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Drivers offer impressions of Circuit of The Americas at Goodyear tire test

Staff Report NASCAR.com May 18, 2021 at 9:55 AMEditor’s note: This story initially ran March 2, 2021.

Visions of a five-wide dash past the start-finish line danced through Martin Truex Jr.’s head as he and two other NASCAR Cup Series champions got a glimpse of the Circuit of The Americas road course during Tuesday’s Goodyear tire test in Austin, Texas.

Truex, the 2017 Cup champ, was the Toyota driver responsible for testing around the 3.41-mile track that will be the site of the second of seven road-course races during the 2021 season, the May 23 EchoPark Automotive Texas Grand Prix (2:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Chase Elliott, last year’s champ and part of the Chevrolet camp, and Brad Keselowski, the 2012 title winner and Ford representative, joined Truex for the test.

RELATED: NASCAR schedule | Schedule in photos

“I would say the start of this race would probably be pretty cool, because you got that long front straightaway and it’s very, very wide and (then) you go into a very, very sharp, slow corner, ” Truex said of his first impressions. “We have races at places like Pocono where we get five- or six-wide down the frontstretch and there’s potential for that to happen here.”

Truex admitted he had not had time on the simulator or on iRacing to get used to the track. So when he drove Tuesday in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota it was with a completely fresh perspective.

“My learning curve was really steep, I had no practice before, I had never seen this track before, had never watched a race here before,” Truex said. “I literally watched five minutes of in-car footage last night, I think it was of a Porsche going around this place, and I was like, ‘OK, it looks pretty straightforward.’ But then you get out here and you got the elevation changes and you got the blind corners. Those are the things that take time to learn because you have to go off instinct instead of what you’re seeing.”

PHOTOS: Scenes from the test at Circuit of The Americas

Keselowski, meanwhile, talked about how the changes of speed he experienced in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford really stood out to him.

“It’s different than a lot of the road courses we go to, very high speed,” Keselowski said. “This section over here you’re 185 mph, which is pretty fast, and then you slow down to 30. So 185 to 30, that’s a heckuva ride. I know it would make my wife sick if she was riding with me.”

Tuesday’s test will help NASCAR officials and Goodyear determine the final tire combination for the weekend in May when all three NASCAR national series are in action.

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The sprawling 3.41-mile layout was one of a handful of new venues, instantly rising toward the top of the list of NASCAR’s most technical tracks.

The intrigue is now mixed with anticipation on the eve of the tripleheader weekend, with all three NASCAR national series in action starting Saturday at the Austin, Texas facility. The festivities will conclude with the Cup Series’ inaugural in Sunday’s EchoPark Texas Grand Prix (2:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the culmination of what’s sure to be a learning experience for all parties involved.

RELATED: COTA weekend schedule

“Gosh, the unknowns,” said Chris Gabehart, crew chief for the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Cup Series points leader Denny Hamlin. “There’s just so many things that you’ve got to keep track of at this track, and none of us have been there to do it, so we’re just guessing at some of them, at that.”

With the uncertainty level still high before any of the drivers turn a wheel, here are five areas of focus that teams will face in their christening of COTA.

Navigation newness

When Austin Dillon was asked about the Circuit of The Americas’ most enticing passing zones, his descriptions came with a confession: “I’m not very good at the numbers of each corner,” the Richard Childress Racing driver said. “I’d have to have a map in front of me.” His hesitancy with turn numbers was somehow understandable. There are 20 of them.

Short of converting their cars’ digital dashes to show GPS navigation, a handful of drivers said they plan to have a course map in their car’s interior for the events. It’s a reference point for the drivers not just to get their bearings, but also as a handy framework for communications with crew chiefs and spotters.

“I’ll definitely have a chart in the car,” said William Byron, currently second in Cup Series points. “The funny thing is, when we’ve been in the simulator together and Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) and I have been talking, I’ve referred to a lot of corners as that corner over there by the backstretch, or that one over there with the double corner. So, I don’t know. It’s going to be a lot of guessing. But I think he’ll get the gist from what I’m saying. He’s usually pretty good at picking up what I’m saying. As long as we can get through Turn 1 and talk about that one, and I think that one is pretty important, too. So, I at least know one through four. I’m used to that.”

RELATED: Circuit of The Americas turn-by-turn analysis

Ty Dillon, preparing for his third Cup Series start of the year for Gaunt Brothers Racing, says his turn-number memorization is similar to Byron’s, but he’s opting to group the corners based on their characteristics — tight turns after long straightaways that require heavy braking, the esses and switchbacks, and the double- and triple-apex turns.

“Right now, I think I could probably count to Turn 4 numbers-wise,” says the younger Dillon, who adds that he’ll have a better feel for the course after practice, “but for me and my brain, the way that I work, I’m kind of breaking it down into sections and shapes of the track.”

Even then, he’s planning on having a map close by.

Setup scrutiny

With an all-new course, competition officials opted to schedule practice and qualifying for all three series this weekend. The extra track time will help teams prepare, but the benefits will be offset by the length of each lap and the time of each practice session — 50 minutes for each series.

“We get three sets of practice tires. Well, a lap at COTA is well over two minutes, and you’ve got to leave pit road to get out and you’ve got to come back to pit road to get in, so you’re talking about to make one timed lap at the start-finish line, almost seven minutes is invested,” Gabehart said. “Well, practice is 50 minutes long and I’ve got three sets of tires, so you can do the math pretty quick and realize we won’t get many runs.

“So it’s not like you’re going to be able to show up with some exotic setup that you’re looking to learn something. You’re going to show up ready to race, and give Denny the chance he needs to get acclimated to the race track for real, not the virtual version.”
Chris Graythen | Getty ImagesJoe Gibbs Racing does have some institutional knowledge about COTA, thanks to teammate Martin Truex Jr.’s participation for Toyota in a Goodyear tire test March 2, alongside Chevrolet’s Chase Elliott and Ford’s Brad Keselowski. Otherwise, teams and drivers have leaned on driving simulators for help in learning the course’s finer points.

“When you’re dealing with zero, some is better than none by a lot,” Gabehart said of the experience level. “But in terms of tracks that I think it’s somewhat similar to, Sonoma certainly comes to mind. I think though our series hasn’t been there yet, my experience at maybe Road America in terms of heavy braking zones after some long straights comes to mind, and tire fall-off.

“It’s definitely going to be a potpourri of race tracks, for sure, from what I can tell, but what goes into it for us remains the same — a mistake-free day and you’re going to have a good day. You can’t change the game just because you change the race track. It’s all about minimizing mistakes and being there at the end, and that’s what we hope to do.”

Passing points

With 20 turns to navigate, opportunities for passing should theoretically be bountiful. But the most prime spots for overtakes are the tight corners at the end of COTA’s long straightaways — areas where hard braking will be needed to slow the momentum of heavy stock cars.

“I think on the personal side of things I’ve got to eat my Wheaties,” said defending Xfinity Series champ Austin Cindric, who is also in the Cup Series field for Sunday. “My braking foot is gonna be worn out after this weekend, I can promise you that.”

Cindric has some experience at the Austin, Texas track, last competing there in a GT3 sports-car class in 2016. His prediction for the stock-car edition of COTA racing: A mad scramble at each unfurling of the green flag.“I think the restarts are gonna be wild,” Cindric says. “You have a very wide, inviting front straightaway. You even see it in the F1 races there. I mean, guys will drive it off in there and collect three or four cars, so I think restarts are definitely going to be pretty crazy in all three series — a lot of opportunities to pass at this race track, a lot of tire fall-off, which obviously provides a bit of a dynamic to the race, whether if it’s on strategy or on the race track, so, otherwise, you kind of have every type of corner at this race track. There’s a lot to look forward to, I think for the NASCAR fans and a lot of unknowns for us as drivers.”

New faces and some familiar returns

If the track seems new, so should the COTA entry lists, which are well-stocked with double-duty drivers, sports-car specialists and some long-anticipated reunions — all of which could create some confusion for teams trying to recall who’s who out on the track.

Five Cup Series regulars — Kyle Busch, Cole Custer, Austin Dillon, Kevin Harvick and Tyler Reddick — are scheduled to dip into the Xfinity Series field to gain experience on the eve of their event. They’ll blend in with a selection of drivers with a rich road-racing pedigree — former Rolex 24 class winner Spencer Pumpelly, two-time SCCA Spec Miata champ Preston Pardus and sports-car vet Miguel Paludo.

MORE: Entry list highlights for COTA

Two drivers with extensive NASCAR experience are making their returns to competition for the COTA festivities — 58-year-old Boris Said and longtime Cup Series driver Paul Menard. Said is in line for his first NASCAR start since 2017 in a one-race deal with MBM Motorsports, and the 40-year-old Menard will be back in the garage with a Camping World Truck Series ride with ThorSport Racing.

Pit-road peril

The ability of teams to adapt to COTA’s turns and twists will extend to pit road, where the entry creates an unconventional challenge. After committing to pit road, drivers will make a sharp bend to the left on the inside of Turn 20 before the pit lane straightens out.

WATCH: Pit-road expert talks COTA

The potential for trouble there is high, according to Eric Phillips, crew chief for the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 4 Toyota and Camping World Trucks points leader John Hunter Nemechek.

“I think the biggest nuance to it is going to be getting on pit lane,” Phillips said. “It’s really tight there on the inside of Turn 20 to get onto pit road. There’s no way you can run pit-road speed getting onto pit road, which is kind of opposite. You have to be slowed down before you get to that turn and you’ll be accelerating out of the turn to the pit-road speed line. I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone wreck there before the day’s over, especially on a green-flag stop because it comes up in a hurry and it is really tight.”

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By
Dustin Albino NASCAR.com May 20, 2021 at 10:35 AMFour years ago, Boris Said was set to retire after what he deemed to be his final NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International. Since then, he has had a change of heart.

This weekend, Said, now 58 years old, will attempt to qualify MBM Motorsports’ No. 13 car for the inaugural Xfinity Series race at Circuit of The Americas, an event Said wasn’t expecting to compete in until a handful of days ago.

RELATED: COTA weekend schedule | Said among entry list highlights

“I race Trans-Am with Pancho Weaver and he lives next door to Carl Long, and he said, ‘Man, he’d really like some help to get the car into the race. He wanted to know if you’d be interested in doing it,’” Said told NASCAR.com. “I retired in (2017), but I miss it, to tell you the truth. There’s nothing that replaces racing.”

This weekend, Said has his chance to be back on the race track powering a 3,200-pound car into heavy braking zones. Since 2017, he noted there haven’t been any additional opportunities to race in NASCAR, even if he had considered it.

For that reason alone, MBM didn’t need to sell Said very hard on the idea of being the wheelman of the No. 13 car at COTA.

“It’s like the old days, pretty much anybody that called me to drive, I always said, ‘OK, I’ll give it a shot,’” Said said. “I figure I might as well. I’m in good shape, you never know, there’s a 1-in-40 chance you could do something pretty good.”

Said won’t be fitted for the No. 13 car until just before Friday’s practice. He told the team to put a larger seat in the car for his taller frame and make sure it’s as low and far back as it can go. After that, he’ll just deal with whatever he’s given.

Currently, MBM’s No. 13 entry sits 40th in the owner standings, with a best finish this season of 21st at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Getting the car into the race is Said’s first goal. Everything else is gravy.

MORE: Xfinity Series standings

Originally, David Starr was set to drive the car, but the team – and sponsor Whataburger – decided it would be best to put a road-course specialist in the seat; that way, it can potentially build enough points to make other races this season.

“David Starr was set to drive our (No.) 13 Whataburger Toyota, however, with NASCAR allowing Cup drivers to run in Xfinity this year and only 36 starters, we had to make a change,” MBM said in a Facebook post. “David and I looked at the business side of our race team, realizing we needed to try to give ourselves the best option to be in the race, and then running well enough to keep the points high enough to be able to go to Mid-Ohio (Sports Car Course) and future races.”

Said competed part time in the NASCAR Cup Series from 1998-2017, primarily focusing on road courses. He has one victory in each the Xfinity Series and the Camping World Trucks Series — his 2010 Xfinity win at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Canada coming 12 years after his Truck triumph at Sonoma Raceway in California.

With the Xfinity Series having five of its next 11 races held on road courses, Said thinks it’s possible he returns at some point this season. As of now, he said there have been no further discussions.

“I’ve raced for 35 years and when you quit, you don’t want to give it up and you realize how much you miss it,” he said. “NASCAR is such an awesome sport. The feeling of driving a car on the edge is something that’s hard to replace. I know I’m 58 years old, so I should just get over it and say, ‘I’m just going to play shuffleboard and stuff,’ but I can’t let go. I don’t really know how to explain it other than I love the sport and it’s hard to give it up.

“In racing, you’re only as good as your last race, so first I have to get (the car) into the show and second I need to have a good run. If I get a good run and if it were Carl Long or somebody else, I would definitely think about it and chances are I would say yes.”

Since last competing in NASCAR, Said has geared a lot of his focus toward his BMW and Volkswagen car dealerships. On June 6, he will celebrate his first dealership’s 10-year anniversary of being open. Said has also been keeping up with an ownership stake in Trust Me Vodka, a California-based spirits company. Plus, his K1 Speed indoor go-kart track franchise is up to 35 locations.

Said continues to race Trans Am cars, most recently notching his 18th series win at Road Atlanta at the end of March. Last November, he dominated another Trans Am event at COTA en route to victory, and he has also competed at the Austin, Texas, road course in prototypes, vintage racing and sports cars.

But even with the added experience, he’s not certain that gives him an advantage for this weekend.

“These guys are the best in the business and they’ll pick it up pretty quick,” he said. “It doesn’t take them long to learn a new track, and I’m sure a lot of them have been on the simulator. I’m still going to drive it at 10 tenths the whole time and have fun. I just can’t wait to get out there and drive it.”

As for what’s next for Said, he hopes he can stick around for a few years and ultimately team up with his son, Boris Said Jr. — who recently began racing in SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) — for a Rolex 24 effort at Daytona International Speedway’s road course.

But Said isn’t ready to hang up the helmet just yet.

“I guess one day you’ll know it’s time,” he said. “I thought it was and I was OK with it for a little while, but you watch it on TV and you just miss it. In NASCAR, even though you’re not battling for the win you can have great battles for 15th, 20th, 25th and you’re driving your heart out. It’s still fulfilling personally, but you have to set some different goals where you’re not going there to win the race, but you’re going there to do the best you can.”

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By
Zack Albert NASCAR.com May 20, 2021 at 2:22 PMCompeting on a new, technical road course for the first time has challenges of its own. Throw in the roughly 50-50 potential for wet-weather driving during some of NASCAR’s inaugural weekend at the Circuit of The Americas, and the degree of difficulty gets another turn of the ratchet.

NASCAR’s three national series each get the benefit of extra track time with brief practice and qualifying sessions during the tripleheader weekend, which kicks off Friday at the 3.41-mile Austin, Texas, venue. Unlike oval-track events, NASCAR’s road-course contests feature the opportunity to race in the rain. Any inclement conditions could alter the focus of those sessions and each of the first-time events.

RELATED: COTA weekend schedule | Entry list highlights

“Some of it’s going to depend on the elements,” said Dave Rogers, crew chief for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota in the Xfinity Series. “If it’s raining and it looks like it’s going to rain during the race, then that’s just as unique as a dirt race at Bristol.”

Further complicating matters is the potential for rain on one on-track day and not the next, a scenario that could minimize the benefit of wet-weather practice, scuttle any early reads on race strategy and increase the possibility for mistakes.

“You try to limit risk, for sure, so you’ve got to assess the entire situation and say what am I getting out of every lap on the track, how is it going to contribute to the weekend’s performance,” said Chris Gabehart, crew chief of JGR’s No. 11 for Cup Series points leader Denny Hamlin. “And certainly, every time you’re on the track in the rain, there is a higher level of risk, so it does depend on that Sunday forecast as to how motivated we’d be to get out there, and that’s really a situational thing, for sure.”

With an eye on how Mother Nature might impact the COTA debut, here’s a handy refresher on wet-weather procedures, the rain-tire situation and NASCAR’s history of dealing with the elements on road courses.

Race rules and procedures

In the event of inclement weather, each series’ race director can declare a “wet” start or “damp” start, according to the NASCAR Rule Book. A wet start means that the entire racing surface is covered in moisture; a damp start means that the track has areas of moisture, but that other areas are dry. The race director can also declare the conditions not race-ready, if heavy downpours cause puddles and impaired visibility.

For a wet weather start:

• All vehicles must mount rain tires, activate their rear flashing light and have a working windshield wiper installed.
• Normal starting procedures follow.

For a damp weather start:

• All vehicles may elect to install rain tires at the crew chief’s discretion. The rear flashing light must be activated, and windshield wipers may be installed.
• Any team making a pit stop for rain tires on subsequent pace laps will forfeit its starting spot.

After the green flag, teams are permitted to change tires — to treaded rain tires or dry-weather slicks — at the crew chief’s discretion.

Goodyear rain tires
Jared C. Tilton | Getty ImagesIf conditions warrant, Goodyear’s wet-weather radials will be available to teams in all three series. NASCAR Cup Series teams will have up to three sets of rain tires for practice and qualifying and up to five sets for the race; Xfinity Series teams will have five sets of wet-weather tires available for the weekend, capped at a maximum of four sets for the race; Camping World Trucks teams will have four sets of rain tires available for the event, a maximum of three sets for the race.

The treaded wet-weather tires will be further distinguished by white “Goodyear Eagle” lettering instead of the customary yellow on the sidewalls.

Weather outlook

The Circuit of The Americas forecast calls for a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms Friday afternoon, a 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms Saturday and a 40% chance of the same on Sunday. The thunderstorm advisory carries the potential for a 30-minute hold on at-track activity should a lightning strike occur within an 8-mile radius of the venue.

For further updates, please check NASCAR.com/weather for at-track conditions and hourly forecasts.

Rain-racing history

The NASCAR Xfinity Series has the most experience with wet-weather racing, running eight times in damp conditions since 2008. Three of those instances happened last season, Aug. 8 at Road America, Aug. 15 at Daytona International Speedway’s road course and Oct. 10 in a rain-soaked running of the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval event.

MORE: Rainy races in NASCAR history

The Cup Series got its first taste of rain-tire racing in NASCAR’s modern era during the Roval weekend last fall, and teams briefly navigated a rain shower on the Daytona Road Course in February. When the Cup Series ran its only event at Road America in 1956, some of the race was contested in wet conditions, but the cars were not equipped with special rain tires.