NASCAR Heads To The Lone Star State At COTA

Its the first road course of the season for the NASCAR Cup Series. There will be a lot of new rules in place including the omission of stage cautions. Since they implemented the stage breaks in 2017, many drivers believed that these breaks affected pit strategy. Because there won't be three automatic cautions, there is a possibility that the field will be much more spread out. Considering how big of a track COTA is, this race will go by much faster than most.

Circuit Of The Americas was opened in 2012. It was designed by the world-renowned Herman Tilke for the 2012 F1 US Grand Prix. For the next decade, the track would continue to host races in F1 but would add sports cars and IndyCar to it's list of tenants throughout the years. NASCAR would eventually host it's first race here in 2021, it's been a fixture on the schedule ever since.

This will be a 68-lap event, it will be interesting to see how pit-stops there will be in such a short race. The biggest key for each driver will be to manage their brakes it will also be important to not miss a shift considering how big a role shifting will make on this road course.

The Front Row: William Byron continues to impress as he will lead the field to green. Despite his two victories at Phoneix and Las Vegas, it's been a bit of a rough start to the season for the 24 team. Through the first five races, Byron has an average finish of 19.3 but after the massive penalty at Phoneix two weeks ago, it went from bad to worse for the team as they were swept up in a crash resulting in a disappointing 30th place finish. For him this pole position could not have come at a better time, he'll look to rebound and capture his 3rd win of 2023

Starting beside him is Tyler Reddick. This is another driver that has shown a lot of flashes this season but just hasn't had the results. Last week was a huge shot of momentum for the team as they were in contention all throughout the day and left Atlanta with a 5th-place finish. It will be a huge help to have the track position that he does come Sunday.

The Road Course Ringers: Throughout the years that NASCAR has come to tracks like COTA there have always been a group of drivers that specialize in road racing, this weekend may have the most talented group of ringers in a weekend that we have seen. F1 world champions Jensen Button and Kimi Raikkonen will both be making their first and second starts in NASCAR. Their presence gives this race a bit of an international flair.

IMSA Sportscar champion and Rolex 24 winner Jordan Taylor will also make his first start for Hendrick motorsports substituting for Chase Elliott. He has easily been the most impressive of the ringers as he qualified fourth for tomorrow. He will have a great race car to work with come Sunday.

My Pick To Win: It's been a tough start to the season for one of NASCAR's best Road Course racers. He has run into some trouble at tracks like Las Vegas and Fontana but luckily for him, this is a huge opportunity to get a victory and punch his ticket to the playoffs. In my opinion, AJ is the best driver on the race-track under braking. He knows exactly where to let off the throttle. In the Xfinity race, he bullied his way through the field passing multiple cars at once. With the right set-up if he can drive with the intensity he drove with on Saturday he will be hard to beat. He starts seventh.