NASCAR Circuit of The Americas Storylines and Insights:

Circuit of The Americas Storylines and Insights:

• For the first time, the NASCAR Cup Series will run the shorter (2.40-mile) track configuration at Circuit of the Americas. The previous four Cup races (2021-2024) were competed on the longer configuration at 3.41-miles.
• Since joining the NASCAR Cup Series in 2021, this is the earliest COTA will be run in a season.
• Chevrolet won the pole for four of the last five road course races, Toyota won the pole for four of the prior five.
• Chevrolet won six of the last seven road course races, Hendrick Motorsports won five of the six.
• Three drivers have won poles at COTA: William Byron won the pole for the last two races at COTA (2023, 2024), Tyler Reddick won it in 2022, and Ryan Blaney won it in 2021.
• Only one driver has won his first career pole in the NASCAR Cup Series at COTA - Tyler Reddick (May 23, 2021).
• The race winner at COTA has started on the front row in the last two COTA races, and the deepest in the field a race winner is started is 16th (Ross Chastain, 2022).
• In 15 of the 17 road course races with the Next Gen car the race winner has started in the top 8.
• Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, and Tyler Reddick are the only drivers to finish inside the top-10 in all four COTA races, no one has finished top-five in all four. 
• 16 of the 37 drivers entered at COTA have a Cup road course win.

• NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon leads the NASCAR Cup Series in road course wins with nine victories at two tracks (Sonoma, five wins; Watkins Glen, four wins).
• NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart has the second-most road course wins all-time in the NASCAR Cup Series with eight victories at two tracks (Watkins Glen, five wins; Sonoma, three wins).
• Chase Elliott, with seven road course wins (third all-time), has won at five different NASCAR Cup Series road course tracks (Charlotte ROVAL, COTA, Daytona Road Course, Road America and Watkins Glen) – the most all-time.
• Chase Elliott’s seven road course wins rank third all-time and lead all active drivers but he is the only Hendrick Motorsports driver without a road course win in the Next Gen car, the other three all won in the last five races.
• NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison holds the NASCAR Cup Series record for the most wins at a single road course track with six victories at Riverside International Raceway (1971, 1973, 1975, 1979, 1981 sweep).
• Kyle Larson, during the 2021 season became the first driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to win at three road course tracks in a single season - Sonoma, Watkins Glen and the Charlotte ROVAL.  Larson has six total road course wins.
• Four of the last five first time winners in the Cup series were on road courses.
• Christopher Bell’s four races at COTA: two Top 3s and two finishes in the 30s
• Hendrick Motorsports won five of the last 11 road course races and are the only organization with multiple wins in that span.
• Only two drivers finished in the top 10 in both races this season: John Hunter Nemechek and Ryan Blaney.
• Tracking Chase Briscoe’s Playoff deficit: currently 38th, -98 behind 16th and -138 behind the points leader.
• The driver who led the most laps did not win either of the first two races this year for the fifth consecutive season, the longest such streak in series history.
• Team Penske led 255 laps in 2025, the fifth most laps by a team through the first two races of a season without a win.
• Ford drivers led 337 of the 467 raced in 2025 but have the fewest wins (zero), the fewest top-fives (1) and the fewest top-10s (4) of all manufacturers.
• Ford led 337 laps in 2025 (72%), the third-most ever by a manufacturer in the first two races without a win.
• Michael McDowell is the only driver not involved in an incident during the first two races of the 2025 season.
• The four NASCAR Cup Series races (2021-2024) at the Circuit of The Americas have produced four different race winners: Chase Elliott (2021), Ross Chastain (2022), Tyler Reddick (2023) and William Byron (2024).
• Ross Chastain (2022) is the only driver to win his first career NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of The Americas.
• Last year’s COTA race had the fewest cautions of any road course race in 2024 (2).
• No stage winner went on to win a road course race in 2024.
• The driver leading the most laps won all three COTA races with the NextGen car (2022-2024).
• Cody Ware and Josh Berry are the only drivers who failed to finish both races in 2025.
• Austin Cindric scored the most stage points in 2025, 30 (includes the Duel).
• Joey Logano is the only driver who scored stage points in all four stages in 2025.
• 2025 is the first season ever to start with last lap passes in the first two races of the season.
• The 105 lead changes in 2025 are the most ever through two races in a season.
• Hendrick Motorsports won at least one road course in each of the last seven years, the longest streak ever by a team.