The NASCAR Cup Series has completed the Superspeedway portion of their schedule and now it is time to go road course racing at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA). NASCAR will do their best to “Keep Austin Weird” this weekend when they move the race from the 3.4-mile track to the 2.3-mile National Track at COTA. This should bring more drivers into play this weekend, since this track is less-technical and the cars should not get spread out as much as they did on the larger track. It should be fun to see how it all plays out. The EchoPark Texas Grand Prix can be seen Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
I really thought we were going to strike gold at Atlanta. All of the drivers were running in the top-10 at the end of the race. Kyle Larson decided he wasn’t a fan of my picks, so he decided to throw a block on Austin Cindric and take out half of my team. We did score a lot of Stage Points, so that helps. The picks are currently outscoring 68.1% of the entries on nascar.com. The good news is that it will be ass-kicking time once we get to the ovals.
Here are my results from the Atlanta…
STRATEGY FOR COTA
The strategy at COTA is not difficult…. Simply play the drivers who looked fast in practice, qualified up front, and have a history of running well on the road courses. Shane van Gisbergen and Conner Zillisch will be the popular picks this week. Do not be afraid to use some of your top drivers like Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott or Tyler Reddick. I know their allocations are important at the oval tracks, but they have even better odds of staying out of trouble and finishing up front Sunday. Let the rest of your league worry about allocations.
Here are the picks for the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix…
SHANE VAN GISBERGEN (10): Moving the race from the 3.4-mile track to the 2.3-mile National Course plays right into the hands of SVG. He competed in four Supercars races on this track and most of the Cup Series is seeing the track for the first time. SVG posted the fastest speed in practice and qualified 6th for the race. He is going to be a popular pick, but SVG is just too good to fade Sunday.
CONNER ZILISCH (10): I am going to do something that I have none done before. I am going to play a driver making his first ever start in the Cup Series in my Fantasy Live lineup. I should have played SVG when he made his first start on the Chicago Road Course, so I learned from my mistake. Zilisch is one of the best road course racers in the field Sunday. He has the talent and he should have the car to run up front. My only concern is his part-time pit crew. I at least have to take a chance with the young driver at COTA.
TYLER REDDICK (10): Reddick is no stranger to dominating the races at COTA. He led nearly every lap on his way to Victory Lane at COTA in 2023. Reddick has never finished outside the top-five in the Gen-7 car at COTA. It looks like he will finish up front again Sunday. Reddick posted the 16th fastest speed in practice and he won the pole for the race. I am not worried about his practice speed. Track position is very important in this race and Reddick has it.
CHASE ELLIOT (10): It wasn’t long ago when Elliott was the “free square” on the road course tracks. He dominated the road course races in the old car and he is starting to get his groove back in the Gen-7 car. Elliott posted the 6th fastest speed in practice and qualified 3rd for the race. Elliott won at COTA in 2021. He should run up front and score well for our Fantasy Live lineup Sunday.
KYLE LARSON (10): I mapped out all of my allocations with Larson for the regular season and I have one left. He posted the 4th fastest speed in the first practice and the seventh fastest speed in the second practice. Larson also qualified seventh for the race. He won two of the last three road course races (Sonoma and the Charlotte Roval). The No. 5 car will be a threat to win again Sunday.
(GARAGE PICK) ROSS CHASTAIN (10): There is a lot to like about Chastain this weekend. He has the fourth-best average finishing position at COTA (4th), led the third-most laps, has the second-best Driver Rating (119.8) and he gets some extra seat time to figure out this new track since Chastain is competing in the Xfinity Series race Saturday. It will also benefit Chastain to have SVG in the garage helping him with his braking points on the track and the setup of his car. I will have Chastain in the Garage as an insurance policy Sunday.
Good luck and be sure to follow me on X (Twitter) @MrFantasyNASCAR. I will send out a Tweet during the race to let you know if I plan to swap out one of my drivers for my Garage pick.