COTA Event Info:
Date: Sunday, March 24
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Austin, Texas
Format: 68 Laps, 231.88 miles, Stages: 15-15-38
TV: FOX
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 10 a.m. ET, Practice (FS2, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 11:30 a.m. ET, Qualifying (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 3:30 p.m. ET, Race (FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Pace Laps:
- Circuit of the Americas (COTA) hosts the first road course race of the 2024 season this weekend as the Cup Series rolls into Austin for the fourth time.
- This weekend’s schedule features a different look in that teams will practice in two separate 20-minute practice sessions, beginning at 10 a.m. Group sessions will still be employed, except with the addition of an extra 20-minute run prior to group qualifying.
- RFK is coming off back-to-back weeks with a car in the top five as Brad Keselowski earned a P3 finish in Bristol. Chris Buescher finished seventh last weekend, securing both teams’ second-consecutive week with top-10 results.
- Buescher is coming off a 2023 season that saw him earn five top-10s in six road course events with a best result of fourth in Sonoma (ROVAL: 7th, Watkins Glen: 7th, Indianapolis: 11th, Chicago: 10th, Sonoma: 4th, COTA: 8th).
- Jack Roush has 15 wins all-time on road courses in NASCAR with five in the Cup Series, the most recent in 2014 (Carl Edwards: Sonoma).
6 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Matt McCall
Partner: Castrol Edge
17 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: Fastenal
Keselowski at COTA
Starts: 3
Wins: —
Top-10s: —
Poles: —
- Keselowski makes his fourth start at COTA this weekend. His best finish at the near 3.5-mile circuit is 4th, which came two years ago after starting 26th.
- Last season Keselowski did not finish after a mechanical issue 20 minutes shy of the finish.
- In 43 NASCAR Cup Series races on road courses, Keselowski has 11 top-10s with a 16.7 average finish, and 16.5 average starting position.
Buescher at COTA
Starts: 3
Wins: —
Top-10s: 1
Poles: —
- Buescher makes his fourth start at COTA and is coming off his best career finish there to date, a P8 result in 2023.
- Overall he’s averaged a 14th-place finish there since the Cup Series began racing in 2021.
- In 32 races on road courses, Buescher has a 13.7 average finish and 12 top-10s, and at one point last season carried a streak of eight-consecutive top-10s on road courses.
- Still, Buescher has the second-best average finish (10.1) of any driver on road courses since 2021 with 10 top-10s in that stretch and three finishes inside the top five.
RFK Historically on Road Courses
Cup Wins: 5 (Mark Martin, 1993-94-95, Watkins Glen; Mark Martin, 1997, Sonoma; Carl Edwards, 2014, Sonoma)
- RFK on the Road: As an organization, RFK has made 256 starts on road courses in the Cup Series with five wins, 90 top-10s and 41 finishes inside the top five with a 17.4 average finish.
- Martin Goes Three-Straight in N.Y.: NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin is responsible for four of Jack Roush’s road course wins all-time, including three-straight at Watkins Glen from 1993-95. Martin dominated the three years, leading a combined 183 laps, and won all three from the pole. He also won once in Sonoma, in 1997, after also starting from the point to lead 69 of the 74 laps.
- Edwards Victorious Four Times, at Four Different Road Courses: Carl Edwards also visited victory lane for Jack Roush at Sonoma, driving to the win in 2014 after starting fourth. In Xfinity action, Edwards was victorious at WGI in 2012, Road America in 2010, and Montreal in 2009. In the 2012 event in New York, current crew chief Scott Graves was atop the box for one of his two Xfinity wins all-time on road courses.
- Buescher, Graves Former Road Course Winners: In Buescher’s first full-time Xfinity season in 2014, he and Graves found victory lane at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in August, which also fell on August 16. Buescher led 25 laps that day in the No. 60 entry for Roush.
RFK Road Course Wins
1993-1 Martin WGI-Cup
1994-1 Martin WGI-Cup
1995-1 Martin WGI-Cup
1997-1 Martin Son-Cup
2014-1 Edwards Son-Cup
2012-1 Edwards WGI-NXS
2010-1 Edwards RA-NXS
2009-1 Edwards Mon-NXS
2014-1 Buescher Mid-O NXS
1998-1 Ruttman WGI-Truck
2000-1 Biffle WGI-Truck
1997-1 Ruttman Top-Truck
1999-1 Bliss Top-Truck
1997-1 Ruttman Son-Truck
1999-1 Biffle Port-Truck
Last Time Out & Where They Stand
Bristol: For the second-straight week, an RFK driver finished top five as Keselowski earned a P3 finish in a chaotic Bristol race. RFK were the top-finishing Ford drivers as Buescher finished seventh, the second-straight week both cars finished inside the top-10.
Points Standings (6: 13th, 17: 14th): Keselowski advanced an impressive nine spots to 13th in points, thanks in large part to the second-most stage points of any driver (16), and the most points earned by any driver in the field (50). Buescher jumped up two spots in the standings to 14th, just a point off his teammate.
