The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season continued down in Austin, Texas today! That’s right! After back-to-back superspeedway-style races in the Daytona 500 and Atlanta, it was time to turn left and right. For the fifth time, NASCAR returned to Circuit of the Americas for the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. We had a stacked field with a lot of great road course racers. Were any of them able to capitalize or did one of the usual suspects take the victory? Let’s break it down. Here’s everything that happened in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at COTA.
As reported by Bob Pockrass on his X account, the stay layout for today’s race was as follows:
Teams were given 5 sets of tires and the projected fuel window was expected to be between 35 and 40 laps. Zane Smith had to go to the rear after making some post-qualifying adjustments.
The Cup guys couldn’t even make it through the first turn without issue. As they spread out 6-wide behind the leaders as they headed into that first hair-pin turn, Ross Chastain entered a little too hot and punted Chase Elliott. Elliott, in his number 9 NAPA Chevy, spun around and the field snaked around him from both sides. He fell all the way to the back. Unfortunately, also caught up in the incident was the 34 car of Todd Gilliland. Gilliland’s damage was minimal. Meanwhile, the contact with Chastain bent the left rear toe link. Elliott was able to rebound and he pitted during the first stage break to change the toe link.
Needless to say, Elliott and his 9 crew weren’t happy with Chastain. This was their radio conversation following the incident.
The next incident to go down was when Austin Cindric spun Ty Dillon. What sparked this on-track altercation was Dillon squeezing Cindric off the track coming to the start/finish line. This obviously didn’t sit well with Cindric who then sent Dillon going into turn-1.
As the stage went on, things settled down some. No full-course cautions flew during the entirety of this first stage, which allowed the 23XI duo to pull away some with Shane van Gisbergen breathing down their neck in third. Bubba, who was surprisingly fast during yesterday’s qualifying session, was racing his teammate Tyler Reddick fairly hard for the race lead. His biggest mistake came when he cut a corner and was had to serve a stop-and-go penalty. All in all, the penalty wasn’t as costly as it could have been.
Strategy started to come into play in the closing laps of the opening stage. Many of the leaders opted to pit in order to flip the stage and assume prime track position to start the second stage. Some drivers stayed out in order to collect stage points. Bubba Wallace capitalized and won the stage. This stage win earned him 10 points and 1 Playoff point. The point earners in this first stage include:
The leaders came down pit road during the stage break. Chase Elliott changed a toe link in his number 9 Chevy. Meanwhile, cycling to the lead was Shane van Gisbergen. Kyle Busch lined up alongside.
Stage 2 began with SVG rocketing his number 88 Chevy out in front. However, he wasn’t able to complete the lap with the race lead. He was passed a short time later by series veteran Kyle Busch. The number 8 RCR car then set sail, separating himself from SVG and Tyler Reddick. As we approached the half-way mark of the stage, there was a battle for third. A. J. Allmendinger overtook Tyler Reddick as the 45 car fell into the clutches of William Byron.
With 12-laps to go, the battle for the lead started to heat up once again. SVG slowly reeled in the number 8 of Kyle Busch and made the pass the next lap. And though SVG was able to clear him, Busch didn’t let him get away. He stayed there, putting pressure on the Super Car legend.
Like in the first stage, many drivers opted to flip the stages. The green cycle of pit stops was kicked off by Brad Keselowski and the leaders soon followed. This cycled Ryan Preece to the lead who went on to win the stage by default. This earned him 10 points plus 1 playoff point. The point earners in this stage include:
Following his green flag pit stop, 2021 Cup Champ Kyle Larson had an issue, which saw his right front tire to come off. Penalties will be coming for the number 5 HMS team.
During the stage break, the leaders pitted, which cycled Michael McDowell and Kyle Busch to the race lead to start the final stage.
When the race restarted to begin the final stage, Kyle Busch retook control of the race. Michael McDowell fell prey to A. J. Allmendinger and Shane van Gisbergen as the field sorted itself out. Then we got our first caution for an on-track incident.
The first big incident of the day which sparked a yellow flag was when Daniel Suarez wheel-hopped in Turn-19 which caused him to lose control of his number 99 Trackhouse Chevy. With nowhere to go, his Trackhouse teammate and yesterday’s Xfinity Series winner, Connor Zilisch, plowed his number 87 Red Bull Chevy into Suarez’s right front. This tore aside some of the sheet metal of the 99 car and sent Zilisch into the tire barrier. Both teams retired from the race. Zilisch was checked and released from the in-field care center. This means that his debut ended with a DNF.
The race restarted with Kyle Busch again firing off strong. Meanwhile, Allmendinger and van Gisbergen were slow to start, the two of them losing a few positions. Strong on the restart were the JGR Toyotas of Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe. Meanwhile, Alex Bowman’s troubles continued. He pitted during the caution with a power steering issue. Then, shortly after the restart, he spun around, losing what little track position he was able to make up. The incident did not trigger a caution.
The only Hendrick entry that didn’t have trouble today was William Byron. The driver of the number 24 Raptor Chevy was able to get around Briscoe for third and set his sights on Bell who was slowly but surely reeling in leader Kyle Busch.
Michael McDowell then pitted. This was presumably going to be his final pit stop of the race as he and his Spire team made moves for the win.
With 30 laps to go, Chase Elliott kicked off the final round of green flag pit stops. Two laps later, Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, and William Byron all pitted. And from there, everybody started coming down for service. Kyle Busch led the leaders down pit road. Busch had a very clean and fast pit stop. He was looking to snap a 59-race winless streak.
Bell stayed out a few laps longer than Busch in order to get fresher tires later in this last run. Thinking the same thing, SVG inherited the lead by staying out even longer than Bell. Once the 88 pitted, Kyle Busch cycled back to the race lead. He had gained five seconds on Bell during this cycle of pit stops. Bell sat in third with William Byron sandwiched between them. All eyes were on the 20 and 8 cars with the biggest question being whether or not Bell had the car and the time to chase Busch down. But a poorly-timed caution late changed everything.
With 17 laps to go, Denny Hamlin missed a corner and slid into Austin Dillon. As a result, Hamlin spun and Dillon slid into the gravel trap, getting stuck. Hamlin was able to continue but Dillon needed to be toed out of the kitty litter.
During the caution break, the top-17 cars stayed out, not wanting to risk their track position. After the track was cleaned up, they lined back up and went at it again.
The race restarted with 13 laps to go. On the restart, Busch got a great launch, and heading into the first corner, William Byron ran wide. This opened the door for Christopher Bell who was through to second. Bell with fresher tires set his sights on leader Kyle Busch. And he was all over the back bumper of the number 8. Meanwhile, the 88 of SVG sank like a stone, falling out of the top-10. This had been a problem all day for the Weather Tech driver.
With 10 laps to go, the battle for the lead really started to heat up once again. Kyle Busch led with Bell breathing down his neck. This hard battle for the lead allowed William Byron to catch back up. The three of them were under a blanket when Bell went to make a move in Turn-1 but locked up his tires. His missed the corner and Busch escaped. Bell fell into the clutches of Byron was able to fend him off. He once again set his sights on the 8 of Kyle Busch. Slowly, he was able to once again reel in the Rebel number 8. As they took 7 laps to go, Bell was on the bumper of the 8, looking for his opportunity.
Busch put on a clinic driving in defense. This backed Bell up and allowed Byron to catch up to both of them. Through the esses, Bell was able to get beside Busch but got into his door. The 20 backed up and Bell once again fell into the clutches of Byron. The 20 then put a bumper to Busch and got beside him once more but Busch battled back. Coming to 5 laps to go, Bell passed Busch and cleared him in Turn-1. Byron then passed Busch, his RCR number 8 all used up. Busch led 43 laps.
Busch slowly faded in the closing laps of this race, falling prey to Chase Elliott who wound up 4th. Meanwhile Byron battled Bell hard. But ultimately, Bell had the better car. He led Byron in the closing laps as Tyler Reddick passed Busch for third. At 2 to go, Byron and Reddick were there, chasing Christopher Bell. However, Byron was able to fend him off, taking the white flag. Byron tried to get him but wasn’t able to get there. Christopher Bell went back-to-back in 2025 as he won at Circuit of the Americas!
Wow! That was a barnburner of a race! How’d your driver do? Are you heartbroken for KFB? What did you think of those closing laps? Let us know! And be sure to keep coming back here at DailyDownforce.com! We have all the latest NASCAR news and fan discussions each and every day!
