The NASCAR Cup Series will get its first taste of the new “National” layout at Circuit of The Americas with practice and qualifying Saturday on the road course in Austin, Texas.
The revamped 20-turn, 2.4-mile layout will shorten the track’s traditional circuit (which is used for Formula One) by about a mile and shave roughly a minute off lap times.
Cup cars will be on track for practice starting at 11 a.m. ET, leading into qualifying at 12:30 p.m. The sessions will be streamed on Prime.
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The Xfinity Series will holds its first road course race of the season starting at 2:30 p.m. ET on The CW Network. Kyle Larson is the race’s defending winner but won’t be in the field this year. Cup drivers Ross Chastain, Carson Hocevar, William Byron and Riley Herbst are racing in the Xfinity event Saturday.
The IMSA-sanctioned VP Racing SportsCar Challenge also will be in action at COTA with morning and evening races bookending the NASCAR action.
Circuit of The Americas
Saturday, March 1
(All Times Eastern)
Garage open
Track activity
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9:40 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. — VP Racing SportsCar Challenge race (45 minutes)
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11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. — Cup practice (Prime)
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12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. — Cup qualifying (Prime, Performance Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
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2:30 p.m. — Xfinity race (65 laps, Stage 1 at Lap 20, Stage 2 at Lap 40, 156 miles; CW, Performance Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
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6 – 6:45 p.m. — VP Racing SportsCar Challenge race
Weather
Saturday: Mix of clouds and sunshine with a high of 86 degrees and 7% chance of rain. It’s expected to be partly cloudy and 54 degrees for the start of the Xfinity race.
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