NASCAR Cup teams return to Circuit of the Americas for the first road course race of the season.
Tyler Reddick is the defending winner at COTA. Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott are the other two drivers with Cup wins at the Texas road course.
Sunday’s race will feature 39 entries — 36 cars with charters and three without.
AJ Allmendinger will drive the No. 13 for Kaulig Racing, an open entry, while Shane van Gisbergen drives the No. 16. Kamui Kobayashi will make his return to Cup in the No. 50 for 23XI Racing. Timmy Hill will drive the No. 66 as MBM Motorsports makes its first Cup start since 2022.
Details for Sunday’s Cup race at COTA
(All times Eastern)
START: Actor Giancarlo Esposito will give the command to start engines at 3:38 p.m. ... University of Texas football head coach Steve Sarkisian will wave the green flag at 3:49 p.m.
PRE-RACE: The drivers meeting will be at 2:40 p.m. ... Driver introductions will be at 3:05 p.m. ... LA Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker will give the invocation at 3:30 p.m. ... Officer Rebecca Vermeulen of the San Antonio PD will perform the national anthem at 3:31 p.m.
DISTANCE: The race is 68 laps (231.88 miles) on the 3.410-mile road course.
STAGES: Stage 1 ends at Lap 15. Stage 2 ends at Lap 30.
STARTING LINEUP: COTA starting lineup
TV/RADIO: Fox will broadcast the race at 3:30 p.m. ... Pre-race coverage begins with NASCAR RaceDay on FS1 at 2 p.m. ... Pre-race coverage continues with NASCAR RaceDay on Fox at 3 p.m. ... Performance Racing Network coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. … SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will have the PRN broadcast.
FORECAST: Weather Underground: Cloudy skies with a high of 72 degrees and a 2% chance of rain at the start of the Cup race.
LAST TIME: William Byron started from the pole, led 28 laps and won stage 1. Tyler Reddick started second, won stage 2 and led 41 laps. Reddick took the lead from Byron with four laps to go until the scheduled distance but caution for debris sent the race to overtime. Reddick then held off the field through three overtime attempts to score his first win with 23XI Racing. Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain and Byron rounded out the top five.
