From the Lady in the Black Throwback in Darlington, to the Concrete Canyon of Dover, to a new facility that will witness it’s first NASCAR event, the boys have seen a wide variety of experiences. Today, NASCAR drops the Green for the inaugural COTA race, a road course in Austin, TX. We don’t know much just yet, but we can make some guesses on how things will go based on past performance at other road course races.
Here’s what to look for:
–Tyler Reddick earns the first Pole of any driver this year, though we haven’t had many opportunities at them. That is his first career Pole, no doubt bolstered by his experience in the Xfinity race on Saturday. This is a great opportunity for they 2nd year driver seeking his first Win.
–Kyle Larson was second fastest and hasn’t run a true road course race in the Cup Series since 2019. That said, he did pretty decent at Sonoma and Watkins Glen the last time he did, and will more than likely be someone to contend with today.
-According to the oddsmakers, Chase Elliott is still the favorite to win at COTA. Tough to argue with that, dude has five Wins in the last nine races that are deemed road courses by NASCAR. He’ll start 8th.
–Kyle Busch will start 4th today, won the Xfinity race yesterday. He did it “driving away,” too. This track appears to be one where you get the lead, and then you can set sail. Some tracks there is a lot of nip and tuck, back and forth, but that hasn’t been the appearance just yet. Perhaps today’s race has something else to offer?
-Gotta give a nod to A.J. Allmendinger. This is a guy who excels on road courses, and was quickest after Round 1 of Qualifying. He ran 2nd in the Xfinity race yesterday, too, and looked mighty quick today. He’s got the skills, he knows the lay of the land, and might very well be our next winner in 2021.
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Been a while since we had some food, but for Austin, we whipped up something new:
Breakfast Tacos! Sure, it is now after noon, but who wouldn’t like these any time of the day? I would! Packed with chorizo, eggs, cheese, hot sauce and salsa? Don’t threaten me with a good time! I had this awesome chorizo breakfast burrito years ago at an authentic Caribbean restaurant in Florida, and this tastes pretty darn similar. Nice job, Leese! Yum!
Coverage of the race today starts on FS1 at 2:30pm, green flag scheduled for 2:43pm.
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