By Mike Haag, Raceday San Antonio

AUSTIN, Texas – Here’s what some of the NASCAR Cup Series driver are saying about Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.

Ross Chastain. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Ross Chastian, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1

“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.”

Austin Dillon, No. 3 Get Bioethanol Camaro ZL1

“COTA is a tough racetrack. It’s got a lot of different corners. Every corner connects to each other. COTA can be challenging because I feel like it has multiple road courses in one, and it’s one of the biggest tracks we’ve ever gone to. We’ve had some success recently on road courses so we’ll be heading to COTA with the goal of backing up some of the runs we’ve had on road courses of late. We’re really focused on being aggressive with the adjustments to the car and how I drive in the race.”

Kyle Busch, No. 8 Mark III Employee Benefits Camaro ZL1

“I would say that last year’s caution periods towards the end of the race was a challenge because you kept having to go through the restarts so thinking about what line you wanted to line up in and where you needed to be in order to position yourself for the restart all the dive bombs and the disrespect that keeps happening getting into Turn 1 is always an issue so you’ve got to be ready for that, mindful that you know that’s going to be happening so from there you hope for the best.”

Noah Gragson. Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)

Noah Gragson, No. 10 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“I like COTA a lot. It’s a lot of fun, but all of it is challenging. Going up the hill into turn one, braking, not turning too early into turn one, is crucial. It’s pretty sketchy going through turn two, the righthander down the hill, you start to get to the esses section and that takes a lot of discipline not to overdrive and get out of rhythm through there. And then it’s a really flowy track all the way through (turns) six, seven, that whole first portion, where your car placement is at the exit of the corner, which sets up your entry for the next corner, so you’re always thinking two, three corners ahead on how you want to be positioned. You’re not just thinking about, ‘Hey, if I can get into this corner fast, I can go wherever I want on exit.’ That’s going to hurt you. Then you get through turn 10, you’re going down the hill wide open, hitting the shock limiters, you’re out of control, sideways, grabbing gears. You get down into turn 11, there’s a really tight hairpin, where the transition of asphalt goes from new asphalt to old asphalt in the corner and it’s really easy to lock the left-front brake up. You take that long, sharp lefthander onto the long back straightaway and you want to get a big, good run out of that corner and drive in deep into the next hairpin. Then you’ve got a short chute into the stadium section, and that’s a really flowy and different set of corners just because you can change your line up and still be competitive. It’s easy to get lost, but it’s also easy to have different options when you’re racing guys and cross guys over. Then you go through the triple righthander and once you finish that, you’re on the edge of out of control, driving off the left-rear tire, kind of skating the thing, sliding out to the left exit of (turns) 16, 17, 18. You get into turn 19, which is a really fast timing corner, lefthander, and then into turn 20, which is the final corner on the racetrack, a little 90-degree lefthander. It kind of feels off-camber and it’s easy to overdrive it, old asphalt, and easy to lock the left-front tire up and kind of miss the corner. It’s a tough, challenging racetrack. There’s no one corner that I love, but there’s no one corner that I hate. They’re all a challenge, but they’re all a lot of fun.”

Denny Hamlin. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing

“First of all, I love the city of Austin, and the track is one of the best road courses we have on the circuit. It’s unfortunate that I haven’t run better than I have there. But what I enjoy about COTA is the challenge of it. Even though I’ve struggled, I feel optimistic every time I go there that I’ve learned something new and that it will equal speed and results when I get back there. I’m looking forward to it, I feel like we got better on the road courses last year. COTA was the first one last year and I took a step forward after that race and I feel like we made some gains, so I’m excited to see if we can put that all together with our Interstate Batteries Camry XSE this weekend. When you think of the beginning of Joe Gibbs Racing, you think of Interstate Batteries, so to have them on our car this weekend and in Iowa this summer, it’s always special. Would like nothing more than to get us back-to-back wins and doing it with Interstate Batteries on our car.”

AJ Allmendinger, No. 13 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet

“We’re going into the Cup race without really having any expectations. Hopefully we’ll unload with speed for practice, that is something we have struggled with in the past. Being the third car, we don’t have to worry about points, and we can use strategy to our advantage. I’m looking forward to running both races in COTA and hopefully we can put together a solid weekend.”

Chase Briscoe. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“COTA is an extremely long lap. There are a lot of opportunities to make mistakes there, there’s a lot of elevation. You go up into turn one and there’s this massive hill. I don’t know how many feet of elevation it is, but it’s a lot, more than anywhere else on the schedule. Then you go around a super-tight 180, and then you go back down the hill to probably the fastest-feeling part of the track – the esses where you’re just back and forth. You’re constantly on edge and you’re sliding the car around a lot. There’s a lot of time to be made up there. Then you kind of go through a slower section, I want to say it’s turn nine, it’s extremely rough. It’s one of the harder parts in our racecar because of how rough it is, which leads you down into, I believe it’s (turn) 11, which is probably one of the more crucial corners on the racetrack in terms of speed. It leads you onto the longest straightaway, so you’ve got to be really hard on the brakes, but then try to get your car pointed and straight as quick as possible and put the power down. That leads onto a really, really long straightway into a huge braking zone for what they call the stadium section, which is a really fun part of the racetrack. It’s really flat and there are a lot of different lines you can run. I don’t think anybody really runs that area the same. When you look at the fast guys, everybody’s got their own, unique line through there. And then you come to a super-long righthander, which for me is the hardest part of the racetrack, I’ve always kind of just struggled to find what works there. Out of that corner, it’s kind of off-cambered and rough, which leads you into (turn) 19, which is a lefthander. Really for me, from that long righthander, I think it’s turn 18, all the way to turn 20, that’s been the biggest struggle spot for me. It’s really rough back there and your car never really wants to react to what you want it to, so I’ve always kind of struggled through that area. And that’s a lap – it’s a really long lap, for sure.”

Kaz Grala. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Kaz Grala, No. 15 N29 Capital Partners Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“I’ve been looking forward to the road courses. With extra time on track in practice, we’ll be able to get ourselves in a good place with the handling and I feel like I know what I need for these types of races. I’ve won some sportscar races at COTA and run well in NASCAR, so I think we have potential to get a decent finish.”

Shane van Gisbergen, No. 16 WeatherTech Chevrolet

“I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of a Cup car at COTA this weekend. I know the guys at Kaulig and Trackhouse Racing will bring a fast WeatherTech Chevrolet to the track. I’m looking forward to the challenge of running double duty and hopefully going out and putting on a good show for the fans on Sunday afternoon.”

Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing

“COTA is a place that’s pretty fun for us, 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.”

Daniel Hemric. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Cirkul Chevrolet

“COTA will be a challenge of its own. It will be my first time driving these NEXTGen cars with sequential shifting, the brakes, and just the raw capability of the cars. It will be a brand-new experience for me, but I love any opportunity to grow as a driver and as a race team. Kaulig Racing has had solid, road-course success, so hopefully with this new package, we can adapt and learn quickly.”

Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops / Delo Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“COTA was one of those races that we struggled at for the road courses, mostly because of a mistake I made in qualifying. 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.”

Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Ruedebusch Development & Construction Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“COTA is a race I’ve had circled on my calendar. I’ve won there in the trucks and it’s where I got my first top-10 of 2023. I know Ryan (Bergenty) and the team will bring me the same speed we had last year, but it will come down to me executing and being technical around every turn.”

Ryan Preece. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Ryan Preece, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“I think COTA will offer an insight into a lot of things. It’s a heavy braking track and maximizing brake performance is an area that much of the field is currently looking to improve on. With the new package, COTA could show what road courses will potentially look like this season, but at the same time, it’s a track the field doesn’t have a lot of laps at.”

Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1

“I’m excited to get to COTA (Circuit of the Americas) and unload to see what we have. 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 and 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.”

Justin Haley, No. 51 Fraternal Order of Eagles Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“These races are long, and they play out in all kinds of different ways. So, I feel like I’ve been fast at COTA before and I feel like I’ve struggled at COTA before. We just have to try to do the best we can. There’s some confidence, I feel like as a driver you can make a bigger difference at a road course, you’re just trying to do your best.”