Who… should you be talking about after the race?
If you were hoping for a new face in victory lane at Circuit of the Americas this weekend, you left disappointed.
If you’re a Christopher Bell fan, you left smiling for the second week in a row. Bell won the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at COTA on Sunday (March 2), beating Daytona 500 champion William Byron by .433 seconds, the closest margin in a Cup race at the road course to date.
BACK-TO-BACK. Christopher Bell holds off William Byron to WIN at Circuit of the Americas! #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/oq0Dd2hHCu
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 3, 2025
Bell had the fastest car after the final round of green flag pit stops and closed in on leader Kyle Busch, who led a race-high 42 of 95 laps. A caution with 16 laps to go didn’t slow down Bell, who passed Busch and then held off Byron and polesitter Tyler Reddick to lead the final five laps.
It’s Bell’s 11th career win, good for 63rd on the all-time Cup Series wins list.
Busch had his best run in recent memory, leading six times, but holding off Bell took its toll. Busch used up his tires and had to settle for finishing fifth after a dominant run. The only other driver to lead double-digit laps was road course ace Shane van Gisbergen, who finished sixth.
Kyle Busch: "I'll give Christopher [Bell] credit … He ran me really hard, and I was a complete butthead."
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 3, 2025
Rowdy talks with @kaitlynvincie after an intense battle at COTA. pic.twitter.com/lNKRhPwnLU
On the other hand…
He’s one of the best road racers on the Cup circuit with three wins, but AJ Allmendinger didn’t find victory lane this weekend. In fact, after being in a decent position to grab a top five on the final restart, Allmendinger fell all the way back to 30th place.
While Allmendinger has a pair of wins and a 3.5 average finish at COTA in the Xfinity Series, he’s struggled in the Cup Series, with just one top five and three finishes of 30th or worse.
What… does this mean for the points standings?
There’s a new top man in town leaving COTA, and his name is William Byron. Byron’s runner-up finish was enough to push him past Ryan Blaney on top of the point standings. Blaney sits just two back in second. Reddick remains in third.
Bell was the big mover, climbing from 12th to fourth after his second win of the year. Chase Elliott makes an appearance in the top five after his fourth-place run Sunday.
Austin Cindric took a fall this week, tumbling from fourth to 11th after his 25th-place effort at COTA. A bigger hit may be coming if he’s penalized for his actions after an early tangle with Ty Dillon (more on that in a minute).
Also losing ground this weekend was Denny Hamlin, who was already in a bit of a hole in 13th after Atlanta Motor Speedway. Hamlin fell to 17th after this week’s showing, 49 behind Byron. It’s way too early to panic, but Hamlin will be looking to stop the bleeding next weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
Where… did he come from?
A couple of drivers overcame less-than-optimal qualifying to score top 10s on Sunday. Chris Buescher, who won at Watkins Glen International last year, didn’t score any stage points, but he came away with a solid seventh-place result. Buescher has become a sneaky threat for a top finish just about anywhere, with wins at every track type NASCAR can throw at drivers. He’s gotten more consistent as RFK Racing has gotten stronger.
Super sloppy day but got a gift with the caution and capitalized on it for a top 10. pic.twitter.com/Cnqp0JUivo
— Alex Bowman (@Alex_Bowman) March 3, 2025
Alex Bowman also had a strong run on Sunday, finishing ninth. Entering the weekend as one of just three drivers to finish in the top 10 of every Cup race at COTA to date, he leaves as one of just two to keep the streak going, along with Reddick. Some drivers just have a track figured out and Bowman is certainly on of them in Austin.
When… was the moment of truth?
When Hamlin got into Austin Dillon to bring out the caution inside 15 laps to go, it might have been a game changer, allowing drivers on the wrong side of the final pit strategy, like van Gisbergen and Allmendinger, a second chance at a late run.
That’s not what happened, though.
Even after the caution tightened up the field, it became a four-horse race among Busch, Bell, Byron and Reddick, with Busch dropping out after running the life out of his right rear tire.
The battle was a good one, though, and it should have been a good finish. Instead, it fell a little flat.
Sure, Bell worked Busch over to take the lead and then had to hold off both Byron and Reddick. However, without anyone else able to mount a charge, most notably road course specialist van Gisbergen, it was a replay of the first two races, won by Byron and Bell, with Reddick falling just short.
It wasn’t a bad race. In fact, it was probably the best road-course event for the Next Gen cars. All that was missing was a winner who wasn’t a bit of same old, same old.
Why… should you be paying attention this week?
Keep an eye on the penalty report this week and whether it contains a fine (or worse) for Cindric after he hooked Ty Dillon into the wall in front of the grandstands.
RETALIATION. 😳💥@NASCARONFOX | #EchoParkGP pic.twitter.com/EZYOscB2ZX
— NASCAR at COTA (@NASCARatCOTA) March 2, 2025
Dillon may have been the instigator — he ran Cindric off the track in turn 20. But while it may have been the “find out” portion of Dillon’s fooling around, NASCAR has cracked down on retaliation, and the right-rear hook in particular.
Two years ago, it almost certainly would have meant a week’s suspension for Cindric, but NASCAR appeared to back off from that stance last year, swapping fines and point penalties for the suspension. However, the sanctioning body (along with just about everyone) considers the right-rear hook into the wall as particularly egregious, and rightfully so.
How NASCAR handles Cindric’s retaliatory move will set the tone for 2025 and draw a line in the sand for whether the right-rear hook will draw a harsher penalty.
NASCAR needs to look beyond the track on this one and consider if the move was made at a high-speed oval, where the driver on the receiving end could be seriously injured and then rule based on that, because the one thing that should not happen (besides letting the incident go) is inconsistency. A right-rear hook is a right-rear hook, and NASCAR needs to decide once and for all where it stands on the move.
How… did this race stack up?
With just five races at COTA so far, it’s hard to compare trends. It’s fair to say that in general, the finishes haven’t lived up to the racing in general, with the closest margin of victory prior to Sunday being just over .6 seconds.
There was some great racing at the end and a decent finish, but it’s unlikely it will come up in the conversation surrounding the best races of 2025 at the end of the year.
Bell is the fifth different winner in five races at COTA. The 20 lead changes ties a NASCAR road course record.
Shortening the course for this year’s event made the corners come closer together, perhaps giving more opportunities for mistakes, but it didn’t really make for a better or worse race overall.
What did happen on the very first lap, though, is part of the most consistent trend that COTA has become known for.
Turn 1 at COTA is about as tight as they come, not exactly a hairpin, but shaped more like the point of a pencil. It’s tough to navigate in a pack, and spins and pileups have become a running theme whenever the field is tight, either at the beginning of the races or on restarts.
All it takes when the cars are bunched up so one getting in just a little too hot, and the next thing you know, someone is facing in the wrong direction.
The 2025 edition was no exception. Ross Chastain got in a little too aggressive — at any other turn on any other road course, it probably would only have hurt Chastain — and collected Elliott, who sustained a broken toe link to the No. 9. While Elliott recovered to finish fourth, he never got close to the front afterwards.
As treacherous is it has been, only a couple of cautions have actually originated in the first turn in five races at COTA. Usually, the spinners are able to get righted and keep going before a yellow flag is necessary.
Can anything be done to change the frequent contact and spins in the first corner? Should it?
Probably not and no. It’s a tough corner, and nobody is approaching lap one with the mindset of wrecking half the field. It doesn’t take intent or even a very big mistake when the field s five wide entering the corner.
The corner has quite a reputation, but like many with great notoriety, it’s a little over dramatized. Did the first lap set the tone for a couple of drivers? Sure. But this isn’t supposed to be easy.
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.