Posted on by Alex Cadavid

Editor’s note: Projected finish has been updated after Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions.

Christopher Bell punched his ticket to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs after emerging late at Atlanta Motor Speedway to win a thriller last week. The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver has had ups and downs on drafting tracks, but an early win allows him to stack more victories and playoff points before the regular season concludes.

Bell could do just that today at Circuit of The Americas (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as the 20-turn, 2.4-mile road course in Austin, Texas, is a track that’s without a doubt in the driver’s wheelhouse.

RELATED: Weekend schedule

Looking at COTA in particular, Bell has two top-five finishes in four Cup races there, including a runner-up finish last year. Bell’s average start at COTA is 8.8, which is important given that in 15 of the last 17 road-course races with the Next Gen car, the eventual race winner started in the top eight. On road courses in general, Bell has two wins out of 26 starts, and last season, he scored 141 points via road courses (tied for sixth-most). Finally, he’s also in a three-way tie with Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick for the most stage wins on road courses since the start of 2022 (4).

Even after a career year in 2024, Bell still felt the No. 20 team “left a ton on the table.” This season, he’s already won earlier than he did last year, and aside from a slight dip in 2023, his numbers across the board have improved every year since his rookie season. 2025 could be the year where Bell erupts for multiple wins and has a dominant performance all around.

FANTASY: Set your lineup | Make 36 for 36 pick

OTHER DRIVERS TO WATCH

TYLER REDDICK: Three of Reddick’s eight Cup Series wins have come at road courses. Last season, he led all drivers in points scored on road courses with 160. In the Next Gen car, Reddick has the second most top fives (7), top 10s (12) and led the most laps (197) on road courses. He’ll start P1 after landing the Busch Light Pole Award.

KYLE LARSON: Listing all of Hendrick Motorsports is tempting given how much the organization excels on road courses. But Larson has been the best out of the quartet in recent years; he won twice on road courses last year and was right behind Reddick in points scored on road courses last season (151).

ROSS CHASTAIN: Chastain played spoiler last year in the Cup Series Playoffs, but Sunday is a golden opportunity for the driver of the No. 1 to lock in early. Chastain has an average finish of fourth at COTA — the best out of anyone. Plus, he and Alex Bowman are the only two drivers to net top 10s in all four Cup events at the track.

AUSTIN CINDRIC: Cindric put himself in a position to win each of the last two Cup Series races, and in both races, he’s gone home with a torn-up race car. With a sportscar racing background, he’s a bit of a road-course ringer — earning two top 10s at COTA with a best finish of sixth in 2023.

CONNOR ZILISCH: The 18-year-old phenom is making his highly anticipated Cup Series debut, and he could easily be a threat. For starters, in both his Craftsman Truck Series and Xfinity Series debuts, Zilisch made a quick impression. His truck debut was at COTA and he won the pole before later wheeling to a fourth-place finish. As for Xfinity, he won the pole and went to Victory Lane at Watkins Glen International — then did the same this weekend in Austin. It’s hard to imagine he could have similar success amongst the sport’s best, but certainly not impossible.

SHOP: Connor Zilisch gear

RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR THE ECHOPARK AUTOMOTIVE GRAND PRIX 

Racing Insights’ advanced statistical formula includes current track, current track type, recent performance, team data and pit-crew data to arrive at a projected winner and full race results. Updated on raceday with practice and qualifying factored in.

FinishCar NumberDriver
15Kyle Larson
288Shane van Gisbergen
39Chase Elliott
41Ross Chastain
545Tyler Reddick
624William Byron
720Christopher Bell
816AJ Allmendinger
917Chris Buescher
1054Ty Gibbs
1148Alex Bowman
1271Michael McDowell
138Kyle Busch
1412Ryan Blaney
1511Denny Hamlin
162Austin Cindric
1777Carson Hocevar
1822Joey Logano
1919Chase Briscoe
2099Daniel Suárez
2134Todd Gilliland
2223Bubba Wallace
2338Zane Smith
2460Ryan Preece
2547Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
266Brad Keselowski
274Noah Gragson
283Austin Dillon
297Justin Haley
3042John H. Nemechek
3143Erik Jones
3221Josh Berry
3310Ty Dillon
3451Cody Ware
3541Cole Custer
3687Connor Zilisch
3735Riley Herbst
Posted on by Alex Cadavid

AUSTIN, Texas — All week at Circuit of The Americas, the hype and media focus has centered around Connor Zilisch making his NASCAR Cup Series debut on Sunday. But beforehand, the No. 88 JR Motorsports driver went on to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at COTA. However, his teammate Carson Kvapil, driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet, wasn’t going down without a fight.

The two rising stars shared an epic battle from the final stage restart to Lap 61 when Kvapil had a right-front tire go down. The JRM teammates didn’t mind having an aggressive battle for the win, but Kvapil will keep a long memory of how Zilisch raced him in closing moments on Saturday.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: COTA

“I might have felt a little slighted there,” Kvapil said post-race. “Just seemed like every corner we would just get blasted out of the way. And I mean, it is what it is. All these guys are super aggressive whenever you get to this level, but at the same time, it’s a little bit of a ‘What the heck, man,’ so definitely gonna put that in the back pocket and remember that for next time.”

Kvapil led the field to green on the final stage restart with Zilisch lined up right behind him. Both drivers had a victory on the mind going into Turn 1 as Zilisch pushed the No. 1 Chevy wide into the corner and both JRM drivers lost out on the lead to Austin Hill on Lap 46.

It was not much longer until Kvapil returned to the top spot. On Lap 52, the No. 21 of Hill wheel-hopped heading into Turn 12, which also allowed Zilisch to take second exiting the next corner.

The next two laps, Zilisch hounded Kvapil, roughing him up the very next lap and then finally got past the No. 1 Chevy on Lap 57 when Kvapil locked up his right-front tire, creating a flat spot.

Kvapil gave it one more shot the next lap, throwing a divebomb at Zilisch into Turn 6A, leading to the teammates trading paint. Zilisch held on and Kvapil’s tire went flat a few laps later, sealing his fate with a 23rd-place finish when a possible top-five was attainable.

The Mooresville, North Carolina native didn’t have any hurt feelings with how his teammate raced him. But it was a great measure of how to race each other and battle for wins going forward.

“I would have probably liked it a little better if we didn’t get knocked out of the way a few times,” Kvapil said. “But at the same time, we’re all going for the win and kind of sets the precedent for how we’re gonna race, and we’re all battling hard trying to go for the win here.”

Kvapil made his name as an aggressive short-track racer in late models, which ultimately led him to JRM in the first place. The fact he could take his first Xfinity Series win — in his first road-course appearance nonetheless — would show how much he’s grown as a driver through 13 starts at the national series level.

“It was a hard battle,” Kvapil added. “Though I knew through the esses we were better and I was able to get back to him that one time, but he just, he was able to get away from us.”

Kvapil’s crew chief, Andy Overstreet, praised his driver for unlocking a new level in during their prep for COTA.

“He’s excelled everywhere,” Overstreet told NASCAR.com “But on road courses, like he’ll be the first say ‘I don’t really know what I’m doing,’ but he was consistent. Getting ready for this race, Connor Zilisch was struggling and visually upset because he couldn’t go as fast as Carson through the esses and stuff in our prep. So he showed there that he had to speed, and he just took it and kept getting better and better through practice.

“It’s pretty cool to see the late model driver be up there racing with the kid that’s got millions of laps around road courses.”

Kvapil and the rest of the Xfinity Series stars return to action on Saturday, March 8 (5 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Phoenix Raceway.

Posted on by Alex Cadavid

Track: Circuit of The Americas
Location: Austin, Texas
Track length: 2.3 miles
When: Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET
Where to tune in: FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Race purse: $11,055,250
Race distance: 95 laps | 228 miles
Stages: 20 | 45 | 95
Defending winner: William Byron, March 2024
Starting lineup: Tyler Reddick wins Busch Light Pole

New track layout adds a twist for drivers

With two superspeedways in the books, Circuit of The Americas presents its own wild-card nature to some of the biggest Cup Series stars aiming for a playoff bid. But different ages of asphalt throughout the track and a shortened layout that ups the lap count from 68 to 95 might be the biggest twist. The first four races at COTA were run on the full 3.4-mile circuit and specific changes come in Turns 6A-B, where drivers expect it to be a tough passing zone with possible chances for dive bombs.

The new section will affect how drivers approach their racing line on exit out of the esses (Turns 3-5) and their entry into Turn 6, making it a challenge for how they attack restarts and defend cars from charging through the field. During Saturday’s practice session, drivers were gaining aggressiveness through Turns 6A-B, gauging the best ways to find speed on corner exit, leading to a few locking up their tires. That could ultimately result in less grip during the race.

Last week’s Atlanta winner, Christopher Bell, finished runner-up in this race last year and saw some familiarity in that new section during his Saturday morning track walk.

“We don’t know how 6B and 6A are going to race yet,” Bell said. “It kind of reminds me of that section of Chicago like, maybe [Turn] 5, where it’s really tight there, and we saw a bunch of pile-ups and the track get blocked. So maybe that could happen.

“I went around there the pace car yesterday, like you’re coming off of Turn 6, and whenever you leave Turn 6, like you’re basically center punching this tire barrier. So you have to, like, awkwardly, make the car want to get back right to get your angle right for 6A to get around the tire barrier.”

MORE: Cup standings | Full 2025 schedule

That tire barrier was added to Turn 6A to essentially serve as a reference point for Cup drivers in the apex of the corner, but an addition came after Friday’s Xfinity Series practice and qualifying sessions when several drivers took notice that it would be possible to roll through the gravel and off the race track.

“I mean, it’s just really a super narrow corner,” Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman added. “So when there was nothing there, it’s just gravel on the inside, and we all would have jumped through the gravel, and there’d be gravel all over the race track on exit there. So certainly something needed to be there.”

Along with the new section, there have been several repaved sections on the circuit, especially through Turns 2-8, which adds another element in finding grip.

“They’ve repaved some sections of this track, but it’s not like repaves that we face on ovals or other tracks that we race at,” 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick said. “A lot of racing takes place on this track throughout the year, even though the surface is new for us. It’s pretty well-worn already.”

Graphic of Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman looking on.

Both Bowman and Reddick sit top 10 in points and are usual suspects to watch at COTA, as both have average finishes of fifth or better in four previous events. Reddick has a win on the old layout in 2023, which stands as his most recent road-course triumph. As for Bowman, he’s still searching for a win in Austin after finishing second, third and fourth in the last three years at COTA, respectively.

From atop the pit box…

What do crew chiefs have in focus to win Sunday’s race?

The new course layout won’t just affect the drivers — it also adds a wrinkle to crew chiefs’ plans for formulating a winning strategy, requiring them to rethink when to pit. More importantly, the race features a new tire compound that is similar to the Goodyear Eagles used in last year’s playoff race at Watkins Glen International. However, with variously aged asphalt across the course, tire wear could be a key element in the race.

View of pit road at Circuit of the Americas.
Chris Graythen | Getty Images

Reddick’s crew chief, Billy Scott, expects that race strategy and decision-making will diverge slightly compared to last year’s notebook.

“I think it’s going to play out differently,” Scott told NASCAR.com on Friday. “More because of the new tire and how the fall-off is, more so than the number of laps changing. I think that part of it is fairly consistent with what it was before. We’re still having stage breaks and all that and a one-stop in Stage 3. So I think it’s just a matter of getting an idea of where the fall-off is and how tires are.

“We’ve got some repaved sections of this track, and, you know the new layout, it’s likely going to be a little bit different than it was at Watkins Glen, but hopefully more fall-off than what we had before.”

The shortened road course and tire wear might just be the recipe that stirs up chaos throughout the field, a change in pace from a race that ran caution-free a year ago — aside from scheduled stage breaks.

Rudy Fugle, crew chief of William Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, thinks most teams will play it safe with a three-stop strategy, but the gamble for a possible two-stopper is on the table. The main factor between two or three stops will be where the cautions fall, Fugle mentioned that the redesign in Turns 6A and 6B could either lead to bent fenders or showcase a driver’s brilliance behind the wheel.

“I think that it could go two ways,” Fugle told NASCAR.com. “You know, it could be a trigger spot for some accidents, or it could be a spot where it singles it out and makes for some good racing. So time will tell. I probably give a little bit of both. There’ll be some times where urgency makes some wrecks that shouldn’t be there. And there’ll be some riding time where it kind of makes it a little technical and spread out a little bit.”

RELATED: See where drivers will pit for Sunday’s race

History tells us…

Get out front quickly and stay there. According to Racing Insights, the driver who led the most laps has won all three COTA races in the Next Gen era. This emphasizes why qualifying is extremely important when it comes to road courses: the fewer cars you have to overtake, the better your chances are of winning.

He may not be the favorite to win, but watch out for …

CHRIS BUESCHER. The No. 17 RFK Racing driver has finished eighth in the last two COTA races and has 13 top 10s on road courses since the start of 2022, which leads all drivers during that span. He has a road course win on the résumé (Watkins Glen, 2024) too, and after missing out on a playoff bid last year, this could be a good chance for Buescher to lock in early.

Fantasy update

Most of the elite road course drivers in the Cup Series stepped up during a pair of practice sessions at COTA. Shane van Gisbergen is an absolute must for your lineup, sweeping the practice sessions by nearly three-tenths of a second in first practice and more than a half second in final practice. The only changes in my lineup were dropping Ty Gibbs and William Byron in favor of AJ Allmendinger and Daniel Suárez. (Dustin Albino)

Speed reads

Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.

• Racing Insights: Full finishing order projections for Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix | Read more
• The greatest thing since ‘Sliced Bread?’: What to expect from Connor Zilisch’s Cup Series debut | Read more
• Dialing up road-course ringers: Drivers share mixed feelings on Allmendinger, SVG | Read more
• Feeling hot, hot, hot: Fatherhood brings new mentality for Bubba Wallace’s strong start | Read more
• NASCAR Classics: Rewind the tape on every Cup race at COTA | Watch races
• Paint Scheme Preview: These hot-rods are bigger and bolder, deep in the heart of Texas | View gallery

Posted on by Reid Spencer

AUSTIN, Texas — It’s hard to put Connor Zilisch off his game as the 18-year-old road-course prodigy proved once again in winning Saturday’s Focused Health 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Circuit of The Americas.

A commitment line violation couldn’t do it. Sent to the rear for pitting when pit road closed suddenly for the race’s second caution, Zilisch restarted 32nd after the first stage break and drove through the field, taking the lead from Carson Kvapil on Lap 56 of 65 at the 2.4-mile, 17-turn circuit.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: COTA

Hard contact with the Toyota of Corey Heim couldn’t do it. Fighting for position in the final stage, Zilisch slammed into Heim, knocking him off course. The wheel-to-wheel contact damaged the right-front fender of Zilisch’s No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and caused a serious tire rub under hard braking.

Hot pursuit from Carson Kvapil couldn’t do it. After making what proved to be the winning pass, Zilisch had to fend off his teammate until Kvapil’s right front tire went flat on Lap 60. That gave Zilisch all the breathing room he needed as he nursed his car to the finish line.

Runner-up finisher William Byron trimmed a four-second lead to 1.639 seconds at the finish but couldn’t mount a challenge over the closing laps.

As a result, the pole winner had his second career Xfinity Series victory, adding to his maiden win in his first start in the series last summer at Watkins Glen International.

“That was way harder than I wanted it to be,” said Zilisch, who scored the much-needed victory after respective finishes of 27th and 34th in the first two races of the season at Daytona and Atlanta. “I did not drive a clean race at all … I was kind of mentally fogged halfway through that race.

“I made way too many mistakes … I was glad we were able to fight back.”

WATCH: Connor Zilisch talks managing aggression after on-track incidents

Byron was driving the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet that won last year’s Xfinity race at COTA with Kyle Larson behind the wheel.

“My car was just kind of floppy in the short run, and I had to try to take care of it,” said Byron, who will defend his win in the NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday. “I just tried to stay with it there in the long run … I had fun. It was a good workout.

“It was good to get back into the rhythm of things, pushing the car. I think it’ll help me for (Sunday).”

Zilisch is looking forward to Sunday, too. He’ll make his Cup Series debut in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“It’s been a fun weekend, but we’ve got a big race tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to that as well,” said Zilisch, who will start 14th.

SHOP: Connor Zilisch gear

Sam Mayer ran third on Saturday, with Austin Hill, last week’s Atlanta winner, finishing fourth. Hill charged from fourth to first after a Lap 46 restart when Zilisch and Kvapil ran wide into Turn 1.

But Hill’s lead was short-lived. When he overdrove Turn 6a on Lap 52, Kvapil shot past him into the lead, and Zilisch followed into second.

Four laps later, Zilisch had the lead for good, though Kvapil made it a contest until his tire deflated.

Christian Eckes finished fifth. Jesse Love, Taylor Gray, Ross Chastain, William Sawalich and Blaine Perkins completed the top 10.

MORE: Xfinity Series standings | Xfinity Series schedule

The Xfinity Series returns to action next Saturday, March 8, for the GOVX 200 at Phoenix Raceway (5 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Xfinity Series garage concluded without issue, confirming Zilisch as the race winner.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

AUSTIN, Texas — In Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, John Hunter Nemechek will start to get the true measure of his performance.

Nemechek and Ryan Blaney are the only two drivers to score top-10 finishes at both Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway this season. Fifth in the Daytona 500 and 10th a week later, Nemechek is tied for sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings with Kyle Larson.

RELATED: Weekend schedule | Starting lineup for Sunday’s Cup race

Success on drafting tracks, however, doesn’t always translate to speed at other venues, and Nemechek is eager to see how his No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota performs at COTA on Sunday.

“I think that the first two races for us this year were about survival and putting ourselves in good spots to have good finishes and have shots to contend for a win,” Nemechek said. “I think that for us, coming into COTA, there’s a lot of unknowns. I feel like last year, we really struggled at road courses. That’s probably one of the areas that we lacked speed the most, and the cars didn’t drive very well, didn’t have very much speed.

“It just wasn’t very good for us. But, with the changes over the offseason (with new crew chief Travis Mack and major turnover on the crew), there’s a lot of new personnel and a lot of new ideas. Different cars, I would say — hopefully, faster race cars than we had last year. I’m looking forward to seeing where we stack up as far as the road course program goes and how much improvement and gains we’ve made over the offseason.”

On Friday, Nemechek indulged in a sort of “branding” different from typical sponsor relations. He went shopping for boots and burned his initials into the leather with a branding iron.

MORE: Cup Series standings

He did the same with a pair he bought as a gift for Taylor Nemechek, his wife.

Nemechek must have a heavy foot on Sunday after qualifying 33rd for the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix.

Posted on by Alex Cadavid

AUSTIN, Texas — How good is Bubba Wallace feeling, sitting fifth in points after two solid superspeedway performances and a second-place qualifying effort at Circuit of The Americas?

“I don’t know, just lucky, I guess,” Wallace joked after qualifying behind his 23XI Racing teammate Tyler Reddick for Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“Just putting in a lot of work, both for myself and the team, and it’s all starting to click,” Wallace added.

“I don’t know why I’m not over the moon excited about starting second on a road course. It just feels wonky to me. I’m not sure. But we did it, we executed, we were faster than the rest of the guys except for one,” he said, while grinning as Reddick walked into the media center for his post-qualifying presser.

Despite being involved in the Lap 197 wreck in the 2025 Daytona 500 and finishing 29th, Wallace opened Speedweeks with a valuable Duel win and scored crucial stage points at two drafting tracks that are right in the No. 23 driver’s wheelhouse. He even netted a ninth-place finish at Atlanta, signaling that the Mobile, Alabama, native is off to a hot start to kick off this year’s campaign.

But showing speed at a road course is new for Wallace, who has yet to record a top-10 finish in four visits to the Austin circuit. Plus, after being 26th fastest after the first practice session, it seemed Wallace’s road course woes would douse his flame. But not for nothing, Wallace is getting red-hot and building on his momentum week-to-week.

RELATED: Sunday’s starting lineup | At-track photos

“I think my biggest thing is we put in a lot of work in the last month for this place,” Wallace said. “So I think it’s just pushing the envelope and trusting and believing in yourself and believing in the process.”

So, is there a specific change that has given Wallace the much-needed boost for his eighth year full time at the Cup level? Perhaps entering fatherhood has shifted his mentality under the helmet. His teammate and fellow father, Reddick, has seen a change in Wallace’s approach.

“Fatherhood will change you in ways you don’t expect,” Reddick said. “I think he’s got a good approach right now and am excited to see how he continues to grow and change at being a dad and how that affects racing for him. He seems like he’s in a good place right now.”

Wallace even took the time to answer a call from his wife during his media availability — which is understandable for most married men.

“We were just talking, wife [Amanda], there you seen it talking about the baby and talking about something else, and it’s crazy how you have to compartmentalize things, so it’s cool,” Wallace explained.

It’s only two races into the year, but Wallace is certainly showing another side of him and time will tell how the first few weeks of 2025 carry him into Sunday’s race.

“I mean, it’s nice to be on a consistent roll, knowing that it could change and could be wiped out in a moment. You just have to keep it at bay and be ready for what’s next,” Wallace added. “Ever since I’ve been a part of 23XI they’ve highlighted my weaknesses, and they put the ball in my court. So I appreciate all the tools and resources. But, I think we’ve gotten better. I will say tomorrow is a total different story.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

AUSTIN, Texas — Tyler Reddick led 23XI Racing to a front-row lockout for Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Chased by teammate Bubba Wallace during the Group 2 session of time trials, Reddick turned a lap at 88.094 mph in his No. 45 Toyota to top Wallace by 0.224 seconds for the top starting spot in the third NASCAR Cup Series race of the 2025 season.

The Busch Light Pole Award was Reddick’s second at COTA, his first of the season and the 10th of his career, four of which have come on road courses.

RELATED: Starting lineup | At-track photos 

“Going into (Turn) 1, I’m like, ‘Dang, I wish that he (Wallace) would have gapped himself a little bit more,’ because I felt like I was messing his lap up, for sure,” said Reddick, who won the 2023 Cup Series race at COTA and has an average finish of 5.0 at the track.

“Talking to him after the fact, his focus was to go out and follow me and kind of see what I was going to do and try to mimic it. Certainly, he’s on the path to getting better at the road courses.

“He’s learning and if he keeps it up here soon, I’ll be having to try to battle him head-to-head for these poles. It’s been really nice to see his growth and him improve and embrace the way we have to do things…”

Chase Elliott qualified third on his second lap at the 2.4-mile road course, which has been shortened this year, resulting in a race that will feature 95 laps instead of the 68 run last year.

Carson Hocevar posted the fourth fastest lap, followed by fellow Chevrolet drivers Daniel Suárez, Shane van Gisbergen, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain. Todd Gilliland was 10th in the fastest Ford.

Connor Zilisch qualified 14th in anticipation of his first Cup Series start.

Van Gisbergen fastest in practice

On a revised track layout at Circuit of The Americas, NASCAR Cup Series drivers practiced in two separate 20-minute practice sessions split into two groups. Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen was fastest in both practice sessions, topping the leaderboard at 87.409 mph in Practice 2.

William Byron (86.892 mph), Carson Hocevar (86.853 mph), Ryan Blaney (86.801 mph) and Alex Bowman (86.742 mph) rounded the top five.

Chase Elliott (86.702 mph), Kyle Larson (86.641 mph), Kyle Busch (86.626 mph), Daniel Suárez (86.622 mph) and Ross Chastain (86.573 mph) completed the top 10 in Practice 2.

MORE: Practice results

In the first session, van Gisbergen’s No. 88 Chevrolet set the quickest time at 87.401 mph, holding off Bowman (87.146 mph) and Trackhouse teammate Connor Zilisch (87.025 mph).

Larson (86.701 mph) and AJ Allmendinger (86.684 mph) rounded out the top five.

Austin Cindric (86.642 mph), Suárez (86.576 mph), Noah Gragson (86.487 mph), Ty Gibbs (86.316 mph) and Chastain (86.309 mph) completed the top 10 in Practice 1. Both practice sessions were incident-free.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Dustin Albino

AUSTIN, Texas – Las Vegas knew the deal.

Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch entered this weekend’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas as favorites for the race victory. Not far down the list was three-time road course winner AJ Allmendinger.

While Zilisch is making his highly anticipated Cup debut and is running for an Xfinity Series championship with JR Motorsports, van Gisbergen and Allmendinger are legitimate threats to lock up a playoff spot in the third race of the 2025 Cup Series season.

Neither driver will call their shot, though, knowing how deep the Cup Series field has gotten on road courses in recent years. Since the introduction of the Next Gen car in 2022, 12 different drivers have been victorious on road courses.

COTA: Full weekend schedule | Fantasy lineup tips

“If you look at SVG, we’ve seen how fast he is. I’m always going to point to him as the favorite,” Allmendinger told NASCAR.com. “I always appreciate that people look at me as a guy that can go out and win, but I’ve won three of them. It’s not like I’ve won 15 races on the road courses. It’s not like I’m the dominant guy.”

Van Gisbergen never races with expectations, so he himself asked who was the favorite to win at COTA, the site of Sunday’s race (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“I know I’m going to be good, but there are plenty of other good drivers here,” van Gisbergen said. “There are six to eight guys who are really good on road courses, and the rest of the top 20 are great as well. It’s a pretty deep field.”

However, fellow competitors know how dangerous van Gisbergen and Allmendinger can be. Both drivers had their weekend start off right, cracking the top five in Saturday’s opening practice session. Van Gisbergen was at the top of the scoring pylon after both sessions.

“Obviously, they are strong, and the decision for race teams, you’ve got to look at where can you win to get into the playoffs,” reigning Cup champion Joey Logano said. “You look at Shane, AJ and some of these guys, they are well-rounded race car drivers and can win at other [tracks], but their true advantage when it comes to these race tracks is they are just good. They have a good chance of winning and locking themselves into the playoffs, and they would be deserving of it.”

Entering the weekend with three straight top-five finishes at COTA, Alex Bowman has a good feel for the road course. Even with the course change to a smaller layout, the No. 48 Chevrolet ranked second during the opening practice and topped the speed chart in final practice. He is banking on experience at COTA to give him a slight advantage for the weekend.

“I feel like I have a couple more races here than SVG does, at least, so that’s a good thing for me,” Bowman said. “They are super-talented race car drivers, and you know that will be fast when you go to any road course.”

It won’t only be COTA where van Gisbergen and Allmendinger are expected to run up front as the 2025 regular season is filled with five road courses. The next race where drivers will make left- and right-hand turns isn’t until June at the inaugural event at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

MORE: Drivers visit Mexico before Cup race in June

Possible playoff bubble drivers are aware that van Gisbergen and Allmendinger have the upper hand. Austin Dillon expects drivers who excel on road courses to take up at least one playoff spot this year.

“I suspect that there will be at least one to two guys with road-racing backgrounds in the playoffs,” Dillon said. “We’re all pretty good at it, but there are some guys that have more experience and raced a little more with left and right-hand turns. They are tough to beat out here, but you can’t take it away from them.”

Other weekly frontrunners aren’t as concerned and think the two drivers could be focused on the bigger picture. They also have a boost of confidence, having won multiple road-course races in recent seasons.

“It could potentially make them less dangerous because they will be more conscious of points,” Kyle Larson said. “At the same time, I think they have to take more advantage of winning a road course. I don’t know what their mindset is. Honestly, it probably doesn’t matter because they are really good anyways.”

2023 COTA winner Tyler Reddick knows that to have a shot at the season-long goal, drivers need to excel everywhere and not be a specialist at a singular craft.

“At the end of the day, unless you are the first- or second-best car week in and week out, you have to win anyways to make it into the playoffs,” Reddick said. “If you want to be a playoff contender, if you want to be a title contender, you’ve got to win races. I don’t know if it really is a thought like that for me. We came into the year knowing we needed to win races to give us the best shot to make the playoffs and then go far.”

In six Cup starts on road courses, van Gisbergen has three top-10 finishes, including a victory in his NASCAR debut at the inaugural Chicago Street Race. Allmendinger has a best finish of fifth in four COTA starts.

Posted on by Dustin Albino

AUSTIN, Texas – For the last 15 years, Jeremy Clements has been a staple of the Xfinity Series. And this weekend at Circuit of The Americas, he will celebrate his 500th career start, ranking fourth on the all-time starts list.

“That’s a long time,” Clements told NASCAR.com on Friday, ahead of on-track activity at COTA. “I did the math to get another 500 and it’s a lot; I don’t know if I’ve got that. Didn’t set out to race – there’s no number, you’re just racing every week and you’re doing it because you love it. I haven’t gotten to do it the way I’ve wanted to do it my whole career, but I’m still here and we are competitive. There are certain weekends that we can run up front and do well, and that’s what keeps me motivated to keep doing it.

“I love the driving part. That’s why I keep doing it and love about it the most.”

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Clements grew up racing dirt late models with aspirations of making it big in NASCAR. He made a handful of starts in the ARCA Menards Series before debuting in the Xfinity Series at Pikes Peak International in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Scott Wimmer was the victor on that July afternoon while Clements made just 28 laps before wrecking out.

“It was very ill-prepared,” Clements said, reflecting back on his first series start. “We were running ARCA and we wanted to dabble into the Busch Series because it paid a lot more and you could sustain it that way. We went and we weren’t ready for that. We went because they didn’t have a full field and we knew we could make the race. We were terrible.”

Four years passed before Clements made his second Xfinity start. During that period, he lost a year of his career due to a freak incident at 311 Speedway, when the drive shaft exploded and went through his dirt modified. Ten surgeries on his hand later, tendons plucked from his foot and placed in his hand, he was able to get back on the track.

Between 2007 and 2010, Clements toyed with running partial Xfinity schedules. He competed for his family team before joining JD Motorsports for 16 races in 2010. Once 2011 rolled around, Clements became a mainstay in his family-operated No. 51 Chevrolet.

For 14 full-time seasons, Clements has battled some of the series’ Goliaths. In his 256th career start at Road America in 2017, he scored his first of two wins, charging hard in the waning laps on fresh tires. Five years later, he scored a needed win at Daytona International Speedway, punching a ticket to the Playoffs.

“I love this series,” Clements added. “This series is awesome, has been a home for us and been a comfortable way to be. There’s been a lot of ups and downs and trials and tribulations – keeping it going is really tough. It keeps getting harder. Every year gets tougher.”

Throughout his Xfinity tenure, Clements has competed against some of the sport’s current superstars. He prides himself on racing clean and maximizing his days. The longevity of his career, though, is what he’s most proud of.

“I’ve seen a ton of comers and goers,” Clements stated. “A lot of teams and drivers have come throughout these years and are gone and you’re like, ‘I wonder what happened to them; I wonder what they’re doing?’

“I’m not winning every week like I want to in my perfect world, but when you’re doing this on your own, it’s damn tough.”

Entering Saturday’s Focused Health 250, Clements is 48 races shy of breaking Kenny Wallace’s record of most starts in the Xfinity Series. The pride of Spartanburg, South Carolina has no intention of slowing down, hoping to set the new record midway through the 2026 season.

“I remember when Kenny Wallace did that,” Clements recalled. “We were racing at Iowa that weekend and it was cool to see for Kenny. Kenny was a mainstay here and I look up to him. I remember racing with him numerous times, sitting in the garage BS’ing with him. I enjoyed my time with Kenny. I take things away from different drivers. I look at how I interacted with them and how much fun I had with them, how they raced on the race track. Kenny was a great driver and he was fun to race with, clean.

“When I look back, I want to be remembered that way. I want to be remembered like, ‘He was a hell of a driver, raced respectfully.’ I want to break the record and keep going. Why not? We’re right there, so I don’t know why I would stop now. I don’t have any plans on stopping.”

If Clements qualifies into every race in 2025, he will pass Jason Keller for third on the all-time list at Daytona in August. Then, he will only be trailing Wallace (547) and 2000 series champion Jeff Green (535).