Ross Chastain got his first-ever Cup Series win last Sunday at Austin. This was New Gen’s maiden trip to Circuit of the Americas. Here are some Texas-sized takeaways from a wild ride out in the West at COTA.
They’ve Learned their Lesson
Some drivers, including Ross Chastain himself, wanted to run no risks for the Cup Series on Sunday. The inexperienced at turning left and then right went for a ride in any of the Saturday races at the Xfinity and Truck Series.
Particularly, Kaz Grala, Alex Bowman, and Kyle Busch had a ride in the latter. Busch was once a usual on Fridays until NASCAR limited the number of races for full-time Cup drivers. The other two, however, were a pleasant surprise. It paid off in “the big cars” and it showed, look no further than Bowman finishing second and holding up his ground on a wild finish.
TrackHouse is a Thing
TrackHouse Racing had its doubters from day one. After all, it is the team co-owned by a Latino music star and gave its first shot to a driver that to many, was done with its Cup career as soon as he left Stewart-Haas.
Nonetheless, they’ve proven them wrong. Ross Chastain got them their first today but that’s not only that. Daniel Suarez finished fourth both on Fontana and Atlanta, furthermore, he won the first stage at COTA and if it wasn’t for a cut tire, he could’ve very well fought for the win alongside no other than his teammate.
One of their drivers punched his way into the Playoffs today and, most likely, the other will do so too eventually. If that doesn’t define them as “contenders” for a deep postseason run I don’t know what will. TrackHouse is the real deal.
Next-Gen Shone, Just like the Sun
NASCAR sold their new car as a machine made for road courses, this, after testing intensively at the Charlotte Roval. Today was its first real shot at taking on a non-oval track and it came up big when it had to.
It withstood contact like no other NASCAR had ever done before. Its grip held cars stuck to the ground at the esses and practically launched them over the big climb off the start/finish line.
It was their debut and it was impeccable.
COTA is Here To Stay
As many of the readers might be aware, F1 has been planning a race in Las Vegas and the new Miami Grand Prix is set to run for the first time this spring, that could potentially leave COTA out of the calendar, nonetheless, NASCAR showed that the sport could really fill any possible void.
This was everything that was promised last year and washed up in the rain, combine that with IndyCar and the need for the top open-wheelers in the world to stay at Texas doesn’t feel that big.
No watermelons were hurt during the writing of this article.
What’s Next for NASCAR?
The Cup Series will take on Richmond Raceway next Sunday for the Toyota Owners 400 next Sunday.
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Featured Image: Twitter (@NASCAR)
