NASCAR started racing at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in 2021, doing so on the 20-turn, 3.41-mile (5.488-kilometer) layout best known for hosting Formula 1's annual United States Grand Prix since 2012.
But after four years of running that layout of the Austin, Texas road course, NASCAR switched to the "national layout" in 2025 for both the Xfinity Series and the Cup Series.
This layout is still a 20-turn layout, but it is only a 2.3-mile (3.701-kilometer) course. The run down to the hairpin turn after the esses, and thus the start of the back straightaway, has been eliminated, though the rest of the layout remains largely the same.
A new challenge awaits in the Lone Star State. pic.twitter.com/acpVAnKgiT
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 26, 2025
A.J. Allmendinger, who nearly won the 2022 Cup Series race at the track and who won the Xfinity Series event there in both 2022 and 2023, told Beyond the Flag that he understands why the change was made. However, in talking about it, he wasn't particularly fond of the switch.
"I think we've all run sim on it," Allmendinger said. "You run sim and try to get a general idea. I will miss the back side of the race track that we're not going on. That was a some of the most fun part of the race track.
"But I understand, I wouldn't say I agree, I understand why NASCAR is shortening the race track: get more laps and get the cars going by the fans more. So I understand that. I don't think we're really going to know until we go there, because even in sim, it's not like they had a great idea."
The Xfinity Series race used to be scheduled for 48 laps; now it is scheduled for 65. Likewise, the Cup Series race used to be scheduled for 68 laps; now it is scheduled for 95. In terms of time the cars are actually in front of the fans, the change should produce a roughly 50% increase.
"What NASCAR showed us, you try to put it in sim and say, okay, let's work on it," he continued. "So we're not really going to know until we get on the race track, what it feels like. I think it's going to open it up for a little bit more chaos because that section that they've added is really tight.
"I don't think it changes the setup much on the race car, and part of it too is they repaved most of the race track, where last year and the year prior they were doing sections of the race track. Now from my understanding, most of it is repaved, so that'll add some difference to the race track as well."
On the flip side, 2024 Cup Series race winner William Byron is looking forward to the change.
"I'm intrigued to see how it goes," Byron told Beyond the Flag. "I think that it's not extremely different. There's still the esses and turn one and the stadium section, and the end of the lap there, so it's not that different. It just has two different corners. It really just shortens up the track significantly, and you don't have that whole back section, and I don't even know really how good I was in that back section, so I'm excited to get there this weekend and try that new challenge."
Allmendinger is not competing in Saturday's Focused Health 250 Xfinity Series race, while Byron is competing in both this race and Sunday's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix Cup event.
Now back in the Cup Series full-time, Allmendinger does not yet have any confirmed Xfinity Series starts for 2025. Though the Next Gen car has generated a significant amount of criticism, Allmendinger is looking forward to driving it in Sunday's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix Cup event.
"Yeah, it is a good size of the reason why I'm back full-time," Allmendinger said. "I do enjoy driving the Cup car. It's kind of, in a way, on the road course, it's a sports car feel. It feels like a GT car, the sequential gearbox, how big the brakes are, the tires. Everything that goes with it feels like a GT car."
Though he is a two-time Xfinity Series winner at COTA, he is happy to be running whatever team owner Matt Kaulig and team president Chris Rice want him to run.
"Going last year, back to Xfinity, and it still stands today: I'm going to do what Matt and Chris want me to do," Allmendinger confirmed. "It gives me a lot of confidence that they still believe in me to make whatever program they want me in, they think I make it better, and I continue to try to work on that and be at my best to try to do that for them.
"I wish we had a little bit more success last year in Xfinity; it was nice to make the final four and get the win late in the year. I hope I've made the cars a little bit better for Christian [Eckes] and Daniel [Dye] and Josh [Williams], so I think a big part of that was going to Cup to try to get our program in the right direction, and some of it as well as in the Xfinity Series, getting some young guys in there that hopefully can be the future of Kaulig Racing.
"I'd still like to do this for a few more years, but part of having a successful company, if you look at Gibbs, and it's not even the companies, some of it's on the manufacturer side of it too, but what makes Hendrick and Gibbs and Penske and all these big teams is they have young talent to bring up through the ranks, whether it's Trucks or Xfinity into Cup, and hopefully with our Xfinity lineup, we got a few of those guys who can do that.
"Hopefully I can make the Cup program somewhere they want to go to."
Saturday's race is set to be shown live on the CW Network beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET, and Sunday's is set to be shown live on Fox beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss either event!