Circuit of the Americas (COTA) has been on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule since 2021, and from 2021 to 2024, the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix was contested on the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit.
The races were all scheduled to be 68-lap races around the 20-turn, 3.41-mile (5.488-kilometer) Austin, Texas road course, though only one 68-lap race actually happened as planned.
The 2021 race was shortened to 54 laps due to rain and won by Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott, the 2022 race was extended to 69 laps due to overtime and won by Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain, and the 2023 race was extended to 75 laps due to three overtimes and won by 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick.
Last year's race was actually a 68-lap race, and it was won by Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron.
But NASCAR is no longer using the same COTA layout this year.
Beginning in 2025, the 20-turn, 2.3-mile (3.701-kilometer) "national layout" of the world-class motorsport venue is set to be used, and the race is set to be a 95-lap race.
COTA had been the longest track on the Cup Series calendar after the post-2023 removal of Road America (4.048 miles), but now that is no longer the case.
With NASCAR having also gone back to the shorter 1.99-mile Sonoma Raceway layout after the 2021 race on the 2.52-mile course, the longest road course on the schedule is now Watkins Glen International at 2.454 miles.
As a result, for the first time since 2019, the Talladega Superspeedway oval is back to being the series' longest track at 2.66 miles.
Much of the COTA track remains the same, but without the run down to the hairpin before the back straightaway. That straightaway is now much shorter and begins almost immediately after the esses which follow the drop down from turn one. The layout still features a whopping 133 feet of elevation changes.
The same altered track layout also applies to this weekend's Xfinity Series race at the facility.
The EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix is set to be broadcast live on Fox from Circuit of the Americas beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, March 2. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!