike Joy — and a 33rd-place finish. A week later at EchoPark, Zilisch was swept up in another multi-car crash that ended his race with 37 laps remaining. Two events in, he sits just 36th in points, 20 spots behind van Gisbergen.
Yet, as the series shifts to Texas and the Circuit of The Americas for its first road-race of the season on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX), the early standings feel almost beside the point.
Van Gisbergen returns to his natural habitat riding a five-race Cup winning streak on road courses, one victory shy of tying Jeff Gordon’s record of six straight (1997-2000). Zilisch, meanwhile, closed last year’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule by winning four consecutive road races himself — a streak that started after van Gisbergen’s late-restart pass on him at the Chicago Street Course. And despite their mismatched starts to 2026, Zilisch may be the only driver with a realistic shot to keep SVG from history in Austin.
As we wrote about often last year, van Gisbergen more than solidified his place in history as NASCAR’s greatest-ever road racer with a season for the ages on the twisty tracks. In six road-course starts, he won five times — starting in June at Mexico City, ranging all the way through the Charlotte Roval in October — with an average start of 2.2, an average finish of 1.8 and an average Driver Rating of 140.2. (Remember, 150.0 is a perfect rating!) He led 301 of the 579 laps he ran on road courses throughout the season; nobody else led more than Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney at 42 apiece. It was as overwhelming a tour de force as the Cup Series has ever seen on any single track type in a season.
Ever since van Gisbergen burst onto the scene with a win at Chicago in his maiden Cup race in July 2023, the question has increasingly been, “can anybody here actually keep up with SVG on a track with left and right turns?” And among Cup drivers so far, the answer has mostly been a resounding “No.”
Going back to 2023, 39 different drivers have logged at least five head-to-head Cup Series road races against the Kiwi, and none have gotten any closer on average finish or average Driver Rating than Christopher Bell — who finished an average of 2.3 positions behind SVG, and a whopping minus-17.9 rating points back. Second-closest in the latter regard? A retired legend who isn’t even racing anymore: Martin Truex Jr.
“You know, he’s so good, and it’s rare that you see somebody stand out and distance himself from the competition as much as he is,” Kyle Larson said of van Gisbergen last summer. “He’s way, way, way better than us at the road course stuff. And he’s got his own [heel-toe braking and shifting] technique, you can call it.”
“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Like, there’s zero chance I can learn how to do that. And even if I did, like there’s zero chance that I can have it be better than what I’m probably doing with left-foot braking. So yeah, he’s just so good.”
If the recent Cup regulars are struggling to keep pace with SVG, then maybe it will take a new face to unseat the road-racing king from his crown. And that’s where Zilisch comes in.
The Charlotte native came to NASCAR as one of its youngest drivers ever only after competing in Europe as a karting phenom and becoming the first American to win the FIA Karting Academy Trophy in 2020 (among other honors). With his additional background running sports cars, it was no surprise Zilisch immediately crashed the party with a pole in his first Craftsman Truck Series race at COTA in 2024, then won the first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race he ever entered, at Watkins Glen later that year.
(Van Gisbergen was in the field for that race, leading 14 laps until Zilisch passed him on Lap 66 and led 23 of the final 24 laps en route to the win.)
And then, 2025 was the year the SVG-Zilisch rivalry truly began to take shape. The pair dueled four times across Cup and O’Reilly — as teammates for both Trackhouse and JR Motorsports, depending on the series — with the two splitting the matchups and Zilisch claiming two head-to-head wins to SVG’s one. They tangled along the way, too, highlighted by the incredible final five laps at Sonoma in last year’s O’Reilly Series race, which saw the young phenom hold off the veteran road-course star down the stretch.
We expect nothing less than the same level of competition from the two teammates again this week at COTA. And in no small part, that’s because Zilisch has been literally the only guy at any level of NASCAR to hang with SVG on these kinds of tracks.
Remember our earlier chart where Bell was the closest to van Gisbergen on Driver Rating in Cup road races, nearly 18 points per race behind? Well, across every head-to-head matchup of their careers at all levels, Zilisch has run just 0.2 rating points behind SVG — basically dead-even — and he’s finished an average of 0.6 positions per race ahead of his rival. Even granting that most of it didn’t come in Next Gen Cup cars, nobody else can claim anything near that level of competitiveness with the road-racing king.
Van Gisbergen has spent the past year rewriting NASCAR’s road-course record books and swatting away every challenger in sight. But Zilisch is the only driver who has shown he can actually meet that level, wheel-to-wheel, lap after lap. So if SVG is going to tie Gordon’s record and extend his reign, he’ll likely have to do it by beating the one rival who has already proven he can beat him — and who may be standing in his way for years to come.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will make history this weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida, with its first-ever street race in over 30 years of competition. It’s the first of two street course races for the Truck Series this season, and its inaugural stop in the Tampa-area city coincides with the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season opener.
And the field will be star-studded, too. From IndyCar legends to up-and-coming road course aces, Saturday’s OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 at St. Petersburg (Noon ET, FOX, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) features a stacked list of drivers set for 80 laps around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn circuit.
Meet some of the racing legends and road course aces set for battle against the Truck Series regulars Saturday in Central Florida.
One of the most accomplished IndyCar drivers in history, 52-year-old Dario Franchitti is the second oldest driver in the field. While his accolades include four IndyCar championships and three Indianapolis 500 victories, the Scot is no stranger to NASCAR. Franchitti has 29 starts across NASCAR’s three national series, including a pole and top five in the 2008 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Watkins Glen. Saturday’s race, however, is just Franchitti’s second in the Truck Series, though he owns a 2011 IndyCar win at the venue. While Franchitti retired from full-time competition in 2013, he occasionally participates in historic car events alongside friend and seven-time Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson.
Ben Maier
TEAM: No. 4 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet
While Ben Maier is relatively new to the NASCAR ranks, at just 17 years old, the Annapolis, Maryland, native already has an impressive resume. A former Trans Am race winner, Maier has experience on street courses, racing in Long Beach, Nashville and Detroit. Maier transitioned to stock cars in 2025, and as a rookie, won the CARS Tour Pro Late Model Tour Championship with seven top fives in 13 events. He made two Truck Series starts with Young’s Motorsports last season, finishing 18th in his debut at Lime Rock and coming home 25th at the Charlotte Roval.
Adam Andretti
TEAM: No. 5 Tricon Garage Toyota
Son of John Andretti and nephew of Mario Andretti, Adam Andretti debuted last weekend for Tricon at Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway, coming home 12th in his first NASCAR national series event. The 46-year-old has an extensive racing background, earning eight Trans Am victories and also making starts in the United States Formula 3 Championship, the NASCAR Canada Series and IMSA. Andretti is slated for two more Truck Series starts later in the season: Watkins Glen (May 8) and Naval Base Coronado (June 19).
Jackson Lee
TEAM: No. 22 Team Reaume Ford
Up-and-coming sports car driver and son of FOX Sports’ Kevin Lee, Jackson Lee is slated for his NASCAR debut in St. Petersburg. Lee competed as high as the USF Pro 2000 series in IndyCar’s ladder system, and transitioned to IMSA beginning in 2024. He owns three class victories and several podiums across the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America Series, IMSA VP Challenge, World Racing League and debuted in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series. Across his racing endeavors, Lee has four starts at the St. Petersburg street course.
Colin Braun
TEAM: No. 25 Kaulig Racing Ram
Welcome back, old friend. An IMSA legend with four Rolex 24 victories, Colin Braun is back in the Craftsman Truck Series for the first time in 15 years. Braun ran full time in 2008 and 2009, winning his first career race for RFK Racing in the latter at Michigan. He has 53 total Truck starts as well as 31 in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. His last NASCAR start came in 2011 before shifting back to sports car racing. Braun currently drives Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 60 Acura in IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP class, and has ties to Kaulig’s AJ Allmendinger, whom he co-drove with in this year’s Rolex 24.
Wesley Slimp
TEAM: No. 62 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota
From Marietta, Georgia, 23-year-old Wesley Slimp returns to the stock-car racing ranks for the second consecutive season. A sports car racer at heart, Slimp won twice racing the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series as an amateur, and progressed to the pro ranks in 2024. Last season, Slimp made eight Porsche Carrera Cup North America starts, also debuting in both the Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series. He finished 12th in the Truck race at Watkins Glen, climbing up from a 29th-place starting position. Slimp is slated for four additional ARCA starts this season with Nitro Motorports after racing at Daytona earlier in the month.
James Hinchcliffe
TEAM: No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
A veteran IndyCar driver turned FOX Sports analyst, 39-year-old James Hinchcliffe will enter his first NASCAR race this weekend. He won six times in the NTT IndyCar Series – including thrice in 2013 – before stepping away from full-time competition after the 2021 campaign. Hinchcliffe still moonlights in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship endurance races, and has competed in three consecutive Rolex 24 races. He made 10 IndyCar starts in St. Petersburg with a win and four top-10 finishes.
The NASCAR Cup Series and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series head to Texas for their annual stops at Circuit of The Americas, while the Craftsman Truck Series battles on a street course for the first time in its history at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Below are the qualifying orders for all three series:
Between the three series, almost 100 tracks fill the map for the NASCAR Regional platform. From New Smyrna Speedway in Florida to Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway in California and everywhere in between, one doesn’t need to look far to find a nearby NASCAR Regional track.
Below is a complete list of the NASCAR Regional tracks that are part of the NASCAR Local Racing Series, ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
Brent Crews, Toyota Racing’s next big developmental driver, has never been scared to race anything. By age 9, he had won three world championships in karting.
Growing up in the Charlotte suburbs, Crews wasn’t your typical kid. With no familial ties to racing, he tried his hand at team sports, playing football and soccer. His teammates weren’t as competitive as him, he recalled, so he wanted to attempt something else.
Matt Lankford, his stepdad — whom Crews refers to as his father — was instrumental in finding that path.
Crews recalled: “My dad came to me and saw me get super upset about wanting to win so much, and none of my teammates cared about winning, and he was like, ‘Do you want to play a sport where it’s you versus everyone else?’ I said yes, and he took me to the race track.”
The timing came on the heels of Trackhouse Motorplex (formerly GoPro Motorplex) opening in 2012. Lankford brought Crews to the venue in the middle of a cold, wintry day. The rest is history.
Crews traveled around the globe, earning victories in Brazil, France, Germany and Switzerland. His competition? Some of the elite younger drivers in the world, including fellow NASCAR sensation Connor Zilisch and current Formula One driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli. But it was a battle with Kyle Larson in an Outlaw Kart race in 2019 at Millbridge Speedway when Lankford realized his stepson was serious about making racing a career.
“I was as excited as you could possibly be just that we finished third,” Lankford said. “On the way home, he was like, ‘What are you so excited about?’ There was nothing in his mind that was OK. I said, ‘The guy that beat you is literally the best driver in the world.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, but I race at this track every week, and he comes here twice per year — I should beat him.’ That was when I noticed he thinks about this differently than somebody normal probably would.
“When I realized that’s how he looked at things, as I digested it all, I knew we were probably going to be doing this for a while.”
Crews followed up those accolades by becoming the youngest winner in Trans-Am TA2 history at 14 years old and winning the championship the next season. He sprinkled in additional dirt starts in a 410-winged sprint car that same year, as well as winning a Late Model Stock event at Hickory Speedway.
Jacob Kupferman | Getty Images
Lankford studied the careers of Larson, Tony Stewart and Christopher Bell to find a path for Crews. The model: race everything.
“That’s what we’ve lived by,” Crews said. “You see guys like Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, Christopher Bell — all of those guys want to race anything they can, and I think that gives you an edge on everyone else.”
In 2023, Crews signed a multiyear deal with Toyota Racing as a developmental driver. It paid off with a win in his second career ARCA Menards Series start. In 2024 and 2025, he stacked more trophies onto his resume in a plethora of divisions. He also made 10 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts for Tricon Garage in 2025, earning a pair of top-five finishes at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval and Martinsville Speedway.
Crews knew that a leap to the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2026 with Joe Gibbs Racing was in store, piloting the No. 19 Toyota.
“The path [Crews] took growing up was running Milbridge, go karts, late models and Trans Am, is probably the best development path that any driver has ever had,” reigning O’Reilly champion Jesse Love told NASCAR.com. “I think Brent’s natural ability is unbelievable. If Brent can have the right people in his corner and learn the right things quickly and not make a bunch of mistakes, he could be as good as anybody and be a threat for the championship.”
Because Crews won’t turn 18 until March 30, he isn’t eligible to compete in four of the opening six O’Reilly races in 2026 and will make his series debut Saturday at Circuit of The Americas (3 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Watching his friend group of Love and Zilisch boom in the series over the last two seasons has been painful from the sidelines. He’s happy for their success but wants to be on the same playing field.
“He has almost gone completely crazy having to watch his friends race the last few years,” Lankford said. “I think he will be fine. He has always raced with guys that were older than him, with the way it shook out with what we were trying to do.”
Crews also knows firsthand that the No. 19 team is fully capable of making a deep push and thinks he will be in the mix come fall. The team won the 2025 owner’s championship, after all.
“I think what Jesse said is right,” Crews said. “I don’t have any goals set out: wins or make the championship. Our goal is to give 100% every single week. We are going to prepare to the highest intensity level.”
Feeling pressure inside a race car isn’t a part of Crews’ arsenal. Lankford recalled a conversation with his stepson six months ago, where he said he finally found out what pressure was — and it was sinking a putt on the golf course with $200 on the line.
“I’ve been in that situation since I can remember,” Crews said of pressure. “My dad always said if I didn’t go out there and dominate in this series, I wasn’t going to be able to go to the next one. I’ve been used to that since I was 10 or 11, so this is just the next step at a higher level in front of more people. I’m excited to be able to show what I can do in front of a bigger crowd.”
The last time Crews raced at COTA, he was victorious in TA2. He believes he can replicate Zilisch’s performance from 2024 at Watkins Glen International, when he cruised to victory in his series debut. He is aiming to become the eighth driver to win their first race out of the gate.
“If you don’t have an expectation to win everywhere you go, then what are you showing up for?” Crews said. “Especially COTA, where it’s what I grew up doing. I have a lot of confidence there, more than a lot of places.”
To secure a victory at COTA, he will have to outrun his friend Zilisch, Shane van Gisbergen, Hill and a slew of other established racing mainstays.
Challenge accepted.
“It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he goes and wins at COTA,” Lankford said. “He gets around there pretty good, and the team gets around everywhere good. You put all of those pieces together, and he should be able to have some success.”
NASCAR will expand its officiating footprint and the tire-pack infrastructure this weekend at Circuit of The Americas.
Concerns were raised during last year’s race about drivers shortcutting Turn 6 at the Austin, Texas, road course. NASCAR will begin officiating that corner for drivers who exceed track limits — just as rules against cutting the course already were applied last year in the esses section (Turns 3, 4 and 5).
NASCAR is also adding tire packs in Turns 6 and 19, after they were successfully used to monitor shortcuts through the esses last season.
“Those were a game changer,” NASCAR managing director of communications Mike Forde said on the latest episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast. “There’s a rudimentary solve having tire packs. Obviously, you don’t want to hit them, and they’re positioned in an area where if you hit them, you have to shortcut the course. It was pretty black-and-white, which is really the best way to officiate. Gray area is where you can get yourself in trouble.”
Forde said NASCAR will also use AI-generated cameras to help determine whether a car goes out of bounds.
“If a car crosses those parameters, it sends up an alert to our officiating team that can review it and then make the call if there was a shortcutting of the course,” Forde said. “We plan to speak with the drivers on Friday and go over those with them one more time.”
Tyler Reddick will have a chance at COTA to start the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season with three consecutive wins after the Daytona 500 winner won at EchoPark Speedway despite missing a right-front fender on his No. 45 Toyota from a crash.
Forde said Reddick’s car passed post-race inspection despite the damage, which NASCAR officials believe offered no aerodynamic advantage (or disadvantage).
“We go through all the (inspection) stations but understand that some are going to be impossible to pass because of the damage,” Forde said. “There was some discussion if there was a hole in the firewall, and air got into the cockpit, that would be an advantage. But there was no hole, and if there was, we would not allow (Reddick) to go back onto the race track. We’re not going to let a car go back in with anything that would be deemed unsafe. Also, we wouldn’t let them back on track for anything that would be deemed a competitive advantage.”
Other topics covered by Forde and senior director of racing communications Amanda Ellis during the 44th episode of “Hauler Talk,” which explores competition issues in NASCAR:
— The call to shorten the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race after weather delays impacted the Saturday schedule at EchoPark Speedway.
— How video was used to determine Bubba Wallace as the winner of Stage 2 after the caution flag on the final lap of the segment.
— Whether Carson Hocevar’s aggressive driving could draw any reaction from NASCAR.
Click on the embed below to listen or search for “Hauler Talk” wherever you download podcasts to hear it on your phone, tablet or mobile device.
Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA Today and, for the past 10 years, at NBC Sports Digital. He is a contributor to the “Hauler Talk” show on the NASCAR Podcast Network. He has also covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.
After kicking off his 2026 NASCAR Cup Series rookie campaign with two finishes of 30th or worse at Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway, Trackhouse Racing’s Connor Zilisch is looking for a reset on Sunday at Circuit of The Americas (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
On Lap 85 of the 68th Daytona 500, the 19-year-old driver was involved in a multicar wreck in Stage 2 after battling toward the front of the pack. The damage suffered by his No. 88 Chevrolet led to a 33rd-place finish in his first time competing in the “Great American Race.”
A week later at EchoPark, Zilisch got swept up in a Lap 223 pileup on the frontstretch, ignited by contact between Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin that ultimately ended his race in 30th. Entering Sunday’s road-course race in Texas, Zilisch remains optimistic about recovering from a slow start after placing 36th in the Cup Series standings after two races.
“I think it’s hard to deny the fact that these past two weekends haven’t quite been what we wanted them to be,” Zilisch said during a media teleconference. “That’s kind of just the nature of superspeedway racing. Sometimes you’ll get on the good end of it. Other times, you’re the bug. Hopefully, we can turn that around this weekend. We’re going to a great track for me in COTA.”
With road-course racing among his greatest strengths as a driver, Zilisch understands the importance of having a good points day in Texas after scoring minimal points at unpredictable, drafting-style tracks in the previous two races. However, he feels confident that Trackhouse’s road-course program will give him the best opportunity to net a sound result.
Shane van Gisbergen and Ross Chastain, Zilisch’s teammates, have combined for seven Cup Series wins on road courses for the Justin Marks-owned organization. With three drivers capable of getting the job done on road courses, Trackhouse will enter the COTA race weekend as the favorites to go to Victory Lane.
One year ago, Zilisch made his Cup Series debut at COTA and left a good first impression until his race ended when he collided with then-teammate Daniel Suárez in Turn 19. Since finishing 37th on debut, Zilisch has grown a lot as a driver, putting together a special season in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series last year with 11 wins and a runner-up finish in the final standings.
“I feel like that entire weekend gave me a lot of confidence,” Zilisch said about his 2025 COTA Cup start. “I drove from 38th to 14th, I think, in Stage 2 and was one of the fastest cars on track and was able to pass and maneuver and get through traffic. That’s definitely confidence-inspiring. Obviously, it takes a lot to win these races and compete at the very front and race against guys like SVG at the road courses. I’ve done it before in the (O’Reilly Auto Parts) Series … I feel like it’s definitely capable now that I’m a full-time driver at Trackhouse. We got a really good road-course program, and there’s definitely a lot of confidence going into this weekend.”
Now, a full-time driver in the Cup Series, Zilisch is learning the differences between racing on Saturdays and Sundays at the premier level. Cup races have a longer schedule, the competition is tougher, more preparation work is required and the race lengths are longer compared to what the 19-year-old is used to from last year’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series competition.
As one of NASCAR’s most talented young prospects in years, Zilisch believes that he has identified the one skill that will help him take the next step in the Cup Series.
“The biggest one is patience,” Zilisch said. “I started out last year being very eager to pass and make aggressive moves early in the race. I think a lot has changed since then. I’ve learned a lot about how long these races really are and how much time you have. So, I would say that the biggest thing that I’ve learned and kind of applied to my own craft is just patience and knowing when to be aggressive and when not to.”
NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 Cup Series drivers competing for the 2026 championship after Tyler Reddick’s win at EchoPark Speedway and before Sunday’s DuraMax Texas Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne at Circuit of The Americas (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell enters as the defending winner.
Analysis: Reddick banked a statement win at EchoPark, backing up his massive Daytona 500 victory to become the first driver since Matt Kenseth in 2009 to open the season 2-0 and putting last year’s 0-fer long in the rearview. Everything is clearly clicking to open the year and he’s showing stellar late-race decision-making under chaos, which could translate to COTA, where he’s already proven he can live at the front — and win.
Analysis: Elliott was unable to rebound from a near Daytona 500 triumph and back up his Georgia win last summer on Sunday at EchoPark, but he remains third in the standings after being a points machine through two weeks. He’ll now get to take on another track that he’s won at out in Austin, and a return to his road-course form could certainly start this weekend. Either way, it’s evident Elliott will be a major, major player in 2026.
Analysis: Blaney was in the mix at the front of the field midway through the final stage, but was still able to convert for a top 10 despite fading toward the end. The 2023 champ has a high ceiling just about everywhere, but it’s yet to fully materialize in Austin, where he has just one top 10 and one lap led through five appearances.
Analysis: Briscoe had a bit of an up-and-down, wild ride on Sunday afternoon that, as the race’s P2 finisher, landed on an “up.” He’s been known to be competitive on road courses on occasion, but he hasn’t found any sort of success at COTA since his first start there in 2021, when he finished sixth for his only top 10.
Analysis: Hamlin had the speed to contend at EchoPark and looked set to be part of the conclusion before a crash derailed his path, and he finished 13th. Not typically a road-course standout over his long and prosperous career, that has tended to be the case at COTA in its five-year run as well, with no finishes higher than 14th there.
Analysis: Byron still scored a decent 25 points despite the P28, thanks to a Stage 2 runner-up, but it’s a far cry from a race he certainly had plans to win. Thankfully for him, another winning opportunity is right around the corner, as his last three COTA starts have yielded finishes of fifth, first and second.
Analysis: Larson had a similar story to Byron; dominant (48 laps led) but walked away with a dismal finish (32nd). He didn’t quite have the points haul Byron did, though, nor does he go into COTA with a strong history — Larson was the inaugural runner-up there but has averaged a 23.0 finish at the track since.
Analysis: As frustrating as the first two results have probably been for Wallace, it’s hard not to think we’ll see him in Victory Lane quite soon as well, to match his teammate, because he’s arguably been the stronger of the two overall for full races. Reddick will likely still have the edge this weekend, though — Wallace has a rough 29.8 average finish at COTA with no top 10s.
Analysis: Few know how to create chaos like Ross Chastain, but it’s clear he can maneuver within it as well, never finding the exact front of the field at EchoPark nor banking any stage points, yet still finding a way to finish third as the race descended into frenzy. All the road-course focus this weekend will center around his Trackhouse Racing teammate Shane van Gisbergen, but don’t forget the former COTA winner could be in contention again. (And shout out to their rookie pal Connor Zilisch as well, who will likely re-enter these Power Rankings next week and quite possibly may never fall out of them again the rest of the season. Or ever.)
Analysis: Logano was not immune to the EchoPark volatility, and several incidents could have relegated him to a finish much worse than his P18 (though, with 26 laps led, he was surely hoping for more). He’s another veteran who started off hot at COTA (P3 in 2021), but it hasn’t clicked for him since, with no top 10s since the debut race there.
Analysis: Bell was in excellent position to battle for the win until overtime restart contact, so to walk away with 16 points while seeing race winner Reddick net 67 in this revamped format has to be a bit disheartening for him — but it showcases how crucial every race is to the rest of us. Thankfully for Bell, we’re still in the window where he was unbelievably dominant last year, and there’s a strong chance he’ll be battling on Sunday to make it two in a row at COTA.
Analysis: Buescher has had a decent start to the year thus far, but hasn’t quite been able to make his mark in either race for various reasons despite apparent speed. There’s an excellent chance he could convert on at least a strong points day this weekend, however, as he’s ripped off three straight top-eight finishes at COTA the past three seasons.
Analysis: Preece climbed from P26 to P9 at EchoPark, avoiding both major wreck windows and making zero pit-road mistakes in a race that punished almost everyone who did. COTA hasn’t been a strength, though — P32 in 2023, P23 in ’24 and P33 in ’25 — and he’s yet to show true road-course upside there. The early 2026 execution suggests his baseline is improving, but history says the ceiling at this track still needs to be proven.
Analysis: We’re but two races into the 2026 schedule thus far and SVG already has done plenty to show that he means business and fully intends to flex that he’s more than a one-trick specialist. After an impressive display at EchoPark, he now gets to build some serious momentum as the favorite entering the weekend at COTA. If he converts, this team could catch fire and shift the narrative.
Analysis: Hocevar is gonna Hocevar, and eventually that’s gonna lead to the 23-year-old collecting a list of race wins as long as his rundown of enemies in the garage, but we’re guessing that won’t bother him one bit. Expect more aggression out of the young upstart this weekend at COTA, which has a history of rewarding rabble-rousers with their first Cup win.
Analysis: It’s fair to wonder if Suárez has sneakily become one of the more underrated drafting-track racers in the series — and if that’ll perhaps become even more apparent as his ties with his new Daytona 500-winning teammate (Michael McDowell) deepen — but the early 2026 results are more than promising here. We typically see him excel on road courses; however, it has oddly yet to fully show up in his Austin results (no finishes better than 24th), though he did lead 15 of 69 laps after starting on the front row there in 2022.
Analysis: Is Zane Smith as a Cup Series factor finally happening? It sure looks like it could be. After walking out of Daytona second in the standings, Smith backed it up at Atlanta with another strong showing, and it’s possible he and Front Row Motorsports have the pieces in place to take the next leap forward. If the two-time COTA Truck Series winner keeps it rolling again this weekend, he should be firmly on everyone’s radar.
Analysis: Though it resulted in a P17, Keselowski once again had a car more than capable of getting the job done in the draft, and RFK Racing continues its trend of bringing speed to all superspeedways of late. Where the 2012 champ hasn’t quite found the speed necessary, however, is COTA, as Keselowski has never led a lap there or finished better than 14th.
Analysis: In a race that saw a sea of lead changes, Allmendinger was one of just four drivers to finish in the top 12 and not lead a lap. Don’t expect that to be the case this weekend, as the road-course maven is always a threat on the twisty tracks, even if his results there have been hit — fifth, sixth in 2021, ’24 — or miss — 33rd, 34th, 30th in ’22, ’23, ’25.
Analysis: It’s largely a product of the nature of superspeedway-style racing, but Bowman’s first two races — where he netted just 18 points combined — probably weren’t how he was hoping to get the ball rolling on a pivotal campaign for him. Of course, it’s early, but No. 48 would love to get things turned around quickly before the hole deepens. Austin couldn’t come at a better time for Bowman — he’s been arguably the most consistent driver there so far, averaging a 5.2 finish with no results worse than ninth.
Sunday’s Autotrader 400 from EchoPark Speedway made for high-banked high drama, but with a familiar race winner in Daytona 500 champ Tyler Reddick. The 23XI Racing driver is now 2-for-2 to open the NASCAR Cup Series season with a chance to make it three straight in Sunday’s road-course show at Circuit of The Americas (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Below Reddick and 23XI teammate Bubba Wallace, the Cup Series standings look like they’ve been through a rock tumbler after two consecutive drafting-track events. Here’s a look at three drivers on the right side of the early season momentum wave and three more in need of a boost after leaving the Atlanta-area track.
What happened: Briscoe made a nearly complete flip-flop of his starting and finishing positions from Daytona, where he set off from the outside of the front row and ended up 36th with a damaged race car. A qualifying washout at EchoPark left him mired deep in the field for Sunday’s start, but he methodically worked his way into contention, even netting stage points with a third-place result after the second stanza. “Even all of the situations that happened,” Briscoe said, “everything kind of worked out in my favor.”
What’s next: Sunday’s outcome provided Briscoe and the No. 19 team with a 22-spot jump to 15th in the Cup Series standings — the largest points leap of any driver leaving the EchoPark track. Briscoe has won twice on road courses in his O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career, but he’s seeking his first top-five finish at the Austin circuit.
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media
2. Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Started: 15th
Finished: 4th
What happened: Hocevar’s late-race effort to increase the intensity level at EchoPark grabbed its share of the headlines, but an impressive rally put his No. 77 Chevy in that position. Hocevar recovered after a flat tire at the midpoint of Stage 1, losing two laps and dropping to the back of the pack. Two free passes placed him back in the thick of it, and the 23-year-old talent did the rest.
What’s next: Sunday marked two consecutive events where Hocevar contended late, fueling the thought that a breakthrough Cup win may not be far away for the series’ 2024 Rookie of the Year. If it happens at COTA, it would reverse some recent road-course rough patches; his last six road-racing finishes have been outside the top 10.
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media
3. Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
Started: 6th
Finished: 7th
What happened: The 26-year-old driver has launched a steady start to his third full season in the Cup Series, opening with results of (ahem) sixth and seventh. At EchoPark, his No. 38 Mustang caught a piece of a pileup in the 103rd of 271 laps, but went relatively unscathed — more than many could say on such a chaotic day — the rest of the way.
What’s next: Sunday marked the first time Smith has notched top-10 finishes in consecutive Cup Series races, and it leaves him as the only driver outside of the 23XI family with two top 10s this year. At COTA, he has just two Cup Series starts, but ranks as a two-time winner there in Craftsman Truck Series competition.
Ethan Smith | NASCAR Digital Media
THREE DOWN ⬇️
1. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Started: 16th
Finished: 32nd
What happened: A rare unforced error brought an end to the day for the defending Cup Series champion, who dove low into the path of Shane van Gisbergen’s No. 97 Chevrolet on the last lap of Stage 2. SVG went on to rally for a sixth-place result on the 1.54-mile track, but the heavy damage to Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet ended up being terminal.
What’s next: Larson’s first DNF since last May’s Coca-Cola 600 netted him a six-place drop in the Cup Series standings just two races into the year. Six of Larson’s 32 Cup wins have come on road courses, but Circuit of The Americas has presented more challenges for him than others, with four straight finishes outside the top 10 there heading into Sunday’s race.
Ethan Smith | NASCAR Digital Media
2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
Started: 3rd
Finished: 36th
What happened: The tables turned in a two-week hurry for Stenhouse, who just last week finished one position short of becoming a two-time Daytona 500 winner. That result gave him a prime third-place starting spot for Sunday at EchoPark after a qualifying cancellation, but he washed out in Stage 2 after his No. 47 Chevy was collected in a multicar thicket.
What’s next: With a small sample size this season, Stenhouse plummeted from fifth to 22nd in the standings after his third DNF in the last four drafting-style races. Strikingly, he has just one top-10 finish in 45 Cup Series road-course starts, and that came at COTA with a seventh-place day in 2023.
Ethan Smith | NASCAR Digital Media
3. Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Started: 25th
Finished: 37th
What happened: Gibbs’ No. 54 was left with little place to go after a four-wide squeeze caused a Stage 2 calamity at the end of the backstretch. The crash meant an early exit for both the 23-year-old driver and Josh Berry, who was also sidelined after completing just 81 laps in the Autotrader 400.
What’s next: Gibbs has solid road-racing chops, and four of his 12 victories in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series came on twisty-type layouts. Summoning some of that road-course savvy will be key to pulling himself out of an early deficit in the Cup Series standings, where he ranks 33rd after two wrecks in two races to start the year.
