The 2023 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on March 26, 2023, at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Contested over 75 laps, extended from 68 laps due to an overtime finish, on the 3.426-mile (5.514 km) road course, it was the sixth race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Report
Background
Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a grade 1 FIA-specification motorsports facility located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Austin, Texas. It features a road racing circuit. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand Prix, and the Motorcycle Grand Prix of the Americas, a round of the FIM Road Racing World Championship. It previously hosted the Supercars Championship, the FIA World Endurance Championship, the IMSA SportsCar Championship, and IndyCar Series.
Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver. (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Brad Keselowski RFK Racing Ford 7 Corey LaJoie Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 8 Kyle Busch Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 9 Jordan Taylor Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 14 Chase Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 15 Jenson Button Rick Ware Racing Ford 16 A. J. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 17 Chris Buescher RFK Racing Ford 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Harrison Burton Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 31 Justin Haley Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 38 Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Ryan Preece Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 42 Noah Gragson (R) Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet 43 Erik Jones Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 50 Conor Daly The Money Team Racing Chevrolet 51 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Ford 54 Ty Gibbs (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 77 Ty Dillon Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 78 Josh Bilicki (i) Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet 84 Jimmie Johnson Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet 91 Kimi Räikkönen Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 99 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Official entry list
Practice Tyler Reddick was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 2:12.016 seconds and a speed of .
Practice results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 2:12.016 92.989 2 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 2:12.544 92.618 3 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 2:12.685 92.520Official practice results
Qualifying William Byron scored the pole for the race with a time of 2:10.760 and a speed of .
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 2:11.746 2:10.760 2 45 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing Toyota 2:10.305 2:10.898 3 2 Austin Cindric Team Penske Ford 2:11.215 2:11.352 4 9 Jordan Taylor Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 2:11.020 2:11.754 5 99 Daniel Suárez Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 2:11.884 2:11.905 6 48 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 2:11.401 2:12.127 7 16 A. J. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 2:11.861 2:12.228 8 43 Erik Jones Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet 2:11.678 2:12.230 9 8 Kyle Busch Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 2:11.413 2:12.459 10 42 Noah Gragson (R) Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet 2:11.909 2:13.162 11 23 Bubba Wallace 23XI Racing Toyota 2:11.498 — 12 1 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 2:11.562 — 13 5 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 2:12.039 — 14 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 2:12.112 — 15 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 2:12.125 — 16 21 Harrison Burton Wood Brothers Racing Ford 2:12.219 — 17 54 Ty Gibbs (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 2:12.323 — 18 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 2:12.359 — 19 14 Chase Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 2:12.401 — 20 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 2:12.498 — 21 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 2:12.500 — 22 91 Kimi Räikkönen Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet 2:12.526 — 23 31 Justin Haley Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 2:12.539 — 24 15 Jenson Button Rick Ware Racing Ford 2:12.559 — 25 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 2:12.575 — 26 41 Ryan Preece Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 2:12.629 — 27 7 Corey LaJoie Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 2:12.756 — 28 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 2:12.781 — 29 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 2:12.869 — 30 6 Brad Keselowski RFK Racing Ford 2:12.929 — 31 84 Jimmie Johnson Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet 2:12.938 — 32 17 Chris Buescher RFK Racing Ford 2:13.218 — 33 78 Josh Bilicki (i) Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet 2:13.274 — 34 77 Ty Dillon Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 2:13.567 — 35 50 Conor Daly The Money Team Racing Chevrolet 2:13.792 — 36 38 Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 2:14.038 — 37 51 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Ford 2:14.858 — 38 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 2:20.865 — 39 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 3:02.392 — Official qualifying results
Race Report Stage 1
The race starts with William Byron and Tyler Reddick on the front row. When the green flag is dropped, Reddick has a slow start and loses position to Austin Cindric, but manages to recover on the back straight. Byron leads the first lap with a lead of 8 tenths of a second.
On the second lap, Brad Keselowski stops at the pit entrance and the first yellow flag is shown. Chris Buescher and Ty Dillon have a collision, which causes the latter to spin and hit Jimmie Johnson. At the start of the race, Jordan Taylor drops to ninth place, while Kyle Larson advances to tenth place. Erik Jones and Noah Gragson manage to advance to 7th and 8th place, respectively.
The race restarts on lap 6 and Cindric takes advantage to take the lead after Byron and Reddick go a little long in turn one. Byron drops to third and Jordan Taylor locks up the front tires and loses positions, dropping out of the top 10.
Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Corey LaJoie pit to serve a drive-through penalty for cutting through the sprint section.
On lap 8, Cindric and Reddick swap positions several times, but Reddick finally takes the lead on the final section of the circuit. Moments later, Byron overtakes Cindric and moves back into second.
On lap 11, Kyle Larson spins due to Bubba Wallace having brake failure. Larson touches with Denny Hamlin on the way to the last corner of the circuit, which generates the second yellow flag. Bubba Wallace retires from the race.
Several drivers stop on lap 12, including Tyler Reddick, Noah Gragson, Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin and Kimi Räikkönen, committing to three stops.
Stage 2 The race restarts on lap 16 and Byron takes the lead over Cindric.
Conor Daly heads to the garages, while Keselowski is touched by Ryan Blaney and the latter is touched by Kyle Larson a few corners later.
On lap 24, Cindric, Ross Chastain and Alex Bowman pit, followed by Byron, Allmendinger and Suarez on lap 25. On lap 27, Reddick assumes the race lead, followed by Austin Dillon with a 3.6-second advantage and Michael McDowell.
On lap 28 and with just three laps to go in the second stage, Tyler Reddick managed to increase his lead over Austin Dillon by more than six seconds. On the other hand, Ty Gibbs was penalized for cutting the esses, while Kyle Larson received a penalty for exceeding the speed limit.
The second stage came to an end with a solid performance by Reddick, who managed to increase his lead to more than seven seconds over Dillon. Michael McDowell, Kevin Harvick, Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Larson, Erik Jones, Chase Briscoe and Noah Gragson also scored points in this stage.
Final Stage On lap 32, Harvick and Dillon pit, while Reddick stays on track to take advantage of the 3-stop strategy. On the next lap, Reddick pitted, leaving Buescher in the lead with one stop remaining.
Buescher holds the lead until lap 35, when he pits for his second stop and William Byron takes the lead followed by Allmendinger with a 1.5 second gap. Suarez, Chastain and Kyle Busch complete the top 5, being those who went for two stops, while Reddick, who was going for 3 stops, is in sixth place 7.3 seconds behind the leader.
On lap 36, Reddick manages to overtake Allmendinger and moves into second place, just 3 seconds behind Byron. On the other hand, Christopher Bell spun due to the dirt in one of the turns, but managed to get back on track.
On lap 39, Reddick manages to overtake Byron in the first corner and takes the first position. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin also suffers a spin similar to Bell's, but continues to race. The yellow flag is shown for the third time due to debris on the track.
The yellow flag evens the strategies and all drivers pit on lap 42. Allmendinger loses several positions after the pit stop. Logano, Harrison Burton and Cody Ware stay on track taking the first three positions.
On the restart on lap 44, Reddick tries to take the lead in turn 1, but goes a little wide, allowing Byron and Chastain to take the lead. Logano has to lift his foot off the gas as he is held up by Byron and Reddick.
On lap 45, Reddick made a daring move at turn 11 and went side by side with Chastain on the long straight, ultimately securing second place.
As they reached turn 11 on the following lap, Reddick made an attempt to pass for the lead, succeeding momentarily before Byron counterattacked and the two went side by side through the final sector, with Byron ultimately taking the lead.
On lap 46, Reddick made an inside move at turn 1 but was unable to get past Byron. The driver of car #24 protected the inside line at turn 11 and managed to fend off Reddick's challenge. However, Reddick continued to push and finally overtook Byron on the inside after the long straight, claiming the lead of the race. Kyle Larson suffers a broken toe link in the rear.
On lap 52, the top 4 were separated by a mere 2.4 seconds due to fuel conservation. By lap 55, Bowman had fallen so far behind the leaders that he was overtaken by Daniel Suarez for fourth place. The Mexican driver was trailing Reddick by 3 seconds.
With only 12 laps remaining in the scheduled race, the top 4 were now separated by just 1.1 seconds, all while still conserving fuel. The two Trackhouse drivers overtook Byron, whose car was unstable on the dirt, while Suarez took second place by bumping his teammate. Brad Keselowski's car came to a stop, prompting a yellow flag.
Most of the drivers pit with 11 laps to go. Byron comes out second, ahead of Suarez and behind Reddick. Chastain loses time and positions due to delays in securing the right front tire nut. Bell stays out and becomes the leader, followed by Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kimi Raikkonen, and Ryan Preece on the same strategy.
On lap 59, the race resumes. Reddick takes the lead on the inside of turn 1, having started in fifth place. Several cars spin out, including Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain, who cannot immediately resume the race, resulting in a yellow flag. Denny Hamlin has to pit due to a flat tire.
Lap 61, race restart with Reddick and Bell leading the pack. Reddick overshoots the first corner and Byron takes the lead. Kyle Busch moves up to third place. Bell spins out. Allmendinger retires from the race.