The EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, the season\u2019s third race set for Sunday, March 2 (2:30 p.m. CT, TV: FOX, Radio: PRN, SiriusXM), will shift from COTA\u2019s 3.41-mile, 20-turn Full Course layout to the facility\u2019s equally challenging 2.3-mile, 20-turn National Course. The NASCAR Xfinity Series<\/a> (NXS), which returns to COTA for a fifth season, will also utilize the National Course for the Focused Health 250<\/a> on Saturday, March 1 (1:30 p.m. CT, TV: CW, Radio: PRN, SiriusXM).<\/p>\n The reconfiguration will eliminate approximately a mile of the backside of the permanent road course\u2019s traditional layout and is expected to shave roughly a minute off lap times based off early <\/span>NASCAR<\/a> simulations. The National Course layout will begin upon exit of the esses section and then return to the traditional course at the tail end of the long backstretch.<\/span><\/p>\n Fans will benefit from the race distance being extended from 68 laps to approximately 100 and providing nearly 50 percent more action in front of them than the previous Full Course layout. Additional modifications may be made to the layout, and the lap total for both the Cup Series and Xfinity Series races will be confirmed as NASCAR finalizes the National Course details.<\/p>\n \u201cThe move to the National Course will make a great race experience even better for our fans with more laps and more action,\u201d Speedway Motorsports President and CEO Marcus Smith said. \u201cFans will have more laps to cheer for their favorite driver from the best seats, and the action will come faster with lap times reduced by roughly a minute. The National Course and its new pavement will provide the drivers, teams and crew chiefs with a fresh look and a new challenge after running the Full Course the last four years at COTA.\u201d <\/p>\n From a driver\u2019s perspective, they will not only have a new layout to master but also contend with the full repave the track underwent after last season\u2019s NASCAR race weekend. Trackhouse Racing\u2019s Ross Chastain, who won the 2022 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, had the opportunity to run the existing National Course on iRacing and shared his thoughts of the simulation.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s going to be like basically going to a new track, a new town, new area,\u201d said Chastain, who drives the No. 1 Chevrolet. \u201cIt flows together nice, and (Turn) 12 (of the Full Course) will really change since we don\u2019t have that long backstretch. Once I get to (Turn) 13, though, it\u2019s all going to be the same. I\u2019ll get my normal speed I was at last year. Gosh, this place is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n While Chastain has enjoyed plenty of success on COTA\u2019s Full Course with three top-five finishes in four starts, he is looking forward to the challenge of mastering the new layout.<\/p>\n \u201cI love the challenge of the Cup Series,\u201d Chastain said. \u201cThat’s why I’ve ascended to this level, because I kept pushing myself from pro-trucks to late models to the Truck Series, Xfinity and Cup. It’s scary as heck to think about trying to compete at this level, and how good these drivers are, how good these teams are, how many people’s livelihoods depend on this race shop.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026 And this will be a race that we look forward to and put a lot of time into the simulator like we already talked about ahead of time. Look at the test data. See if one of us maybe could test and get some real, real track time and then go race.\u201d<\/p>\n The fifth annual EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix will move up from its traditional late March date to the third NCS race of the 2025 season on Sunday, March 2. The <\/span>NASCAR at COTA event will follow the season-opening Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 16, and Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, Feb. 23.<\/span><\/p>\n The weekend will also play host to the NXS on Saturday, March 1 with the <\/span>Focused Health 250 and the IMSA-sanctioned VP Racing SportsCar Challenge<\/a> on the same day.<\/p>\n Fans can take advantage of the \u201cTexas Two-Step\u201d promotion between NASCAR at COTA and Texas Motor Speedway, which plays host to its NCS race on Sunday, May 4. Speedway Motorsports<\/a> will offer ticket purchasers of either NCS race a 20 percent discount if they would like to attend both. Click HERE<\/a> for more information on the \u201cTexas Two-Step\u201d promotion or to purchase tickets.<\/p>\n Tickets:<\/strong><\/p>\n Tickets for children ages 12 and under are just $10 for the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix NCS race and free for the NXS Focused Health 250 and IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge. For individual tickets, weekend packages and camping, fans can visit NASCARatCOTA.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Follow Us:<\/strong><\/p>\n Keep track of all things NASCAR at COTA by following on <\/a>Facebook<\/a>, <\/a>Twitter<\/a> and <\/a>Instagram<\/a> (@NASCARatCOTA). Keep up with all the latest information on the NASCAR at COTA <\/a>website<\/a> and mobile app.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Courtesy of NASCAR at COTA AUSTIN, Texas \u2013 The fifth running of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) season will arrive with a distinctive new look and feel for both drivers and fans alike at Circuit of The Americas (COTA). The EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, the season\u2019s third race set for Sunday, March 2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":48932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[38,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-circuit-of-the-americas","category-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-cJb","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/NewCOTAcourse.jpg?fit=640%2C280","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48929"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48933,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48929\/revisions\/48933"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/NewCOTAcourse.jpg?resize=640%2C280\")
<\/p>\n