The fifth edition of the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix is arriving sooner and with a new look at Circuit of The Americas (COTA).

The NASCAR at COTA doubleheader moved from its traditional late March date to this coming weekend as the third race of the NCS and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) seasons. It also arrives with a fresh look as both series will shift from the 20-turn, 3.41-mile Full Course to the equally challenging 17-turn, 2.4-mile National Course layout.

The move will provide more action in front of the fans in attendance, with shorter lap times and additional laps adding roughly 50 percent more action past them. Sunday’s NCS EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix will move from 68 laps and 231.88 miles to 95 laps and 228 miles. Saturday’s NXS Focused Health 250 will move from 46 laps and 156.86 miles to 65 laps and 156 miles (251.058 km). Meanwhile, the drivers in both series will have to get a handle on the nuances of the new layout quickly, beginning with Saturday morning’s opening practice.

The new look will also include the debut of the IMSA-sanctioned VP Racing SportsCar Challenge (IMSA) during the NASCAR at COTA weekend.

On-track activity begins Friday with practice and qualifying for the NXS and IMSA. On Saturday, the NXS will compete at 1:30 p.m. CT with the Focused Health 250 (TV: CW, Radio: PRN, SiriusXM). IMSA will stage two 45-minute races that same day, one at 8:40 a.m. and the second at 5 p.m. (TV: Peacock). NCS practice and qualifying (TV: Amazon Prime) are also set for that day, beginning at 10 a.m.

The weekend culminates with Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, beginning at 2:30 p.m. (TV: FOX, Radio: PRN, SiriusXM). Click HERE for the full weekend schedule.

Here’s a look at the “Fast Five” storylines heading into the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix weekend:

  1. Team Penske has dominated the first two races of the NCS season but has been unable to convert that success into a victory. Joey Logano, Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney have combined to lead 38 times for 256 of the combined 467 laps run at Daytona and Atlanta – an impressive 54.8 percent clip – but have just one top-five finish to show for the performances.

Cindric paced Team Penske with a race-best 59 laps led in the Daytona 500 that resulted in an eighth-place finish. Logano led 43 but finished 35th due to an accident while Blaney led 23 and finished seventh. In total, Ford-powered Team Penske led 26 times for 125 of the 201 laps run in the season-opening Daytona 500.

The trio was on point once again in Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, leading 12 times for 131 of the 266 laps. Logano led eight times for a race-high 83 laps but finished 12th. Cindric led three times for 47 laps and was 28th. Ironically, Blaney led just one lap but finished fourth for the organization’s first top-five effort of the season.

Despite not coming away with any wins, Blaney ranks first in the NCS standings while Cindric is fourth and Logano 11th.

They arrive at COTA where they have combined to lead 35 laps (Logano, Cindric 17 each), earned a pole position (Blaney, 2022) and have recorded four top-10 finishes, led by a third by Logano in the inaugural 2021 race. The career laps led at COTA by Logano and Cindric rank fourth best.

After touring Austin earlier this month (content from Blaney’s tour of Austin with wife Gianna), Blaney looked ahead to returning for the race weekend.

“The course is changing, it’s a little bit shorter course, so that’ll be a change for us to kind of prepare for, but I’ve always tried to think of these things like it’s the same for everybody. You try to figure it out faster than the rest of the people, but I do like that we will be crossing the frontstretch more, the fans see you more. That’s the only downfall with road courses, especially with big places, like maybe you only see cars every two minutes, but now they’ve shortened it to where you’re gonna see us more, more action, and everybody likes action. I’m excited for it, I think it’ll put on just as good of a show, if not maybe even better than what we’ve had before, so I’m excited to get on track here at the end of February and see what we have.”

  1. Christopher Bell not only ended a personal 19-race winless streak with his thrilling overtime victory Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway (b-roll courtesy of FOX and NASCAR and post-race press conference courtesy of NASCAR), but also quelled a 19-race drought for powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing.

JGR had not recorded a victory since Bell won the 18th race of the 2024 season in late June at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Up to that point of the season, JGR had earned six wins, but had to settle for a best of second of four occasions (two each by Bell and Denny Hamlin) during the second half.

“There's a ton of races littered throughout that second half of the year that at least my team had,” Bell said. “I know from firsthand. I'm sure Denny and Martin (Truex Jr.) and I don't know about Ty (Gibbs), but I know the other guys probably had those same races. It is relieving to finally end that narrative, and we have now won on February 20-something, 2025. So not winless anymore.”

Bell admitted that a win at Atlanta was “not one we had circled,” but has one circled coming very soon.

“Well, COTA,” he said. “COTA is a good place to start. Honestly, we're just getting into the bread and butter of what the 20 car likes. COTA should be a strong track. Phoenix, Vegas, Darlington, Homestead. All of these tracks coming up in the early part of the season is where we think we can compete for wins and do good, score a lot of points.

“Atlanta was not one of those racetracks we had circled. It's very refreshing to be able to get one early in the season, especially one where we didn't expect to win at. Hopefully we can keep the ball rolling.”

Bell has a pair of top-five finishes in four starts in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix with a best of second coming last season. He also finished third in 2022.

  1. Carson Hocevar is coming off a career-best, runner-up finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway,

but the 22-year-old Spire Motorsports driver may be keeping an eye on his rearview mirror more than usual this weekend.

Hocevar, in his second NCS season, drew the ire of several drivers, including Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain and Blaney, with what some considered overly aggressive driving that helped him finish second to Bell after starting 26th.

“We’re here to win races, not be a boy band and love each other and play on the playground together,” Hocevar said after the race. “So obviously, there’s learning lessons. You don’t want to piss anybody off or frustrate anybody, and there’s things I would clean up for sure. But it’s just going to come with learning …”

“Yeah, I mean, there's some stuff I got to learn and clean up a little bit, but I feel like we put ourselves in the perfect opportunity to try and win a race. I've never had that opportunity really before, especially on a superspeedway.”

Bell is no stranger to Hocevar’s style.

“He's been around enough now that you know he's going to be the aggressor,” he said. “If there's a hole, he's going to take it. If there's not a hole, he's going to make one. He ultimately gave me the shove to pass or break through to lead the side draft tandem with myself and Kyle (Larson) down the back straightaway.

“Then I didn't realize Kyle had opened up the bottom like he did getting into three and allowed Carson to sneak middle of three wide, but I was looking in my mirror, and I saw them crashing. I figured it was a matter of winning the side draft battle to the yellow flag.”

  1. Only one fulltime NXS driver has won Saturday’s Focused Health 250 in the first four years, with AJ Allmendinger earning that honor with a win in 2022 for Kaulig Racing.

Kyle Busch won the inaugural race for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2021, the year he posted five wins in five starts in the series. Allmendinger defended his title in 2023 but was actually running a fulltime NCS schedule with Kaulig. Larson was victorious last season, winning the first of two starts he would make in the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

The streak may continue this season with two former EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix winners performing double duty. William Byron, who won last season’s NCS race from the pole, will be driving the No. 17 entry for Hendrick Motorsports. It will be the first of two NXS races in that car for Byron, with the other coming May 24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, the 2022 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix winner, will be driving the No. 9 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, the first of five NXS appearances this season for the organization. This will be his third NXS start at NASCAR at COTA. He qualified second in 2021 and ’22 with a best finish of 17th in the latter.

  1. Connor Zilisch will be making his NCS debut at NASCAR at COTA and looking to become the youngest driver to make a NCS start since Joey Logano made his 2008 debut.

The 18-year-old phenom will be driving the No. 78 Red Bull Chevrolet as the fourth entry for Trackhouse Racing. He will be performing double duty for the weekend with a start in Saturday’s Focused Health 250 as the fulltime NXS driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports.

If he qualifies for Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, it would be Zilisch’s second career milestone at COTA. His first start in any of NASCAR’s three national series came at COTA in last season’s CRAFTSMAN Truck Series XPEL 225, where he won the pole and finished fourth.

The NCS and NXS will return to the Lone Star State along with the NCTS for a May 2-4 visit to Fort Worth and Texas Motor Speedway (TMS). Fans can take advantage of the “Texas Two-Step” promotion between NASCAR at COTA and TMS. Speedway Motorsports will offer ticket purchasers of either NCS race a 20 percent discount if they would like to attend both. Click HERE for more information on the “Texas Two-Step” promotion or to purchase tickets.

Tickets:
Tickets for children ages 12 and under are just $10 for the March 2 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix NCS race and free for the March 1 NXS Focused Health 250 and IMSA-sanctioned VP Racing SportsCar Challenge. For individual tickets, weekend packages and camping, fans can visit NASCARatCOTA.com.

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