NASCAR Cup Series DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne
Circuit of The Americas Track Length: 2.4 Mile Asphalt Road Course
Sunday, March 1 3:30 p.m. ET TV: FOX, 3:30 p.m. ET Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 228.0 miles (95 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 20), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 45), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 95) The Purse: $11,233,037
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Focused Health 250
Circuit of The Americas Track Length: 2.4 Mile Asphalt Road Course
Saturday, February 28 3 p.m. ET TV: CW, 3 p.m. ET Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 156.0 miles (65 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 20), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 40), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 65) The Purse: $1,653,590
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 at St. Petersburg
Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Track Length: 1.8 Mile Asphalt Street Course
Saturday, February 28 12 p.m. ET TV: FS1, 12 p.m. ET Radio: NRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 144.0 miles (80 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 20), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 40), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 80) The Purse: $789,700
Where To Watch NASCAR This Week:
Friday, February 27
NCTS Kennametal Pole Qualifying (The FS2 at 4 p.m. ET)
NOAPS Kennametal Pole Qualifying (The CW App at 5 p.m. ET)
Saturday, February 28
NCS Busch Light Pole Qualifying (Amazon Prime, PRN, SiriusXM at 10 a.m. ET)
NCTS Race: OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 at St. Petersburg (FS1, NRN, SiriusXM at 12 p.m. ET)
NOAPS Race: Focused Health 250 (The CW, PRN, SiriusXM at 3 p.m. ET)
Sunday, March 1
NCS Race: DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne (FOX, PRN, SiriusXM at 3:30 p.m. ET)
Quick Track Facts & Insights: COTA
- Construction began in 2010 on the world class road course known as the Circuit of The Americas (COTA), nestled on 1,500 acres of land just outside of Austin, Texas.
- Circuit of The Americas’ iconic Turn 1, also known as “Big Red,” challenges drivers to an initial 133-foot climb right out of the gate.
- Circuit of The Americas has two configurations to the road course. The first is the longer 3.41-mile circuit and the second is the 2.40-mile circuit. Both versions boast 20 turns.
- Did You Know? COTA also has an observation tower. Located on the outside of the track near Turns 16-18, the COTA Tower is 251 feet tall at its highest point, with an observation deck 22 stories above the track.
OnlyBulls Green Flag 150
Quick Track Facts & Insights: St. Pete
- Racing in the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida began as a SCCA Trans-Am Series event in 1985, utilizing a course located near the waterfront in the downtown portion of the city
NASCAR Cup Series
TYLER REDDICK’S HISTORIC THREE-PEAT ATTEMPT
Tyler Reddick became the sixth driver to win the first two races in a Cup season last week at Atlanta
No driver has ever won the first three races
Finished top-10 in all five COTA races including a win in 2023
Finished top-10 in five of the last six road course races
23XI RACING’S BREAKTHROUGH SEASON
Won consecutive races for the first time in team history (Daytona and Atlanta)
Won more through two races in 2026 than all of 2025, Bubba Wallace won the 2025 Brickyard 400
Became the ninth team to win the first two races of a season, and first since 2009 (RFK Racing), the last team to win the first
three races in a season was Petty Enterprises in 1963
Led 31% of the laps in 2026 so far (148 of 471), most of any team
Leads all teams with five top 10s in 2026, RFK Racing has the next most (3)
Two of the three drivers to finish Top-10 in both races in 2026 drive for 23XI (Reddick won both, Wallace finished 10th, 8th)
SHANE VAN GISBERGEN’S ROAD COURSE DOMINANCE
Won the last five road course races, only Jeff Gordon won six straight (1997-2000)
Can become the first driver to get their first seven Cup wins on road courses
Scored his oval-best finish of 6th at Atlanta
Fastest Driver Period
Shane van Gisbergen’s average finish of 7.58 on road courses is second best all time among drivers with 4+ starts, behind only Hall of Famer Fireball Roberts (2.78)
Shane van Gisbergen led 52% of road course laps in 2025, ran inside the top 5 for 85% of laps and inside the top 10 for 95% of laps
Shane van Gisbergen’s 52% of laps led on road courses was the highest percentage by a driver since 2008 (Kyle Busch – 64.4% over two races) and the highest among seasons with 3+ road course races
COTA RACE TRENDS AND STRATEGY
Only once has a stage winner gone on to win at COTA (Tyler Reddick – stage 2 in 2023)
The driver who led the most laps went on to win three of the four COTA races in the NextGen car, only Kyle Busch last year did not win
Three of the last four COTA races were caution free in each of the first two stages
The five COTA races had nine different stage winners, only Denny Hamlin has multiple stage wins (two)
ROAD COURSE TRENDS AND STATISTICS
COTA is the first of four road courses on the Cup schedule this year, the fewest since 2020
In 20 of the 23 road course races with the Next Gen car the race winner started in the top 8
Each of the last five road course winners started on the front row
Four of the last six first time winners in the Cup series were on road courses
Five of the last 15 road course races were won by drivers getting their first road course win
CHRISTOPHER BELL’S COTA MASTERY
Christopher Bell’s five races at COTA: three Top 3s (including his 2025 win) and two finishes in the 30s
Christopher Bell finished in the top-five in six of the last seven road course races including three runner-ups and a win at COTA in 2025
Won this race last year, his third top-three finish in the last four COTA races
Three-time road course winner
HOT 🔥
Shane van Gisbergen
Won the last five road course races
Led the most laps in four of the last five
road course races
Finished in the top-10 in the last eight
road course races
HOT 🔥
Tyler Reddick
Won both races in 2026
Finished top-10 in all five COTA races
including a win in 2023
Finished top-10 in five of the last six road
course races
HOT 🔥
Christopher Bell
Won this race last year, his third top-three
finish in the last four COTA races
Three-time road course winner
Finished top-five in six of the last seven
road course races
COLD 🥶
Ryan Blaney
Yet to finish in the top-five in 23 starts on
a road course in the Next Gen car
Only one top-10 finish in five COTA starts
Only one top-10 finish in the last six road
course races
COLD 🥶
Denny Hamlin
Never finished in the top-10 at COTA in
five starts
Only one top-10 finish in the last 11 road
course races
SLEEPER 🛏️
Alex Bowman
Finished top-10 in all five COTA races
Won the Chicago Street race in 2024
SLEEPER 🛏️
Chris Buescher
Finished top-10 in 17 of the 23 road course races in the Next Gen car
Finished top-10 in the last three COTA races
Last Cup win was at Watkins Glen in 2024
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series
SEASON-OPENING PERFORMANCE
Jesse Love & Rajah Caruth are the only drivers who finished in the Top 10 in both races this season
Sheldon Creed (1st), Rajah Caruth (8th) and Patrick Staropoli (13th) earned their career-best finishes with Top 15s at Atlanta
Parker Retzlaff scored more stage points in the first two races of 2026 (16) than all of 2025 (12)
Two full-time drivers failed to finish both races to start the season: Harrison Burton & Josh Williams
COTA winners since 2021 debut
Date Winner
5/22/2021 Kyle Busch
3/26/2022 AJ Allmendinger
3/25/2023 AJ Allmendinger
3/23/2024 Kyle Larson
3/1/2025 Connor Zilisch
SHELDON CREED FINALLY BREAKS THROUGH
Earned his first career O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win at Atlanta
Atlanta was his first career win in 138th start
15 runner-up finishes prior to his first win, the most by a driver before their first win in series history
It had been 1,630 days since his last Truck Series win at Darlington in 09/2021
CONNOR ZILISCH RETURNS TO O’REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES
Rookie-record 10 wins in 2025
Series-record 18 consecutive Top 5s
Youngest driver to win four straight races
Youngest driver to reach 11 career wins
Track record as youngest O’Reilly Auto Parts Series winner on 10 different tracks
Won O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut at Watkins Glen in Sept. 2024
Won six of the eight road course races he’s run in his career, including the last four
75% win percentage on road courses is the highest in series history
1.63 avg finish on road courses is the best all-time
More wins, poles and laps led than the rest of the field combined in the nine road course races since his series debut in 2024
NASCAR Truck Series
HISTORIC FIRST FOR TRUCK SERIES
This is both the first race at St. Petersburg for the Truck Series, and the first street course in series history
St. Petersburg is the 11th different road course the Truck Series has raced on, and the first of two new road courses in 2026
There are four road course races planned for 2026, the most ever in a single season
ROAD COURSE RACE TRENDS
Ben Rhodes and Justin Haley are the only drivers entered with a Truck road course win
The driver with the most laps led won seven of the last eight road course races in Trucks
Six of the last seven Truck road course races were won from the front row
The final pass for the lead occurred in the final 10 laps in each of the last four road course races
Three of the last four Truck Series road course races featured overtime
NOTABLE FACES AT ST. PETERSBURG
1 Dario Franchitti
52 years old from Edinburgh, Scotland
•Four-time INDYCAR Series champion (2007, 2009, 2010,
2011)
- Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner (2007, 2010, 2012)
- 31 INDYCAR wins. 2008 Rolex 24 at Daytona overall winner
- 2011 INDYCAR Grand Prix of St. Petersburg winner
- 10 Cup Series starts (2008) – best finish of 22nd:
Martinsville 03/08. - Making first NTS start since October 2007 (Martinsville –
finished 33rd)
25 Colin Braun
37 years old from Ovalo, TX.
- Raced IndyCar St Pete in 2024 finished 20th.
- 26 IMSA class wins including three Rolex 24 hour.
- Three time IMSA WeatherTech Champion.
- One NTS win, Michigan 2009
76 Nathan Nicholson
19 years from Bloomington, IN.
- 25 starts in Mazda MX-5 Cup 2024-2025 with five podium
finishes. - Mazda MX-5 Cup scholarship recipient.
- 2022 NASA Spec Miata Champion. 2023 Spec MX-5
Champion. - Running the first three road course race of 2026 in #76
77 James Hinchcliffe
39 years old from Toronto, Canada.
- 161 INDYCAR starts over 11 seasons (2011-2021)
- Six career INDYCAR wins
- 2013 INDYCAR Grand Prix of St. Petersburg winner (first
career win) - Current INDYCAR on FOX analyst
St. Petersburg Track History
Racing in the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida began as a SCCA Trans-Am Series event in 1985, utilizing a course located near the waterfront in the downtown portion of the city. The event was originally organized by William T. McVey. After several years, residents and business began complaining about noise from the race, and the event was halted after 1990.. Following a brief revival between 1996-97 at a new layout near Tropicana Field (approximately 1 mile from the old circuit) for Trans-Am, a revised 1.8-mile layout at the original waterfront location was established in 2003 for CART. The event lasted one season before being canceled due to CART’s bankruptcy and other disputes, but was revived as the first non-oval race in the history of the Indy Racing League in March 2005.. Since 2005, St. Petersburg has hosted INDYCAR every year and has been the traditional season-opener for the series since 2011, except for 2020 & 2021 due to COVID-19 related concerns. The current circuit has also hosted the American Le Mans Series (2007-09) and Stadium Super Trucks (2014-17, 2021).
NASCAR
http://www.nascar.com/
Photos & Graphics Courtesy of NASCAR