2021 EchoPark Automotive Texas Grand Prix

Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Race 14 of 36 in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series
Date	May 23, 2021 (2021-05-23)
Location	Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas
Course	Permanent racing facility 3.426 mi (5.514 km)
Distance	54 laps, 185 mi (298 km)
Scheduled Distance	68 laps, 231 mi (372 km)
Average speed	59.024 miles per hour (94.990 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing
Time	2:12.911
Most laps led
Driver	Joey Logano	Team Penske
Laps	14
Winner
No. 9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	FS1
Announcers	Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer
Radio in the United States
Radio	PRN
Booth Announcers	Doug Rice and Mark Garrow
Turn Announcers	Rob Albright (1), Brett McMillan (2 to Becketts), Doug Turnbull (Chapel to S do Senna), Ralph Sheheen (To Sepang Hairpin), Pat Patterson (Motodrom) and Brad Gillie (Istanbul 8 to Turn 20)

The 2021 EchoPark Texas Grand Prix was a NASCAR Cup Series race that was held on May 23, 2021, at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Originally scheduled for 68 laps on the 3.426-mile (5.514 km) road course, the race was shortened to 54 laps by heavy rain. It was the 14th race of the 2021 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 3.426-mile (5.514 km) 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.

On September 30, 2020, it was announced that COTA would host a NASCAR Cup Series event for the first time on May 23, 2021.^[7] The lower Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series were also added as support events.^[8] On December 11, 2020, it was announced that NASCAR would run the full 3.41 mile course.^[9]

British IMSA driver Kyle Tilley made his NASCAR debut, replacing B. J. McLeod for Live Fast Motorsports.^[10]

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.

Practice

In a wet practice session, William Byron was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 2:37.694 with an average speed of 77.847 mph (125.283 km/h).^[11]

Practice results

Qualifying

In a dry track, Tyler Reddick scored the pole for the race with a time of 2:12.911 and a speed of 92.363 mph (148.644 km/h).^[12]

NASCAR also implemented a new rule for qualifying. For road course qualifying, a timing loop marked on the circuit, not the start-finish line, will set official time. The rule is similar to that used by INDYCAR, which also uses knockout qualifying. At this circuit, the exit of Istanbul 8 will be used as the timing line.

Qualifying results

Race

Tyler Reddick won his first career pole in qualifying. It began to rain on the first lap and all drivers pitted to change from slick tires to treaded rain tires. Kevin Harvick got heavy damage after making contact with Ryan Blaney, which also collected Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace. Joey Logano won the first stage. In the second stage, the rain picked up, and the ensuing spray created visibility issues. In one incident, Martin Truex Jr. got into the back of Michael McDowell and then was rammed into by Cole Custer, severely damaging both cars, and causing Custer's car to catch on fire. Kyle Busch won the second stage. On a round of green flag pit stops, Kyle Larson passed Busch for the lead. Alex Bowman took the lead from Larson and was then passed by Chase Elliott. The race was red flagged again due to heavier rain and was called official with 14 laps to go. Elliott was awarded the win, giving Chevrolet its 800th win in NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports its 268th win, tying Petty Enterprises for the most wins by team in NASCAR history.

Stage Results

Stage One Laps: 15

Stage Two Laps: 17

Final Stage Results

Stage Three Laps: 36

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 11 among 10 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 6 for 41
• Red flags: 2 (1 for weather, 1 for 20 minutes and 54 seconds)
• Time of race: 3 hours, 7 minutes and 11 seconds
• Average speed: 59.024 miles per hour (94.990 km/h)

Media

Television

Fox Sports covered the race on the television side. Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer called the race from the broadcast booth. Jamie Little and Regan Smith handled pit road for the television side. Larry McReynolds provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

Radio

PRN had the radio call for the race which was simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Denny Hamlin 597 2 William Byron 499 (–98) 2 3 Kyle Larson 487 (–110) 4 Joey Logano 486 (–111) 2 5 Chase Elliott 481 (–116) 3 6 Martin Truex Jr. 474 (–123) 1 7 Ryan Blaney 458 (–139) 8 Kevin Harvick 428 (–169) 9 Brad Keselowski 422 (–175) 10 Kyle Busch 422 (–175) 11 Austin Dillon 366 (–231) 1 12 Alex Bowman 362 (–235) 1 13 Chris Buescher 338 (–259) 2 14 Christopher Bell 337 (–260) 15 Tyler Reddick 334 (–263) 16 Michael McDowell 329 (–268) Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 507 2 Ford 494 (–13) 3 Toyota 479 (–28) Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings. . – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.