RICK WARE RACING
EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix
Date: March 2, 2025
Event: EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (Round 3 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas (2.4-mile, 20-turn road course)
Format: 95 laps, broken into three stages (20 laps/25 laps/50 laps)
Race Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Bubba Wallace of 23XI Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Ryan Preece of RFK Racing (Ford)
RWR Finish:
● Cody Ware (Started 37th, Finished 31st / Running, completed 95 of 95 laps)
RWR Points:
● Cody Ware (37th with 10 points)
Race Notes:
● Christopher Bell won the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix to score his 11th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his first at COTA. His margin of victory over second-place William Byron was .433 of a second.
● There were four caution periods for a total of 15 laps.
● All but three of the 37 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Byron leaves COTA as the new championship leader with a two-point advantage over second-place Ryan Blaney.
Sound Bites:
“Just never got the car quite where we wanted it to be. Felt like we made good gains throughout the race, but we started so far out of the box that by the time we started getting our Arby’s Ford Mustang dialed in, it was too much to overcome. But I’m definitely proud of the effort. We picked up about two or three seconds from where we were yesterday in practice and qualifying, and that’s a testament to how hard these guys are working. We’ll just move on and get ready for Phoenix.”– Cody Ware, driver of the No. 51 Arby’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Shriners Hospital 500k on Sunday, March 9 at Phoenix Raceway. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
