2023 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix

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.

Practice

Tyler Reddick was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 2:12.016 seconds and a speed of .

Practice results

Qualifying

William Byron scored the pole for the race with a time of 2:10.760 and a speed of .

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 Kselowski 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.

It's now a head-to-head battle between Byron and Reddick for the win, with half a second separating them. Kyle Busch is far behind in third place, trailing by 2.4 seconds. On lap 63, Reddick overtakes Byron and takes the lead. A yellow flag is waved with four laps remaining due to debris on the track. Austin Dillon's car was seen smoking from the left rear section.

On the first Overtime attempt to finish the race, Byron goes a little wide in turn one, with Kyle Busch running second. Yellow flag for debris from Ryan Blaney's car. Ryan Preece with heavy damage.

On the second Overtime attempt, Daniel Suarez (pushed by Bowman) spins Martin Truex Jr. Yellow flag for Daniel Suarez's dislodged tire.

Third Overtime Attempt with Reddick and Bowman leading the ranks. Restart, Reddick takes the lead. Bell with major damage to his hood.
The white flag is waved being the final lap of the race, with Kyle Busch overtaking Bowman for second place, albeit far from first place, 1.6 seconds behind Reddick. Finally, Tyler Reddick crosses the finish line as the race winner. Completing the top 5 are Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain and William Byron.

Race results

Stage Results

Stage One
''Laps:'' 15

Stage Two
''Laps:'' 15

Final Stage Results

Stage Three
''Laps:'' 38

Race statistics

* Lead changes: 16 among 7 different drivers
* Cautions/Laps: 8 for 17 laps
* Red flags: 0
* Time of race: 3 hours, 30 minutes and 32 seconds
* Average speed:

Media

Television

Fox Sports covered the race on the television side. Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, and Haas F1 Team Principal Guenther Steiner called the race from the broadcast booth and Chase Elliott called the race remotely. Jamie Little and Regan Smith handled pit road for the television side, and 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

;Manufacturers' Championship standings

*Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

References

{{2023 NASCAR Cup

EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix
EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix
NASCAR races at Circuit of the Americas
EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix