CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS
Saturday, March 1 — NASCAR Xfinity Series, 2:30 p.m. ET (CW)
Sunday, March 2 — NASCAR Cup Series, 3:30 p.m. ET (FOX)
A new course layout at Circuit of The Americas will greet drivers from the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series this weekend as both will compete at the Austin facility for the fifth straight year. The course will now feature a 20-turn, 2.3-mile layout compared to the 3.41-mile Grand Prix circuit.
LEADING THE WAY
Ford Mustang Dark Horse drivers have done everything but win through the first two races of the NASCAR Cup Series season, and no category bears that out more than laps led. Nine Ford drivers have combined to lead 338-of-467 laps at Daytona and Atlanta (72%). Team Penske has been at the forefront of that domination with Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric combining to lead 125 at Daytona and 131 at Atlanta (55%). Cindric led the most laps in the Daytona 500 (59) while Logano topped all drivers in the Ambetter Health 400 (83). Overall, Ford led 143 laps in the 500 and 195 on Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
BLANEY STAYS IN POINTS LEAD
Ryan Blaney is one of only two Cup Series drivers to start the season with consecutive top 10 finishes. The Team Penske driver followed up a seventh-place finish in the Daytona 500 with a fourth this past weekend after starting from the pole. That continued a three-year run of domination in qualifying at AMS that has seen Ford sweep the front row for five straight events and have at least one Team Penske driver in those positions on each occasion. Blaney goes into this weekend’s race at Circuit of The Americas with a 12-point lead in the standings while Penske teammate Austin Cindric is fourth.
BUESCHER AT HOME ON THE ROAD
Chris Buescher has been one of the most consistent drivers on road courses over the past three seasons, registering 13 top-10 finishes in the last 16 events. Included in the streak is a win last year at Watkins Glen International, which marked his first on that style of track. He comes into this weekend’s event at COTA having posted eighth-place finishes in 2023 and 2024, and has an average finish of 12.5 in four starts.
FORD’S ACTIVE ROAD COURSE CUP WINNERS
There are three current drivers who have won a NASCAR Cup Series race on a road course with Ford. The most recent winner was Chris Buescher, who won at Watkins Glen International and extended his streak of at least one victory to three straight seasons.. Ryan Blaney got his first road course win in the inaugural event on the Charlotte Roval in 2018 while Joey Logano scored his Cup victory at Watkins Glen International in 2015, which completed a weekend sweep after he won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race one day earlier.
OTHER FORD ROAD COURSE WINNERS
Besides the drivers mentioned above, Ford has five other active Cup competitors who have won on a road course in either the NASCAR Xfinity or NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Brad Keselowski (Watkins Glen NXS with Ford, 2013); Austin Cindric (NXS wins with Ford at Watkins Glen, 2019; Mid-Ohio, 2019; Road America, 2020, Daytona Road Course, 2020; and Indianapolis Road Course, 2021); Todd Gilliland (Circuit of the Americas NCTS with Ford, 2021); Zane Smith (Circuit of the Americas NCTS with Ford, 2022 and 2023); and Cole Custer (Portland NXS with Ford, 2023).
FORD ROAD COURSE WINS
IN THE MODERN ERA (1972-Present)
Circuit of The Americas is one of nine road courses the NASCAR Cup Series has competed on in the modern era, joining Riverside International Raceway (1958-88), Watkins Glen International (1957-Present), Sonoma Raceway (1989-Present), Charlotte Motor Speedway (2018-Present), Daytona International Speedway (2020-2021), Road America (2021-2022), Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2021-23) and the Chicago Street Race (2023-Present). Ford has produced a total of 20 combined wins at those facilities from 1972-Present. Mark Martin leads the way with four victories, including three straight years at Watkins Glen, while Ricky Rudd, Marcos Ambrose and Geoffrey Bodine have two each.
AUSTIN CINDRIC: “I think it specializes the track a little bit more with making it smaller. Just from a numbers standpoint, when you reduce the number of corners on the racetrack the corners that exist now have a heightened importance, whereas there’s a corner I might not have sacrificed setup items on or passing zones that are now much more important because they’re a higher percentage of the lap. So, from a numbers standpoint it does change things. I can’t say with certainty what those corners are exactly going to be and how important they’re going to be until we get there. They’ve done some paving as well, so there’s gonna be a bit of a learning curve, but it’s definitely gonna change the race for sure.”
JOSH BERRY: “Selfishly, I like the changes to the course because last year I was honestly pretty solid with the majority that they left, so we’ve spent some time at Ford in the simulator getting acclimated to the new layout and working on things. I feel good going there. All you can do is just try to be as prepared as you can and I’m continuing to gain experience on the road courses, so, for me, I think we just want to go execute a solid race. We want to be more competitive than I was last year there with no mistakes. If we can keep the car facing the right way and keep it on the racetrack, we can have a solid day.”
A COTA NASCAR FIRST
Todd Gilliland became the first NASCAR driver to win a national series event at Circuit of The Americas when he captured what was then known as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in 2021. In a weekend that was hampered by rain, Gilliland was able to manage the mixed conditions of dry and wet pavement to win by nearly eight seconds. Gilliland, who registered his second series win that day, continues to look for his first NASCAR Cup Series victory this weekend in his fourth season driving for Front Row Motorsports.
BURTON BY HIMSELF
Who is the only driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series to start the season with back-to-back top-10 finishes? If you answered Harrison Burton, give yourself a gold star. The 24-year-old native of Huntersville, NC, is in his first year with AM Racing and started the season with a sixth-place run at Daytona International Speedway. He was in the right place to avoid the last lap wreck at Atlanta ended up being Ford’s highest finisher in 10th. Burton comes into this weekend’s race at COTA sixth in the point standings.
MAYER PROVING TO BE A ROAD WARRIOR
Sam Mayer might be new to Ford Performance as he competes in his inaugural season with the Haas Factory Team, but he’s no stranger to winning on road courses. Of Mayer’s seven career NASCAR Xfinity Series victories, four have been on the road and they’ve all come in the past two seasons. His first career win came at Road America in 2023 and was quickly followed by victories at Watkins Glen and the Charlotte Roval, which he successfully defended last year.
FORD’S ALL-TIME CUP ROAD COURSE WINNERS
5 – Dan Gurney
4 – Mark Martin
2 – Fireball Roberts, Marvin Panch, Parnelli Jones, Ricky Rudd, and Marcos Ambrose
1 – Chuck Stevenson, Eddie Gray, Richard Petty, A.J. Foyt, Bobby Allison, Bill Elliott, Davey Allison, Geoffrey Bodine, Ernie Irvan, Rusty Wallace, Carl Edwards, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, Chris Buescher
