NASCAR
Stratta’s Six: EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix from COTA
Austin, Texas is fittingly home to one of the weirdest, wackiest, and wildest tracks on the NASCAR schedule–COTA. The twists and turns of the 20-corner, 3.4-mile Circuit of the Americas has yet to host a race that was not memorable. More chaos and calamity may lie ahead in this weekend’s fourth trip to Texas’ capital. Here are some drivers to watch out for who could end Sunday’s Texas throwdown in victory lane.
Tyler Reddick
COTA’s defending winner, Tyler Reddick left the field in the dust last year. Taking his first win with 23XI Racing and Toyota, Reddick led a whopping 41 of 75 laps. Perhaps the most elite road racing talent in the field, Reddick is eyeing his fourth road course win. Triple overtime couldn’t even keep Reddick from the top step a year ago. It may be another long Sunday for his competition.
One of only three drivers with a top-10 in every COTA race, Reddick hopes to keep this streak alive on Sunday. Eight top-10s in the last 10 road races have Reddick on many short lists for the win. Oddsmakers appear to be very keen on Reddick, listing him as the early favorite.
Chase Elliott
Narrowly trailing Reddick in Sunday’s betting lineup is 2021 COTA victor Chase Elliott. With the win and a fourth in both of his Texas circuit starts, Elliott has a prime chance at breaking his losing drought. The Hendrick No. 9 team has not seen victory since Talladega in October 2022, a span of 39 starts for Elliott. Still searching for his first Next Gen road course win, Elliott reflected on one of his most insane days that ended in victory lane.
“That race in particular was pretty wild with the rain and everything that was going on,” Elliott said. “One of the crazier races that I remember. We were in trouble. We were not going to make it on fuel. I was trying to get as big of a gap as I could because we were likely going to have to stop. I just didn’t want to lose any more spots than we had to. Fortunately for us, we took a gamble and it started raining hard enough that they felt like it was time to pull the plug. We were the ones leading and that was kind of that.”
COTA provides Elliott an above average chance at a possible breakthrough victory. While Elliott’s best result this year is eighth, this did occur last week at Bristol. Engine No. 9 may be trending upwards heading to a few historically good tracks for Team Hendrick.
Michael McDowell
Now with a Penske alliance, Front Row Motorsports and Michael McDowell are possibly the Ford favorite at COTA. The road course veteran has one top-10 in Austin, coming three years ago. McDowell explained how last year was a race-long battle from behind though.
“COTA was one of those races that we struggled at for the road courses, mostly because of a mistake I made in qualifying,” McDowell said. “I spun out in qualifying in turn 19 and flat-spotted the tires and started last. That kind of made a long day for myself getting back to the front and then when we got into the top five we got spun with like two laps to go and had come from the back to the front. I don’t think it was a racetrack that we struggled for speed, we just didn’t execute very well. So I’m looking forward to getting back there with a lot of the things that we learned throughout the season of making our road course program better. We should have a shot at winning the race and hopefully we can.”
“Really looking forward to this weekend, COTA is a proper road course. The racing is fun and with moving the restart zone back, that will certainly cut back on the turn one chaos. I’m looking forward to getting back there with a lot of the things that we learned last season of making our road course program better. We should have a shot at winning the race and hopefully we can.”
Should McDowell stay trouble free throughout Sunday’s race, the No. 34 may be pressuring the sport’s best for the win. This team showed the potential for flawless execution last summer on the Indy Road Course. Front Row Motorsports hope to repeat this feat to take another Playoff berth.
Ross Chastain
Calling COTA his favorite road course, Ross Chastain can never be counted out here. Two years ago Austin was the sight of his and Team Trackhouse’s breakthrough win. Aside from that win, Chastain claims two other fourth-place results here. Chastain described that racing at COTA is all about limiting self-inflicted errors.
“There’s a lot of mistakes that happen with 20 turns,” Chastain said. “There’s a lot of mistakes that happen for every driver, every lap. I can’t even dream of the perfect lap at COTA. I just want to minimize the mistakes.”
“There’s 20 brake zones and 20 acceleration zones on the other side of each corner. I can’t think of one spot that I get really excited about passing because they’re all high risk, very heavy braking. There are some new asphalt patches in some of the corners that are brake zones. So nothing is comfortable about passing at COTA because it’s really easy to slide through the apex and wipe another driver out, or get wiped out, or spin out.”
If any driver can lay claim to the title of COTA master it should be Ross Chastain. Among all drivers with three starts in Austin, Chastain’s 3.0 average finish and 35 laps led dwarf almost everyone. Trying to join his teammate Daniel Suarez as Playoff locks, Chastain could end Sunday smashing another watermelon.
Martin Truex Jr
Fresh off a Bristol runner-up result, Martin Truex Jr is another stout road racer who could be seeing checkers. MTJ has four road course wins to his name, including Sonoma last summer. Should Sunday turn into a longer run race and have few restarts, that may be Truex’s time to shine in Texas.
“COTA is a place that’s pretty fun for us,” Truex said. “But last year we got up front there and got cleaned out, so our finish didn’t really show the effort and progress we made over the course of the weekend. I was definitely worried after practice – I was not feeling too good. Your hands are so tied to these things with these short practices. I’m looking forward to the extra track time on Saturday this weekend, even though we won’t be able to work on it after practice with anything drastic. We’ve learned so much over the last couple of years about this car and what it likes and what it doesn’t, so hoping we can come with a lot more knowledge than we had this time last year and get the car where we need it to have a shot to win and run up front all day long. Our new Camry has been strong so far this year and hoping we can continue what we’ve been doing at the road courses, as well. Looking forward to this weekend with our Bass Pro Shops Toyota team.”
Coming off back-to-back Joe Gibbs Racing wins, Martin Truex Jr will try and make it a threepeat. MTJ was a close runner-up to Denny Hamlin at Bristol, with arguably the faster car. Now heading to one of the most technical courses in the country, Truex’s discipline and calculated driving style could pay dividends. If there is no late rash of chaotic restarts, MTJ may just pull off into the Texas horizon.
Alex Bowman
Picking Alex Bowman to win on a road course may be going out on a limb, except for COTA. The Hendrick driver has a second and a third over the last two races in Austin, giving him a Next Gen average finish of 2.5. Bowman was also leading late in the COTA Truck race two years ago. To put it simply, the Texas circuit is Bowman’s best road course by a country mile. Being within eyesight of a few wins here, Bowman is eager for another chance at ultimate glory.
“I’m excited to get to COTA and unload to see what we have,” Bowman said. “With the aero package being different and the little bit of repave, it will be interesting to have to adapt to. They’ve patched COTA so many different times. It has lots of different kinds of surfaces through it, it can be pretty tricky and a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to this weekend. COTA has been a good place for us.”
Much like teammate Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman is riding a lengthy winless streak and being overshadowed at Hendrick. The Nos. 5 and 24 teams have done a lion’s share of winning over the past two years, while the 48 has been locked out of victory lane. A week after a top-five run at Bristol, confidence is high in the Bowman camp. Expect COTA to be a prime chance at seeing Bowman possibly reassert himself as a championship-level threat.
The last eight road courses in the NASCAR Cup Series have seen eight different winners. While many road racing aces are heavily favored at COTA, the calamity this course provides may result in an upset. The fourth annual EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix goes green Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. The first road course of the young season may kickstart one driver’s title path.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Sean Gardner/Getty Images
