For the first time on a race weekend, we saw what the Next Gen car looked like on a road course. It’s blisteringly fast through the corners and can turn on a dime, as the car was developed to handle well when turning left and right. As for fantasy players, there were a few drivers who entered the weekend as a race favorite that struggled in either practice or qualifying. Among them were AJ Allmendinger (will start 20th) and William Byron (24th).
NEXT IN LINE: Ryan Blaney, Cole Custer, Christopher Bell and Kurt Busch
RISING: Earlier this week, Daniel Suárez stated he thought one of his best shots of winning a race this season would come at COTA. He wasn’t kidding. The No. 99 Chevrolet was second in practice (quickest of Group B) and turned the second-quickest lap in qualifying, just .026 seconds off the pole.
Last year, Tyler Reddick proved he could run well on road courses, earning three top-10 finishes, including a runner-up result in the series’ most recent outing at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL. When testing the Next Gen at the ROVAL, Reddick was always near the top of the speed chart. Entering the weekend, my theory was to hang low on Reddick and save him for later in the regular season, given he’s been fast each race this year. Not now. The No. 8 car will start fourth, and spoiler: he’s my pick to win the race.
FALLING: Towards the end of the Gen 6’s tenure, Hendrick Motorsports had a grip on road courses. On Saturday, the organization looked spotty, however, as only Alex Bowman cracked the top 10 in qualifying. That said, Chase Elliott will start 12th and Kyle Larson is right behind him in 13th. William Byron was a disappointing 24th. Until Elliott misses it on a road course, however, he will be in my lineup. I could understand saving him, though, for races that come later in the season.
Allmendinger looked good in practice, ranking eighth. Qualifying was a different story as the No. 16 team will have to come from midpack. That isn’t too concerning, though, as Allmendinger raced in the middle of the pack for much of the event at Indianapolis last August and still won.
FEATURED MATCHUPS
AJ Allmendinger vs. Chase Elliott: I still like Elliott here, though Allmendinger’s familiarity with sports cars could help. The No. 16 car had a poor qualifying lap and will start the race having to gain track position.
William Byron vs. Kyle Larson: Based on recent success at road courses, the edge has got to go to Larson’s No. 5 car. However, as noted above, I expected more from both cars in practice and qualifying.
Austin Cindric vs. Martin Truex Jr.: This is the easiest of the four matchups, Cindric. While Truex has four road course wins in the Cup Series, the No. 19 Toyota looked a touch off from Cindric’s No. 2 Ford on Saturday. But Cindric did spin in qualifying, so anything is possible.
Kyle Busch vs. Denny Hamlin: After his qualifying lap, Kyle Busch was none-too-pleased, cussing on his team’s radio. These Joe Gibbs Racing drivers are fairly even on road courses throughout their careers, but I give a small advantage to Busch because he got additional laps in the Truck Series race on Saturday at a relatively new track to the Cup circuit.
AUSTIN, Texas — The first Dash 4 Cash field on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is set, and it has a familiar feel to it — mainly since the team that made a clean sweep of the four-race bonus program last year is positioned for another strong opening bid.
JR Motorsports teammates Noah Gragson and Sam Mayer finished fourth and fifth, respectively, Saturday at the Circuit of The Americas, joining race-winner AJ Allmendinger and runner-up Austin Hill in the four-driver field for next weekend’s Dash 4 Cash opener at Richmond Raceway. Saturday’s Pit Boss 250 served as a qualifier for the annual incentive program, and that quartet made up the top finishers among eligible Xfinity Series regulars. (Cup Series regular Cole Custer was third.)
Gragson claimed the $100,000 bonus three times last year, and JRM teammate Josh Berry netted the other. Gragson enters Richmond as the series points leader, with an unmatched five top-five results in six races this season.
“I think today, this is one of my I guess worst road courses, and we put in a lot of hard work over the wintertime and this weekend, trying to be better and felt like we executed well as a team and got a lot of momentum with just the start of this year,” Gragson said. “We’re just going to try to keep going. We’ve had success at Richmond and Martinsville, the two Dash 4 Cash races up first, and hopefully we can go have a solid day next weekend.”
Allmendinger was dominant in leading 27 of 46 laps, and Hill also had a wide gap over his nearest pursuers at the end. The JRM duo, however, had a more adventurous route to those prized spots in the running for the Richmond payday. Gragson fought through illness — ” definitely didn’t feel up to par, but never quit” — and drove on after an unfortunate bump-up with teammate Justin Allgaier, who limped to 33rd place after battling transmission woes.
“It’s not intentional by any means,” Gragson explained post-race. “I hate it for those guys, but you know, I saw a hole and I was there, and he was going for the same spot, trying to cross whoever it was over and just got collected together. You don’t want to get into teammates, definitely not intentional and hate it for them, but we’ll keep our heads up on the 9 team and keep working hard.”
Mayer — in his first full Xfinity Series season — made the most of his first opportunity at Dash 4 Cash eligibility, converting a last-minute move to get into the Richmond field. He tracked down and bypassed Myatt Snider after a hard-fought contest for fifth in the final lap.
“I was really determined to get that fifth place because I wanted another top five on my resume,” said Mayer, whose only other Xfinity top five was a fourth at Martinsville last fall. “I had to run the 31 (Snider) down, and we battled for like the last third of a lap, side by side pretty much the whole time. It was actually pretty cool, it was fun racing hard, racing clean, we’re still cool obviously. I got into him a little bit in the last corner and just shoved him up a little bit to get that run. But it was good, hard racing. Obviously, I wanted that top five, and I’ll do anything to take it.”
The effort marked a bright spot in what’s been a trying season for the 18-year-old driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet. Aside from a solid sixth-place run last month at Auto Club Speedway, Mayer’s other four finishes had fallen outside the top 20. Saturday’s outcome provided him with both a four-position rise to ninth in the Xfinity standings and a much-needed morale boost.
“The look on my face can say it all really,” said a beaming Mayer from pit road. “We were in such a hole going into this one, and not by anything we did on our fault. It’s just things happen in racing and you can’t do anything about it. We were in a pretty deep hole, but we did a really good job of digging out of it today, and obviously we have a lot more digging to do, but this is a fantastic start.”
AUSTIN, Texas — AJ Allmendinger was fast and agile when he needed to be Saturday afternoon negotiating Circuit of The Americas and reminding the field just why he’s considered one of NASCAR’s road-course superstars.
Allmendinger’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet took the checkered flag by 2.039 seconds over Austin Hill’s No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in the first road-course race of the year. It was the 40-year-old veteran’s first NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season and 11th of his career. He has seven road-course wins on six different tracks (series high).
He led early and he led late, just when he needed to, holding off the field on two dicey restarts and controlling the race the final 14 laps en route to the checkered flag.
NASCAR Cup Series regular Cole Custer turned in an inspired comeback from a midrace pit road speeding penalty to finish third. JR Motorsports driver Noah Gragson was fourth — his fifth top-five finish this season. Gragson’s teammate Sam Mayer finished fifth.
With their work, Allmendinger, Hill, Gragson and Mayer are now eligible to win a $100,000 bonus next week in the Dash 4 Cash sweepstakes opener at Richmond Raceway. The top finishing driver among them in the ToyotaCare 250 will take the check, courtesy of sponsor Comcast.
“I told myself yesterday, I was not happy with where I put ourselves,” said Allmendinger, who qualified fourth.
“Honestly, all these men and women here at Kaulig Racing between the Cup side of it and the Xfinity side of it, they don’t’ sleep during the week, they’re busting their tales and that’s why I’m so fricking hard on myself sometimes because they deserve to win more than anybody here. And I just want to do it for them. Thankfully, we got it done today.”
And it wasn’t easy. Pole-winner Ty Gibbs and fellow NASCAR Cup Series drivers Ross Chastain and Custer joined Allmendinger at the front of the field for most of the early going. Gibbs and Chastain exchanged the lead with Allmendinger, but both ultimately suffered setbacks during the 46-lap race around the 3.41-mile, 20-turn circuit.
Gibbs’ Toyota suffered a flat tire and put him well back in the field (36th place) after he was forced to pit during a green-flag run. He recovered to finish 15th. Chastain ran among the front pack all the way until the end of the race when he was collected on the final restart with seven laps remaining and finished 17th.
Myatt Snider finished sixth in a final-lap duel with Mayer. Brett Moffitt finished seventh with Jade Buford, Miguel Paludo and Sheldon Creed — who won the pole position for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race earlier in the day — rounding out the top 10.
The runner-up Hill was especially encouraged because he was able to keep Allmendinger honest in the closing laps.
“All in all, it was a solid effort for our Global Chevy Camaro,” Hill said, adding, “I’ve always felt like I could get around road courses. I felt like I proved it last year in the trucks winning at Watkins Glen and it just kind of build the momentum and the confidence going forward into this year that when we come to road courses, we can get the job done.”
With the showing at COTA, fourth-place finisher Gragson holds a single-point lead over Allmendinger in the Xfinity Series driver standings with Gibbs third, 31 points back.
The Xfinity Series’ next race is Saturday, April 2 at Richmond Raceway (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Note: Inspection in the NASCAR Xfinity Series garage revealed no issues, validating Allmendinger’s victory.
AUSTIN, Texas – Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race turned when the top three contending trucks bashed door handles on the next-to-last lap at Circuit of The Americas. As fate would have it, two of the three were a pair of Cup Series double-dippers with a bit of history.
Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch and Trucks regular Stewart Friesen all came together in Turn 11, the 3.41-mile course’s sharp, knife-edge left-hander in the second overtime attempt in Saturday’s XPEL 225. Their in-formation jam-up allowed Zane Smith to scoot free to the lead and hang on for a comfy 3.529-second victory.
Bowman, making his first Camping World Trucks start since 2017, was in third place in the Spire Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet halfway through the first lap of overtime No. 2. He drove inside the No. 52 Chevy of Friesen, and their battle became three-wide with Busch’s No. 51 Toyota on the far outside. Bowman’s truck failed to sufficiently turn and all three scraped wide, giving Smith free passage.
Busch led a race-high 31 of the 46 laps but finished third. Friesen took ninth, and Bowman placed 25th. Bowman walked over for a brief conversation with Busch on pit road but later said that no clean resolution was reached.
“To the point where he’s not mad at me? No, but it cost him a race, right? So he’s gonna be mad,” Bowman said. “But we race each other long enough and talk enough, and know each other well enough that I feel like he absolutely knows that I didn’t drive in the corner and try to crash him. So I wasn’t even past my normal brake marker. I guess the angle that the 52 put us at, we were never going to make the corner and once you’re committed, it’s like nothing you can do. Like if I would have stayed straight, I would have made the corner and still crashed the 52 and the 51, because I would have spun the 52 into the 51, once he turned left. I hated it, but it’s part of it.”
The at-odds feelings between Bowman and Busch stemmed from this year’s Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Busch questioned the integrity of Bowman’s victory there and at other venues over the team radio. Bowman made light of the situation after his Vegas triumph by printing up T-shirts that poked good-hearted fun at his supposed habit of “backing into wins.”
Busch said only “it’s just racing” when asked about his talk with Bowman. On the cool-down lap, his Kyle Busch Motorsports team apologized and told him that overtime “just didn’t work out.” Busch’s reply: “Never does lately.”
“We had a great race all day,” Busch said later. “I really appreciate everyone at KBM and their hard work and everyone there who does a good job building such fast trucks. I felt like we deserved that one, but it doesn’t matter if you deserve it or not. It’s just a matter if you get it. You have to be the first one to the checkered flag to win these things and we just weren’t.”
Friesen salvaged his third consecutive top-10 finish, which bumped him up one position to third in the Camping World Truck Series points. He lamented that the opportunity to race for his first win of the season shriveled a lap and a half from the checkered flag.
“When the guy goes in there wide open with no chance of making the corner, like he cannonballed me, knocked me into Kyle then we all three of us went flying off the end of the track and then it allowed Zane in the 38 to drive by everybody,” Friesen said. “So I mean, the 7 (Bowman) was fast. He was extremely fast. He’s probably faster than me and Kyle and could have raced us. could have just loosened me up or just raced us a little bit rather than just throw a Hail Mary in there with a lap and a half to go and kill all our chances at a win.”
AUSTIN, Texas – Ultimately, Zane Smith was out front when it paid off Saturday afternoon at the Circuit of The Americas road course. He led only 11 of the 46 laps – winning Stage 1, Stage 2 and then taking the race lead with two laps remaining in the second overtime period to earn the victory in the XPEL 225 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.
It marked Smith’s second win of the 2022 season – fifth of his career — and the second consecutive win at the 3.41-mile, 20-turn COTA circuit for his Front Row Motorsports team, who celebrated in Victory Lane last year with driver Todd Gilliland.
Veteran Kyle Busch – who led a race best 31 laps – held the point on the start of that final overtime. But his closest challengers Stewart Friesen and Alex Bowman went in hard to the Turn 11 hairpin turn making it a three-wide door-to-door-to-door trying to wrestle the lead from Busch, the series all-time winningest driver.
As that was happening, the 22-year-old Californian Smith simply drove underneath of the slowed trio, taking the lead and then holding off John Hunter Nemechek for the win by 3.529 seconds.
“Once I got back up there, I was doing my best to read how those guys were racing,” said Smith, who drives the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford.
“It happened like that in such dramatic fashion and had to come from the back, it’s just a huge statement for this team really. Every single race this year I’ve been in contention to win.
“This whole team, just awesome to see how it all worked out,” he added.
“Scored some awesome points today,” Smith said.
Busch recovered to finish third, followed by 2021 series champion Ben Rhodes and Busch’s teammate Chandler Smith. Christian Eckes, Tyler Ankrum, Carson Hocevar, Friesen, and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top 10.
Had his bold move to the front paid off, it would have been Friesen’s first win in the series since 2019 and the first career victory for Hocevar, who was also running among the top three late in the race but got shuffled back in the wild restart action. Parker Kligerman, who had run among the top five all afternoon, also ran out of gas and ultimately finished 19th.
“Felt like we deserved that one, but it doesn’t matter if you deserve it or not, you’ve got to be the first one to the checkered flag and we were not,” Busch said.
The race featured 10 lead changes among eight drivers and had eight caution periods.
“In races like this, you know it’s never over till it’s over and that (race) is the very definition of that,” Smith said.
The top-five effort keeps championship leaders Smith and Rhodes close. Smith now holds a 15-point edge over Rhodes.
The series takes a break before returning to competition April 7 in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 200 at Martinsville Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Note: Post-race inspection in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is complete. There were no issues. Zane Smith is the official race winner.
AUSTIN, Texas – RFK Racing co-owner and driver Brad Keselowski made his first remarks Saturday since NASCAR officials handed down severe penalties to his No. 6 Ford team two days earlier. The punishment for a modified part of the car’s Next Gen body was harsh – 100 points, 10 playoff points, a $100,000 fine and four-race crew chief suspension – but the 38-year-old driver said he’s looking ahead after its delivery.
“I guess I don’t think that way. I don’t think in terms of surprised or not surprised,” Keselowski told NASCAR.com on his way out of the Cup Series garage at Circuit of The Americas. “Just try to move forward here.”
The strict, L2-level penalties remained the buzz of the garage Saturday, on the eve of Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (3:30 p.m. ET, PRN, SiriusXM) at the 3.41-mile road course. The infraction was found after a thorough inspection at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, N.C., and it marks the first L2 penalty for unapproved modifications to Next Gen-specific parts since the car’s competition debut this year. The team said Friday that it intends to appeal.
NASCAR announced Jan. 24 that a tougher deterrence system would be in place for the 2022 season. The penalties to RFK did not reach the steeper L3 level that could include a repeal of the team’s postseason eligibility, but fellow drivers said the message remained clear.
“I’m pretty sure it scares the hell out everyone, which is probably some of the attention,” said Joey Logano, Keselowski’s former longtime teammate at Team Penske. “NASCAR just said they’re gonna put the foot down. That’s like I was saying earlier, we don’t know what it was and what happened, but we do know the penalty was huge. So, I don’t know, but we know you probably shouldn’t screw around.”
The penalty knocked Keselowski’s No. 6 operation from 16th to 35th in the Cup Series standings, placing it last among full-time teams. Chris Buescher, Keselowski’s teammate in the No. 17 Ford, is now the highest-ranked RFK Racing driver – in 19th place and looking for his first top-five result of the year.
Buescher was not specific when asked about the current mood at the RFK shop, but said he didn’t feel any additional motivation or burden to carry the team’s baton in light of the penalties.
“We put pressure on ourselves every week, putting in our full effort every week. Nothing really changes,” said Buescher, who qualified 22nd to Keselowski’s 26th on Saturday. “We talked about that a lot, we’re here to put in everything we can to try to win every week. … The reality is wins get you in the playoffs and as you go and can be in contention to win consistently, the rest will come with it.”
The road ahead for the No. 6 team hinges on the notice of appeal that it announced Friday. The matter will be heard and considered by a three-member group from the National Motorsports Appeals Panel.
The No. 6 team could have deferred the four-race suspension issued to crew chief Matt McCall pending the appeal, but Josh Sell is listed in that role on the updated team roster portal for Sunday’s event.
“I’m not sure I have an answer for that other than we had committed to Josh Sell being the crew chief before the appeal was founded,” Keselowski said, “so we’re going to stick with that plan.”
In terms of climbing out of the deficit, a points-paying regular-season victory would still qualify Keselowski for a Cup Series Playoff berth – provided he meets all other criteria for eligibility. That stipulation includes reaching and staying among the top 30 in Cup Series points, a focus that starts Sunday at COTA and beyond.
“I mean, every day,” Keselowski said. “Yep, every day.”
Practice and qualifying proved to be a bit of trouble for some in the road-course “ringers” group at Circuit of The Americas this week.
Former NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year and sports car ace Andy Lally did not get to make a qualifying lap and will have to serve a penalty at the beginning of Sunday’s race because of an inspection violation for his No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Ford. He will start last in the 39-car field.
Joey Hand, another standout IMSA road-course racer, had a tire problem in practice and the crew was unable to repair the No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford in time for him to make a qualifying lap, so he will also start from the rear of the field in 38th place.
One of the sport’s most popular drivers, Boris Said, is returning to competition — making his first Cup Series start since a 30th-place finish in 2017 at his hometown track, Watkins Glen International. Said’s best-career Cup showing was third at Watkins Glen in 2005. He won a NASCAR Xfinity race in 2010 at Montreal.
Said, who has now been racing for four decades, will start the No. 66 Motorsports Business Management Ford 37th of the 39 cars.
Echopark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas (COTA)
(⏰ 3:30 p.m. ET | 📺 FOX | 📻 PRN, SiriusXM)
Everything you need to know for Sunday’s twists and turns in Texas, the sixth regular-season NASCAR Cup Series race of the 2022 campaign.
Race-day info 📝
Where: Austin, Texas Approximate start time: 3:30 p.m. ET TV/Radio: FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Grand Marshal: Michael Waltrip Pace-car driver: The Undertaker, WWE superstar Forecast: Sunny, with a high near 86 degrees, according to NOAA.gov Race distance: 68 laps | 231.88 miles Stages: 15 | 30 | 68 Pit-road speed: 40 mph Caution car speed: 50 The Purse: $8,799,709 COTA 101: Get the full lowdown| Weekend schedule
Starting lineup: How drivers stack up Sunday Pit stalls: Assignments for Sunday | Expert pit analysis
Key things to watch 🔑
Practice and qualifying notes:Ryan Blaney bounced back after an early practice incident, blazing his way to his second Busch Light Pole Award of the season. While names like Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and AJ Allmendinger have dominated road courses as of late, a mix of new faces atop the leaderboards raised eyebrows and surely shuffled around favorites for Sunday’s race. Trackhouse Racing continued to flash its early-season strength with Daniel Suárez missing out on the pole by just .026 seconds.
Cole Custer also made an early statement. His name was toward the top of the practice and qualifying leaderboards throughout the morning, and he emerged as a serious contender for Sunday. He will start third. We’ve seen plenty of parity on ovals to start the Next Gen era. And from an early assessment, it looks like it will translate to road courses, as well. | Practice, qualifying recap
Big story line: Chase Elliott hasn’t had a terrible start to the season, like some drivers with high pre-season expectations. After his best finish of the season — sixth — at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Elliott took the lead over Joey Logano in the Cup Series points standings. Yet six races into the season and after each of his teammates has already reached Victory Lane in 2022, questions along the lines of ‘When will it be the No. 9’s turn?’ have begun to roll in. Circuit of The Americas, a 20-turn, elevation-changing gauntlet, could not have come at a better time for the road-course ace. The No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports wheelman won this race a year ago and has finished first in six of the last 11 races with left-and-right turns. In those last 11 road-course races, he’s only finished outside of the top four twice. Even though he’s winless so far this season, he’s arguably been the most consistent driver to this point. And Elliott remains one of the key drivers to beat Sunday in Texas. | BSD: Does Elliott need to win at COTA?
Who’s hot? Who’s not?: Is there a driver on the planet as in-form as Ross Chastain is right now? He’s finished top three in the last trio of races, including a pair of runner-ups. And while he’s yet to cross the finish line first, his consistency makes him a threat to win every week. While he doesn’t have the strongest history at road courses, he did finish fourth here last season. Chastain is a serious contender and is on pace for the best season of his entire racing career. A driver trending in the opposite direction is Austin Cindric. Cindric opened the season with an electrifying win in the Daytona 500 but has been relatively quiet since. Four straight finishes of 12th or worse leaves you scratching your head a bit. But the young, talented, multifaceted racer should return to form on a familiar road course where he placed fifth in the Xfinity Series race in 2021. | See where each driver ranks so far
Driving under the radar: One of the most impressive drivers this season has been Kurt Busch. The veteran has had a very strong start with his new, young 23XI Racing team. Busch leads the series with a 9.6 average finish compared to his 21.6 average start. That means he’s getting much of his work done in the race even when he doesn’t qualify well. The No. 45 team still hasn’t flashed race-winning speed and they’ve only led eight laps this season. But with back-to-back top fives and a strong start to another title-seeking campaign, Busch should have a lot of confidence heading into COTA. | Cup Series standings
Joey Logano speeds down a straight during last year’s race. | Getty Images
Race-day staples ✅
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
Read up on the top headlines from the week leading up to Sunday’s race.
• Back at COTA: Kyle Busch out to build on ‘decent speed’ so far in COTA return | See Busch’s take
• The legend himself: WWE’s Undertaker set to drive pace car | Learn more
• Hold your horses: No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports team will serve penalty | Inspection report
• Early reps: Blaney tops qualifying, Busch tops practice | Read full recap
• Technical analysis: How Next Gen’s new features impact flexibility at road courses | Expert insight
• Hammer down: RFK Racing penalized 100 points, fined $100,000 | Team will appeal| More details | Video breakdown
• Women’s History Month Spotlight: Terrin Waack | Read more about award-winning journalist
• Watching Wallace: Bubba Wallace to run Xfinity Series race at COTA with JGR | Full story
• Start your engines: Waltrip named Grand Marshal for Sunday’s race | Read more
• At-track photos: First look at NASCAR action at COTA, updated throughout the weekend | See photos
Get in on the action 💰
Think you know NASCAR? Put your mettle to the test with gaming, fantasy.
NASCAR Creative Design
• Play it LIVE: Full guide to 2022 NASCAR Fantasy Live game | Get the FAQ
• Placing your picks: Ringers, Allmendinger and bad bets at COTA | Top tips for Sunday
• Backseat Bets: Who wins head-to-head matchups at COTA? | Hear what the experts said
• BetMGM: Elliott, Allmendinger headline this week’s matchups | Who’s your pick?
• The Action Network: See which prop bet to jump on | Find out here
• Weekly props: Boris Said or the regular ringers? | Make your picks
• Going all the way: NASCAR betting: 2022 Cup Series championship odds | See them here
Another chance at COTA 🤠
Sunday marks the second-ever NASCAR race at this Texas track. Take a look back at some important details.
Hard-hitting, race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.
• Chevrolet has won 10 of the last 11 road course races and only one has been won by a driver over 30 (AJ Allmendinger).
• The final green-flag stretch was 10 laps or fewer in eight of the last 10 road-course races. • COTA is the first of six road-course races on the 2022 Cup Series schedule. Last season’s race here was the inaugural NASCAR event at the track.
• Ross Chastain is the first driver without a Cup Series win to finish top three in three straight races since Alex Bowman in 2019.
• COTA is the fourth different track where the Cup series has competed in the state of Texas: Texas World Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Meyer Speedway in Houston.
Say what? 🎙
Getty Images
Notable quotes from the stars of the sport heading into Sunday’s race.
• “We’re excited to go back to COTA. We did not run well there last year at all, so I feel like we want to show that we’re better than we were running even before the crash knocked us out of the race. There’s no rain in the forecast this weekend, so we should be able to put on a much better show than what we had there last season with all the rain and visibility issues. I’m looking forward to it. I think it should be a fun race.” — Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
• “I think it gives me a lot of confidence, especially since we talk about the Next Gen car being an equalizer, and then COTA also. Everyone has only been there one time and I didn’t realize talking to my teammate Michael McDowell that they only ran like one lap in the dry all weekend, which was for qualifying I believe. We were able to practice in the dry the day before and even that I feel like I have more laps in the dry than anyone there, so I’m just really looking forward to it. It’s a beautiful race track. I love road course racing in general. It’s a lot of fun. It seems like you’re always busy inside the car, so, overall, I’d say I have a lot of confidence going to COTA and I’m just super excited about it in general.” — Todd Gilliland, driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford on the confidence from winning at COTA last year in the Truck Series.
See where your favorite driver will pit for Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
AUSTIN, Texas — Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney will start from pole position in Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), becoming the first multi-time pole winner of the 2022 season — tallying eight in his career.
Blaney’s lap of 92.759 mph around the 3.41-mile, 20-turn road course in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford held up to a late charge by Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez, who edged Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer for the outside of the front row but was still just .026 seconds off Blaney’s fastest lap.
“I wouldn’t really say I’m a great road-course racer by any means, I enjoy road courses a lot but never been in great contention to win one,” Blaney said, adding, “So I would say I’m an average road-course racer. And honestly what made me happy about the pole was that we were fifth in our (first round) group and barely made the Round of 10 and then picked up half a second from first round, so I was as proud we picked up that speed.”
Custer will start third, lining up alongside Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick. Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman, Team Penske’s Joey Logano, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley and Team Penske rookie Austin Cindric rounded out the top 10.
It was quite the day’s comeback for Blaney, 28, who went off course and hit the soft barriers during opening practice but was able to rebound to the top position when it mattered most.
“Talk about an up-and-down day for sure, from putting it in the barriers on my third lap and not knowing if the car was killed, if we would have to go to a backup, what it was going to take to fix it,” Blaney said, noting the incident with the barriers knocked his left-side mirrors off, preventing him from being able to really see the damage on the left side.
“I got out of the car and looked at it and it was scuffed up but not too bad,” he said. “They went through everything thoroughly and nothing was bent so got really lucky, honestly from a mistake of mine. Really lucky we hit those plastic blocks.”
Notably absent from the final 10-car round were defending COTA race winner Chase Elliott, who was 12th fastest in qualifying. His teammate and the reigning series champion Kyle Larson was 13th fastest.
Kyle Busch, a four-time road-course winner, was only 15th fastest and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. — another four-time road-course winner — was 17th fastest. Road-course ace A.J. Allmendinger was 20th — fast in practice but having a hiccup in qualifying.
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Busch topped the lone practice session of the morning, capitalizing on a seven-lap run and a 132.455-second lap time at a top speed of 92.68 mph. The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing machine was the only Toyota in the top 12 on the leaderboard. JGR teammate Christopher Bell was next in line in 13th, more than a second behind.
Harrison Burton (fourth) and Blaney (seventh) led the Ford group at 92.436 mph and 92.376, respectively.
Chevrolet finished with the most drivers inside the top 10 after practice, led by Trackhouse Racing: Suárez (second), Bowman (third), Reddick (fifth), Ross Chastain (sixth) and Allmendinger (eighth). Chevrolet has won 10 of the last 11 road-course races.
