NASCAR at COTA lineups, odds and more info for 2025
AUSTIN, Texas — The NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series head to Circuit of the Americas for the first weekend of road course racing in 2025.
Drivers will face a new layout at COTA this year.1 They will turn left after turn six and skip the back half of the track, making the course more technical and giving fans more laps where the cars will come by.
NASCAR Cup Series’ EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas (COTA)
- Sunday at 3:30 p.m. (All times Eastern)
- 95 laps (was 68 last year)
- Stages end on laps 20, 45, 95
- Last year’s winner: William Byron
- All-time NASCAR winners at Circuit of the Americas (COTA)
Connor Zilisch and his open No. 87 Trackhouse Racing team will join the field of 36 chartered entries in the NASCAR Cup Series this weekend at COTA.
Zilisch’s debut is one of the most anticipated Cup Series debuts in recent memory. It was only a year ago at COTA that he made his debut in any NASCAR national series. His NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at COTA was the first of a pair of exceptional debut races.
While Zilisch won the pole in his NCTS debut, he overcame running off course, going a lap down to replace a sway bar arm, spinning and getting a drive-through penalty, all before stage two, to place sixth in that stage. In the final stage, he rallied from 25th to finish fourth after flat-spotting a tire.
Zilisch’s NASCAR Xfinity Series debut was much smoother. He won from the pole after leading 45 of 90 laps and placing first and third in the stages.
Zilisch has made a name for himself on the road courses but he backed his NXS debut at COTA up with two top-5 finishes on ovals, increasing the promise many have seen in him.
Expectations for his debut will be high for many. Practice and qualifying will be the first tell for what will be to come. If Zilisch practices well and qualifies well, expect him to have a spectacular debut.
Zilisch doesn’t have any other Cup Series races planned beyond COTA but that could change depending on how Sunday goes.
- First practice: Saturday at 11 a.m. (Two groups, 20 minutes each)
- Second practice: Saturday at 11:45 a.m. (Two groups, 20 minutes each)
- Qualifying: Saturday at 12:30 p.m. (Two groups, multi-vehicle)
NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Focused Health 250 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA)
- Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
- 65 laps (was 48 last year)
- Stages end on laps 20, 40, 65
- Last year’s winner: Kyle Larson
The NASCAR Xfinity Series entry list is stacked for this weekend’s race at COTA.
William Byron, Ross Chastain, Riley Herbst and Carson Hocevar are the NASCAR Cup Series drivers running in the Xfinity Series race this weekend. Byron is the only one racing this race for their Cup Series team.
Corey Heim will begin his driver development deal with 23XI Racing in Sam Hunt Racing’s No. 24 Toyota.
Xfinity Series road course regulars Alex Labbe, Austin Green and Preston Pardus have picked an apt place to start their 2025 season.
Fresh off of a hot start with Leland Honeyman Jr., Cope Family Motorsports will have Thomas Annunziata in their No. 70 Chevrolet. Honeyman positioned himself in the playoff hunt after two races, including Atlanta where he finished eighth.
Baltazar Leguizamón, the 2018 Atlantic Championship champion, will also be trying to make the race. If he can make it, it will then be his series debut.
There are 41 entries vying for 38 spots in the field. Two entries are marked as TBA, meaning the fight may not be as fierce to get into the field if those entries withdraw before this weekend.
- Practice: Friday at 5 p.m. (50 minutes)
- Qualifying: Friday at 6 p.m. (Two groups, multi-vehicle)
Odds for NASCAR Cup Series at Circuit of the Americas
Shane van Gisbergen is the odds-on favorite to win at +550. He and newcomer Connor Zilisch are among the five drivers below +1000 odds.
Betting explainer: If you correctly bet $100 on van Gisbergen to win at +550 odds, you will win $550 and get your $100 bet back. +550 odds essentially equate to 5.5 to 1 odds (100*5.5 = 550).
- Shane van Gisbergen +550
- William Byron, Tyler Reddick +600
- Connor Zilisch +750
- Kyle Larson +850
- Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell +1000
- Ty Gibbs +1400
- Alex Bowman +1600
- Chris Buescher, AJ Allmendinger +1800
- Michael McDowell, Kyle Busch +2800
- Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Chase Briscoe +3000
- Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney +5000
- Carson Hocevar +7500
- Cole Custer +10000
- Zane Smith, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace, Todd Gilliland +20000
- Justin Haley, John Hunter Nemechek +25000
- Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +30000
- Ryan Preece, Josh Berry, Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, Riley Herbst +35000
- Ty Dillon, Cody Ware +50000
Odds for NASCAR Xfinity Series at Circuit of the Americas
Coming soon.
- Circuit of the Americas (COTA) NASCAR layout this year vs. last year ↩︎
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com