{"id":49875,"date":"2025-02-27T19:53:04","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T01:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=49875"},"modified":"2025-02-27T19:54:16","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T01:54:16","slug":"nascar-weekend-preview-circuit-of-the-americas-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/27\/nascar-weekend-preview-circuit-of-the-americas-5\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR Weekend Preview: Circuit\u00a0 of The Americas"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

NASCAR Cup race at COTA should highlight Shane van Gisbergen\u2019s strong suit<\/b><\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Tex. \u2014 The NASCAR Cup Series race at the Circuit of The Americas brings a new day on a \u201cnew\u201d track.<\/p>\n

For Trackhouse Racing driver Shane van Gisbergen, it brings a new and welcome opportunity.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Shane Van Gisbergen, driver of the #16 WeatherTech Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on March 24, 2024 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

After less than satisfying finishes in drafting track races at Daytona and Atlanta (33rd and 23rd, respectively), the road course ace from New Zealand comes to COTA as the betting favorite for Sunday\u2019s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (3:30 p.m. on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

The Cup Series will race on a shorter \u201cNational\u201d circuit this season, with the section from Turn 7 through the Turn 11 hairpin eliminated. That reduces the course from 3.41 miles (the Formula 1 circuit) to 2.40 miles.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, the race will feature 95 laps instead of 68, meaning more trips past the main grandstand and more adventures in treacherous Turn 1.<\/p>\n

Van Gisbergen surprised most of the other Cup competitors when he triumphed in his series debut in the 2023 Chicago Street Race. Now the three-time Australian Supercars champion is a known quantity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI miss that\u2014going there and no one knows who I am; I could kind of fly under the radar and do my own thing,\u201d van Gisbergen said. \u201cObviously, there are expectations now, but I\u2019m pretty good at keeping that under control myself and focusing on my own thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

SVG understands the reasoning behind shortening the course and shouldn\u2019t have difficulty adapting to the new circuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did like the long track, but I see why they shortened it,\u201d he said. \u201cMore time past the stands and more action. And the cut-through that\u2019s done (from Turn 6), we don\u2019t lose any passing spots. That extra bit (Turns 7 through 11), there\u2019s only one real passing spot, and they\u2019re kept one with the cut-through.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore laps, too. I think it\u2019s probably a good thing, a shorter track.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s race also is noteworthy as the Cup debut of Connor Zilisch, who won at Watkins Glen last year in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race. Doing double duty this weekend, Zilisch will drive a fourth entry for Trackhouse Racing, the No. 87 Red Bull Chevrolet, in Sunday\u2019s Cup race.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into my first Cup race at COTA, it\u2019s going to be a big challenge for me,\u201d Zilisch said. \u201cA lot of question marks, but I just want to go in and enjoy it and have fun. You only get to make your debut in the Cup Series once.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like it\u2019s going to be a good experience for me to go learn and run all the laps. I think that\u2019s what I\u2019m honestly looking forward to the most, just running all the laps and making the most of the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not as though the road course aficionados won\u2019t have stout competition from the rest of the Cup Series stars. William Byron and Christopher Bell, who won at Daytona and Atlanta, respectively, to start the 2025 season, finished 1-2 at COTA last year.<\/p>\n

Byron also will run the Xfinity Series race on Saturday in Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 No. 17 Chevrolet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m more than ready to get to COTA,\u201d said Byron, who escaped a last-lap crash to win the DAYTONA 500 on Feb. 16. \u201cWe\u2019ve always been fast there, and last year really showed what this team is capable of.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe course will be shorter this time, but that\u2019s where the extra laps in the Xfinity car should help. After the last two weekends of drafting, I\u2019m happy to be going to a road course that takes such technique.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Austin Hill, driver of the #21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Bennett Transportation and Logistics 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on February 22, 2025 in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Austin Hill aims to extend Richard Childress Racing\u2019s domination<\/b><\/p>\n

So far this season, Richard Childress Racing is batting 1.000, having swept all available Playoff points in the first two races of the year.<\/p>\n

Jesse Love won the season opener at Daytona in the No. 2 RCR Chevrolet. A week later, Austin Hill put the No. 21 RCR Camaro in Victory Lane at Atlanta for the fifth time in the last six races at the 1.54-mile drafting track.<\/p>\n

In addition, Hill swept the first two stages of both races. He dominated at Daytona before falling out of the race because of a rear end gear failure.<\/p>\n

Though Hill has never won a road course race, he cautions against discounting his chances in Saturday\u2019s Focused Health 250 at the Circuit of The Americas (2:30 p.m. ET on CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been so close to winning one of the road courses,\u201d said Hill, who gave team owner Richard Childress his 99th Xfinity Series win last Saturday. \u201cI hope going into COTA that we can be the one on top, and we can be sitting here talking to all of you (reporters) and have that 100th win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be extremely special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hill\u2019s path to Victory Lane won\u2019t be an easy one. Last year\u2019s NASCAR Cup Series winner at COTA, William Byron, is driving the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet that carried Kyle Larson to victory in last season\u2019s Xfinity Series race.<\/p>\n

Ross Chastain, who won the Cup race at COTA in 2022, is pulling double duty, and talented road course racers Connor Zilisch and Sam Mayer also are likely contenders for the victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service NASCAR Cup race at COTA should highlight Shane van Gisbergen\u2019s strong suit AUSTIN, Tex. \u2014 The NASCAR Cup Series race at the Circuit of The Americas brings a new day on a \u201cnew\u201d track. For Trackhouse Racing driver Shane van Gisbergen, it brings a new and welcome opportunity. After […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":45102,"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_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":[39,16],"class_list":["post-49875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-circuit-of-the-americas","category-nascar","tag-circuit-of-the-americas","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-2110341802-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-cYr","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49875"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49879,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49875\/revisions\/49879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}