NASCAR Cup COTA Race Review

The third week of the NASCAR Cup Series season took us to The Circuit of the America’s located in Austin Texas. The race track being used this week was designed differently compared to year’s past as the long back straightaway was cut in half and turn 6 went from a right hander to a right then two sharp lefts to help cut the course down. This proved to be a fun corner, let’s get into it.

Teammates Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace led the field to the green and the field could barely get past the start finish line before chaos began. Carson Hocevar made a jump to the outside of Bubba Wallace and it look like there was slight contact but nothing too serious. On the inside lane going into turn one, the 1 car of Ross Chastain sent it in deep and made contact with Chase Elliot spinning him out. Several others such as Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs also made contact. A few laps later Ty Dillion got into Austin Cindric pushing him wide off of the final turn. Cindric didn’t like that and retaliated by spinning Ty Dillion out on the front straightaway which looked like a rear hook. Rather a penalty or anything occurs remains TBD. To this point Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace were able to stay 1-2 but a track limits penalty caused Bubba to fall back a few spots out of clean air. On lap 9 road course ace Shane Van Gisbergen was able to pass Reddick for the lead and held on until pitting before stage end. Due to drivers pitting and the field splitting strategy Bubba Wallace was able to win stage 1. Joey Logano was 2nd and Shane in 3rd.

After everyone who didn’t pit before stage end pitted under caution, that cycled Shane and Kyle Busch to the front row. Svg was able to clear Kyle Busch out of turn 1 with Tyler Reddick even taking 2nd before Busch got back by. On lap 27 Kyle Busch was able to do a deep send into turn 1 to be able and take the lead away from Svg. The two drivers again pit before stage end consistent with their strategy in stage one which ultimately handed the lead to Ryan Preece. On lap 44 after a pit stop Kyle Larson lost a wheel but we stayed green. Ryan Preece was able to win stage 2, with Ryan Blaney in 2nd and Michael McDowell in 3rd.

Busch and this time AJ Allmendinger were fighting for the lead once the race restarted but it wasn’t long until a caution for this time young sensation Connor Zilisch and teammate Daniel Suarez as Suarez spun and while Connor was trying to avoid the wreck Suarez was trying to get the car straightened out and the two made heavy contact, ending each other’s day. Another restart and Kyle Busch was able to clear the field again. We got into a long green run which saw Christopher Bell moving up in the running order as he was able to make in to 2nd.Bell was able to stay with Busch and challenge him for the lead until the final round of pit stops. The 8 team decided to pit a few laps earlier than Bell which gave him a few seconds advantage over Bell once he made his own stop. William Byron was also able to get 2nd in the process. However Bell did have the fresher tires and the faster car and a caution would change everything. With 18 laps to go, that’s exactly what happened. Denny Hamlin made contact with Austin Dillion sending Dillion off track and needing assistance. The field is now bunched back up for a late race restart and Bell has the freshest tires.

We restart with 14 to go and Busch was again able to clear the field. Bell was able to pass Byron and close in on Kyle Busch. With 9 to go Bell went for a move on Busch and bailed out because he was trying to avoid contact in some good heads up driving. With 6 to go Bell was able to make another attempt and this time while contact was made, it was slight and he was able to clear Busch. Busch’s car started to fade at this point as Byron and Reddick were also able to pass him. Byron was able to close in right onto Bell’s back bumper but he didn’t use it. Bell was able to hang on for the win, his 2nd of the season and 2nd in a row. Byron 2nd, Reddick 3rd, Elliot 4th, and Busch 5th. Overall this was a very solid race from start to finish. Proper Stock car racing and hard clean battles all day long. The next track is Phoenix, another track that Bell runs well at so he could make it 3 in a row.