After two weeks of high speeds and mayhem, we’re onto our first road course of the year, a now-a-mile-shorter COTA. That equates to more laps, more turns, more trips by the fans, and more chances for some of these drivers with high road course acumen to pull away from the field.
Here’s what to look for:
–Tyler Reddick has the Pole this week, starting alongside teammate Bubba Wallace. The 23XI guys looked stout on Saturday, but Sunday could be a different story. Reddick last won this race in 2023.
–William Byron won this race from Pole last year, looking to back up that Win with another. He successfully doubled up on the DAYTONA 500 this year, is the Echopark Texas Grand Prix next? Byron got some practice yesterday in the Xfinity race: he finished 2nd.
–Carson Hocevar ruffled a lot of feathers last week at Atlanta en route to his best career Cup finish (2nd). He nearly made the pass on the final lap but the caution came out and cut that short. The guys on TV were a bit surprised by how well he Qualified yesterday (3rd!), but us in NY remember how well he finished last year at Watkins Glen: 3rd!
–Shane Van Gisbergen is a rookie this year, but he’s been doin’ it to it on road courses already in NASCAR. He won the Chicago Street Race in his first start, and looked really strong in Practice yesterday.
-18-year old Connor Zilisch is making his first career Cup start, coming one day after winning the Xfinity race at this track. In Zilisch first career Xfinity start, he took the checkers at The Glen. This dude has some road course prowess, and we’re sure to see some of that early. Oh, and did we mention that he’s SVG’s teammate with Trackhouse Racing?
Coverage of the race today starts on FOX at 3:30pm, green flag scheduled for 3:49pm.
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