Following Christopher Bell's win at Atlanta to cap off two consecutive races at drafting-style tracks to open the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, the twists and turns of Circuit of The Americas caps off a three-race stretch of wild-card races to kick off the season. This will be the fifth Cup Series race held at the Austin, Texas venue with Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick and William Byron each coming away with wins so far.
While some drivers like points-leader Ryan Blaney and race winners Byron and Bell have had a good start to the season, other drivers are scratching their heads as they try to put some finishes together after a difficult start. The bumper-to-bumper pack racing may be behind us until Talladega in late April, but the left and right turns and condensed layout at COTA looms.
Unlike the previous four races that were run on the full 3.41-mile layout, this Sunday's race will move to the shorter, 2.3-mile National course, which will increase the laps from 68 to 95 and give drivers another challenge. As NASCAR makes its first stop of the season at a road course, a different kind of challenge awaits.
Which drivers need a rebound the most after Atlanta?
Heading into COTA, these three drivers are in search of a rebound performance. Whether both races have gone poorly so far or the Atlanta finish was not indicative of their entire race, these drivers need a rebound the most.
Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
With finishes of 26th at Daytona and 39th at Atlanta, no driver in the field could use a reset more than the 2012 Cup Series champion. Although Keselowski scored stage points in the Daytona 500, he was caught up in a "Big One" and failed to finish the race. Misfortune struck once again at Atlanta when he collided head-on with Chase Elliott late in stage 2, knocking him down the running order to 39th.
Unfortunately for Keselowski, COTA and road courses have not been kind to him throughout his career. In four starts at the Austin road course, Keselowski has not finished better than 14th and has two finishes outside the top 30. In his career, Keselowski has made 46 starts on road courses with a best finish of second three times. A bounce back does not seem likely, especially considering Keselowski has not recorded a top 10 finish turning left and right since a 10th-place result at Sonoma in 2022.
Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
Leading the Cup Series with an average running position of 5.4, you would think Cindric has found victory lane. That has not been the case as the 2022 Daytona 500 winner has come away empty-handed in both races so far with finishes of eighth (Daytona) and 28th (Atlanta). Cindric led the most laps at Daytona and followed that up by pacing the field for 47 laps at Atlanta.
Cindric has a pair of top 10s at COTA, but has been unable to find victory lane at a road course so far in the Cup Series. However, Cindric has eight top 10s in 18 road course starts, so perhaps a rebound could be in store for the fourth-year Cup Series driver.
Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Following a quiet sixth-place finish in the Daytona 500, Bowman scored points in Stage 2 at Atlanta and led six laps before he was caught up in a Stage 2 crash, relegating him to a disappointing 26th-place result. For the second week in a row, Bowman appeared to be in position to score the win, but came away with nothing to show for it.
Bowman took to the full course layout at COTA extremely well with three top fives and four top 10s in those four races. While Bowman won the 2024 Chicago Street Race, he has failed to win on a road course layout to date, but he tends to run toward the front and be in contention more times than not. The track layout will be different this weekend at COTA, but it would be surprising if Bowman is not among the front-runners, given how well he has raced at the track in the past.