NASCAR welcomes back an old friend at COTA
By Asher Fair
The inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas is slated to see something it seems like the series hasn’t seen in forever.
Cue the famous Allen Iverson clip.
The EchoPark Texas Grand Prix, the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas, is slated to see something that the sport’s top series hasn’t seen in more than three months, although to most fans, it seems like much longer.
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After formulated starting lineup after formulated starting lineup, the starting lineup for this race around the 20-turn, 3.427-mile (5.515-kilometer) Circuit of the Americas road course in Austin, Texas is slated to be set by a qualifying session, and that qualifying session is slated to take place after a practice session.
What a concept; we haven’t seen either one of those things since practice ahead of the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway in March.
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We haven’t seen qualifying since before the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, and this Sunday’s race is the 14th of the season. Qualifying via heat races, not single-car qualifying, had been scheduled to take place ahead of that dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway before it was rained out.
Following this weekend’s race, there will be 22 races remaining on the Cup Series schedule, and five are slated to see practice and qualifying, including next Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
This race is set to see the first single-car qualifying session since the season opener, and with the Bluegreen Vacations Duels actually setting the full starting lineup for the Daytona 500, it is set to see the first true single-car qualifying session of the year and the first since last May’s Coca-Cola 600.
Beyond that, the other three races at new tracks on the schedule plus the season finale at Phoenix Raceway are slated to see practice and qualifying throughout the remainder of the year.
Nashville Superspeedway is scheduled to host its first Cup Series race on Sunday, June 20, Road America is scheduled to host its first Cup Series race since 1956 on Sunday, July 4, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course is scheduled to host its first Cup Series race on Sunday, August 15. The season finale is scheduled to take place on Sunday, November 7. Practice and qualifying sessions are slated to take place for each of these four events.
Notably, the season finale is the only one of the 10 playoff races which is slated to see practice and qualifying, which surely won’t sit well with many fans.
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So tune in to Fox Sports 1 at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 23 for the live broadcast of qualifying for the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix from Circuit of the Americas, and tune in to Fox Sports 1 at 2:30 p.m. ET later that afternoon for the live broadcast of the race itself.