2 months agoDuring qualifying for Sunday's EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, Kyle Larson gained a starting position of 15th, his lowest start position yet at COTA. In three COTA starts, Larson has mixed results, finishing second, 29th, and 14th, respectively. The driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, however, did participate in this week's Xfinity Series race at COTA, where he ran well and won the race on a last-lap pass on Austin Hill and Shane Van Gisbergen. Larson is the current Cup Series points leader with one win and two top-5 finishes while leading four of the five Cup events so far. In practice, Larson was one of the fastest drivers in the field as he was among the top 10 fastest in every category on speed, and he scored the best overall lap average. Larson is one of the optimal DFS options of the week as he has great place differential upside with a car capable of competing for the win based on practice.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: Driveraverages.com
2 months agoIn qualifying for the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, Denny Hamlin racked up a starting position of eighth, matching his best starting position at the site from 2022. In three races at COTA, Hamlin's best finish was 14th, while he scored three top-20 finishes. After five races so far this season, Hamlin has three finishes of 11th or better, including a win at Bristol. The driver of the No. 11 has been competitive through all races so far this year, as he led multiple laps in every Cup race so far this season. In practice, Hamlin was considered one of the slowest overall drivers, showcasing speeds outside of the Top 20 in all eligible categories. Despite his hot start to the season and high start position, COTA is one of his worst statistical tracks, and road course racing is Hamlin's weakness in the Cup Series. Hamlin's 2024 performance through the season alone makes him worth consideration, but DFS players should roster him with caution based on his history at road courses and at COTA.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: Driveraverages.com
2 months agoRick Ware Racing driver Kaz Grala will start this week's EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas from the 23rd position. In his only previous COTA start. While driving for The Money Team Racing in 2022, Grala started 31st and placed 26th. In five races so far this season, Grala has two top-20 finishes and collected positive place differential four times. In practice, Grala's single lap time ranked 34th, ranked 22nd in overall lap averages, and ranked 19th in five consecutive lap averages. Based on practice speed and past road course results, Grala is a driver who is a serviceable DFS pick for the price, capable of placing around his starting position.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: Driveraverages.com
2 months agoShane Van Gisbergen will start 12th in his first Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas. Sunday's race at COTA will be Van Gisbergen's first of several Cup races scheduled for 2024 as he races full-time in the Xfinity Series. In SVG's two previous Cup Series starts, he scored a win at the Chicago Street Course and finished tenth at the Indianapolis road course. Earlier in the weekend, SVG raced the Xfinity race at COTA, where he led 20 laps, looked dominant, and competed for the win until a last-lap penalty relegated him to a finish of 27th. Van Gisbergen looked fast in pre-race events by displaying top-10 speeds in practice with his overall lap average in particular being ranked eighth of all drivers. With his extensive road racing background as a three-time supercars champion and his equipment, Van Gisbergen could be one to watch on Sunday, especially as a solid DFS play that can place in the Top 10.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: Driveraverages.com
2 months agoTodd Gilliland will start 26th for this week's EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, his highest starting position to date at the Texas road course. In his previous two Cup starts at COTA, Gilliland has two top-20 finishes, including a finish of tenth in last year's Cup event at the site. The driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford is also a former Truck Series winner at COTA. Through five races so far this season, Gilliland has one top-20 finish, but he did collect positive place differential in two of the last three Cup events. In practice, displayed speed across a longer run by ranking tenth of all drivers in the five consecutive lap average category. Considering his salary, starting position, equipment, and status as a teammate to road course veteran Michael McDowell, Gilliland makes for a sneaky DFS value play with solid upside to consider.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: Driveraverages.com
2 months agoIn qualifying for Sunday's EchoPark Texas Grand Prix, William Byron scored the pole position, the 13th of his Cup career, and his second consecutive pole at Circuit of the Americas. Through three previous Cup races at COTA, last year was Byron's best performance at the site, where he led 28 laps from the pole position before his best career finish of fifth. The driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet also never finished worse than 12th in his Cup career at the Texas road course. After five races so far this season, Byron has two top-10 finishes, including a win in this year's Daytona 500. Byron showed plenty of speed in pre-race events as during practice, he also had the fastest single lap of all drivers and had the fourth-best overall lap average. Similarly to last year, Byron should be expected to lead laps right from the beginning and be one of the top favorites to compete for the win at COTA this week.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: Driveraverages.com
2 months agoJoe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell will start this week's EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas from the fourth position. The starting position is Bell's highest starting position yet at a COTA Cup race and will mark the third time he will start a Cup
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2 months agoThe path to victory lane at Circuit of the Americas is likely going to go through Tyler Reddick this weekend. The 23XI Racing driver is the defending Cup Series winner here in Austin, Texas and is and elite road course racer overall. Reddick put on a dominating display here at COTA last season, leading 41 laps after starting second. He qualified third for this weekend's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. Reddick has won three of the last nine road course races in the NASCAR Cup Series and has just one result worse than eighth over that same time span. He should run up front for most of the day at COTA on Sunday. Sportsbooks have pegged Reddick as the driver to beat this weekend, as he is at 4-to-1 odds at most books.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Action Network
2 months agoTy Gibbs has been knocking on the door of his first-ever NASCAR Cup Series victory for a while now, and it just might come this weekend at Circuit of the Americas. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was second-fastest in practice for the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix this weekend and followed that up by qualifying second for Sunday's race as well. Gibbs raced here last season for the first time in NASCAR's top series and walked away with a ninth-place result after starting back in 17th. Most sportsbooks have made Gibbs the co-favorite to win at COTA on Sunday alongside another Toyota Racing driver, Tyler Reddick. Last season, Gibbs ended the season strong on the road courses with a fourth-place finish at the Charlotte ROVAL and a fifth-place finish at Watkins Glen.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Jayski
2 months agoIt's hard to believe, but Chase Elliott is currently on a 14-race winless streak on road courses. The last time NASCAR's most popular driver ended up in victory lane on this track type was back in 2021 at Road America. With that being said, Chase has still been one of the best road course racers over that winless time span, as he has had the best average running position (9.97) and the third-best average finish (10.2) on this track type over the last two seasons. This weekend, Elliott will start the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix from ninth. He came home with a fourth-place finish in the 2022 race at COTA and there's no reason why Chase can't contend for another top-five result this weekend. If he's in the right place at the right time late, Elliott could even snap his winless streak in Austin on Sunday. He won the first-ever Cup Series race at this track back in 2021.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Win The Race
2 months agoFor most of Bubba Wallace's career, road courses were his Achilles heel, but he's been getting better at them. At COTA last year, Wallace ranked second in practice to his teammate Tyler Reddick for quite a while. Although he only qualified 11th and crashed in the race, his speed that weekend was the most he'd ever shown on a road course. In the last three road course races of 2023, Wallace finished 18th at Indianapolis, 12th at Watkins Glen, and 16th at Charlotte (where he had his best road course start of 4th), so he's been trending upward. His top ten start this weekend at Circuit of the Americas indicates likewise, even though he botched his final qualifying run and registered the second slowest time. Given that the Toyotas seem to be fastest this year and Wallace should get good setup notes from Reddick, he might be poised for his best road course performance yet.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoZane Smith makes his first Circuit of the Americas start in the Cup Series this weekend. Although he qualified back in 34th for this weekend's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, he did have a great deal of success at this track in the Truck Series, where he won in both 2022 and 2023. In the 2022 race, he made a nifty move to overtake Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, and Stewart Friesen four-wide as the three leading trucks fused together outside of the main racing groove, proving that Smith could compete with the Cup drivers in similar equipment. However, rookies in the NextGen Cup cars have seemed to struggle for competitiveness mightily and Smith has been far off the pace of his teammates, Corey LaJoie and Carson Hocevar, all season (as he was in qualifying on Saturday, too). Zane ranks last among Cup full-timers in speed percentile at 13.95 this season. Don't expect Smith to repeat his truck magic.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoCarson Hocevar starts 18th for this weekend's race at Circuit of the Americas, outqualifying fellow rookies Josh Berry and Zane Smith. However, Hocevar's teammate, Corey LaJoie, was the biggest surprise in qualifying, as LaJoie's fifth-place qualifying run was easily the best of his career. Spire is clearly getting significantly more manufacturer support from Chevrolet and might have above-average speed, although at the moment both LaJoie and Hocevar are slightly below average in speed percentile. Hocevar has never started a road course race in either the Cup or Xfinity Series before, but he won a pole at Sonoma in the Truck Series in 2022 despite breaking his tibia in a crash at Gateway the previous week. If he could deliver a bravura performance like that two years ago, it seems likely that he will run well this weekend's in COTA even if he's somewhat lacking in road course results to date.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoAlthough the Kaulig Racing cars dominated the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, the same did not hold true in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying, as Daniel Hemric will be starting 33rd for Sunday's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. He was the slowest Chevrolet driver in the first round of qualifying. Hemric hasn't made a NASCAR Cup Series start on a road course since 2019, but he was mediocre in his previous Cup road course attempts, with a best finish of 15th and only two laps led. Hemric is currently the second-slowest full-time driver in the Cup Series with a speed percentile of 20.49, although the fact that Shane van Gisbergen is starting the Cup race may help improve both Kaulig cars' race setups, so Hemric may be faster in the race. Given his lack of speed both this year and this weekend, though, don't count on it.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 months agoAlthough Harrison Burton did score his best career finish in the NASCAR Cup Series on a road course in the Indianapolis GP in 2022 with a third-place finish, that is an outlier for him in general, as he is not particularly known as a road racer. This weekend the series is at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and in his two previous starts here, Burton started and finished in mid-pack with a best finish of 17th. Burton was drastically slow on road courses in 2023 with a speed percentile of 13.01, slower even than his overall weak speed percentile of 22.89. Couple that with his miserable 29th-place qualifying spot this weekend and the fact that the Fords seem down on power and it is evident that Burton will not remotely contend this weekend unless he can feast on chaos as he did at Indy.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
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