The third race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, will treat fans and drivers to a new course. Instead of the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) 3.41-mile, 20-turn full-course layout, NASCAR will now use the facility’s equally challenging 2.3-mile, 20-turn National Course. The NASCAR Xfinity Series, which returns to COTA for a fifth season, will also utilize the national course.
More Action for NASCAR Fans and Drivers at COTA
The NASCAR Cup Series race will now have 27 more laps due to the change. Instead of utilizing the entire road course, NASCAR will cut off the long straightaways exiting the esses and turn left. The National Course is also more than a mile shorter and will test a driver’s ability to hit their marks out of the esses.
NASCAR said in a statement, “The reconfiguration will eliminate approximately a mile of the backside of the permanent road course’s traditional layout and is expected to shave roughly a minute off lap times based on early NASCAR simulations. The National Course layout will begin upon exit of the esses section and then return to the traditional course at the tail end of the long backstretch.”
COTA, who revealed the new look during the offseason, has ensured fans will benefit from the extra action. With NASCAR using the National Course, the race will be extended from 68 laps to about 100.
Speedway Motorsports president and CEO Marcus Smith said, “The move to the National Course will make a great race experience even better for our fans with more laps and more action. Fans will have more laps to cheer for their favorite driver from the best seats, and the action will come faster with lap times reduced by roughly a minute.
“The National Course and its new pavement will provide the drivers, teams and crew chiefs with a fresh look and a new challenge after running the Full Course the last four years at COTA.”
Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, who has enjoyed success at COTA, got the opportunity to run the new National Course on iRacing simulation.
He said, “It’s going to be like basically going to a new track, a new town, new area. It flows together nice, and (Turn) 12 (of the Full Course) will really change since we don’t have that long backstretch. Once I get to (Turn) 13, though, it’s all going to be the same. I’ll get my normal speed I was at last year. Gosh, this place is awesome.”
