The Toyota Tundra 225 was the 9th

stock car race Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It or ...

of the

2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series The 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was the 27th season of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the NextEra ...

season, and the inaugural running of the event. The race was held on Saturday, May 22, 2021 in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

at the

Circuit of the Americas Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Austin, Texas, in the United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand ...

. The race took 41 laps to complete. At the end,

Todd Gilliland Todd J. Gilliland (born May 15, 2000) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 38 Ford Mustang for Front Row Motorsports. He is the son of NASCAR driver and team owner Dav ...

Front Row Motorsports Front Row Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team began running part-time in 2004 as Means-Jenkins Motorsports under a partners ...

would win the race, the second of his career and his first of the year.

Kaz Grala Kaz Edward Grala ( ; born December 29, 1998) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 26 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. The Boston native is the youngest NASCAR ...

Young's Motorsports Young's Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the ARCA Menards Series. In the Truck Series, they field three full-time Chevrolet Silverados: the No. 02 for Jesse Li ...

and

Tyler Ankrum Tyler M. Ankrum (born March 6, 2001) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 16 Toyota Tundra for Hattori Racing Enterprises. Ankrum won the 2018 NASCAR ...

GMS Racing Petty GMS Motorsports, also known as GMS Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series, is an American professional stock car racing team formed by Richard Petty and Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. and operated by GMS Racing. In the NASCAR Cup Series they field t ...

would fill in the rest of the podium positions, finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Background

(COTA) is a grade 1

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

-specification

motorsports Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

facility located within the

extraterritorial jurisdiction Extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) is the legal ability of a government to exercise authority beyond its normal boundaries. Any authority can claim ETJ over any external territory they wish. However, for the claim to be effective in the externa ...

. It features a 3.426-mile (5.514 km)

road racing Road racing is a form of motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held either on a closed circuit or on a street circuit utilizing temporarily closed public roads. Originally, road races were held almost entirely on publ ...

circuit. The facility is home to the

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

United States Grand Prix The United States Grand Prix is a motor racing event that has been held on and off since 1908, when it was known as the American Grand Prize. The Grand Prix later became part of the Formula One World Championship. , the Grand Prix has been held ...

, and the

Motorcycle Grand Prix of the Americas The Grand Prix of the Americas, known as the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas for sponsorship reasons, is a Grand Prix motorcycle race that was held for the first time in the 2013 season at the Circuit of the Americas. It became the third Mo ...

, a round of the FIM Road Racing World Championship. It previously hosted the

Supercars Championship The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

, the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...

, the

IMSA SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

, and

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

. On September 30, 2020, it was announced that COTA would host a

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

event for the first time on May 23, 2021. The lower

Xfinity Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the com ...

and

Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

were also added as support events. On December 11, 2020, it was announced that NASCAR would run the full 3.41 mile course.

Entry list

*Withdrew due to a stolen truck.

Practice

The first and final practice took place on Friday, May 21 at 4:05 PM EST. Zane Smith of

would win the pole with a 2:17.395 with an average speed of . One incident would happen during practice: Brad Gross would spin with 26 minutes left in practice. Gross would receive damage from the spin and would not set a lap time.

Qualifying

Qualifying would take place under torrential downpour on Saturday, May 22 at 10:06 AM EST. Qualifying consisted of two rounds- the first round would be 25 minutes long, and everyone would have a chance to set a lap time. Then, the fastest 12 qualifiers would move on to the second round- a 10 minute round in which whoever set the fastest time in Round 2 won the pole. While

would set the fastest time in Round 1,

would win the pole, beating Grala in Round 2 with a 2:40:401 with an average speed of .

Logan Bearden Logan Geariety Bearden (born November 3, 1995) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 22 Ford F-150 for AM Racing. Racing career After growing up helping h ...

Dawson Cram Dawson Kevin Cram (born September 12, 2001) is an American professional stock car racing driver who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 35 Ford Mustang for Emerling-Gase Motorsports, the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro fo ...

Spencer Boyd Spencer Peyton Boyd (born June 26, 1995) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 12 Chevrolet Silverado for Young's Motorsports. Boyd has previously compe ...

, Samuel LeComte, John Atwell, Brad Gross, and

Jennifer Jo Cobb Jennifer Jo Cobb (born June 12, 1973) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. She competes part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 10 Chevrolet Silverado for her own team, Jennifer Jo Cobb Raci ...

would all fail to make the event. There were numerous incidents in qualifying. First,

Chase Purdy Chase R. Purdy (born November 11, 1999) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 4 Chevrolet Silverado for Kyle Busch Motorsports. He has competed for MDM Mot ...

and

Derek Kraus Derek K. Kraus (born September 1, 2001) is an American professional stock car racing driver who competed full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 19 Chevrolet Silverado for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. The Stratford, Wiscons ...

would crash into each other, sending Kraus spinning. Cobb would crash in qualifying in Turn 13, causing substantial damage to her vehicle. Samuel LeComte would spin after going wide exiting turn 20, hitting the curbs and spinning.

Cory Roper Micah Cory Roper (born July 31, 1977) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 04 Ford F-150 for Roper Racing. He is not related to Tony Roper or his ...

would spin in Turn 11 after also going wide. Finally, Kraus was involved with another incident, this time with Roger Reuse.

Race

Pre-race comments and ceremonies

Race recap

Post-race driver comments

Race results

Stage 1 Laps: 12 Stage 2 Laps: 14 Stage 3 Laps: 15

References

{{2021 NASCAR Truck Series 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series NASCAR races at Circuit of the Americas May 2021 sports events in the United States 2021 in sports in Texas