Back to COTA, Other NASCAR News- March 25, 2022

After a wild weekend at Atlanta, NASCAR heads to its first road course of the season at the state-of-the-art Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. All three circuits will make their second trip there, since debuting at the track in 2021.

NASCAR Isn’t Playing Around, Keselowski Penalized

On Thursday, Brad Keselowski was docked 100 points,10 playoff points, 10 owner points, and crew chief Matt McCall has been suspended for four races for modifying a part from a vendor. NASCAR did say at the start of the season that they were going to be more strict on penalties for the NextGen car. Brad Keselowski’s new tenure at RFK Racing is not off to a good start, as Keselowski has struggled since finishing 9th in the Daytona 500. According to Bob Pockrass, the Keselowski violation has to do with a rear body panel modification.

Camping World Truck Series at COTA

Todd Gilliland won the race last season, giving him his only win of the 2021 season. Corey Heim won the truck race last weekend at Atlanta and this will be the fourth race of the 2022 season. Some notable entries include Kyle Busch (#51 KBM), Alex Bowman (#7 Spire), Sheldon Creed (#20 Youngs), and Brad Perez (#43 Reaume Brothers). Kyle Busch definitely comes in as the favorite as he is making one of his selected Truck Series starts for his own team. Alex Bowman could also be a favorite as he will be racing for Spire Motorsports. Ben Rhodes has previously won on a road course last season at the Daytona Road Course.

My Trucks at COTA Pick Four:

Kyle Busch

Alex Bowman

Ben Rhodes

Zane Smith

NASCAR Xfinity Series at COTA

Going into this race, Kyle Busch won this race last season and Ty Gibbs was able to pass Ryan Seig on the final lap to win at Atlanta. What could we see going into COTA for the Xfinity Series? Some notable entries include Miguel Paludo (#88 JRM), Parker Kligerman (#35 EGR), Scott Heckert (#5 BJ McLeod), Parker Chase (#26 Sam Hunt), and Ross Chastain (#92 DGM). Cole Custer is also back in the #07 Ford for SS-Greenlight Racing and Bubba Wallace will pilot the #18 Toyota Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing. Custer and Wallace could be big favorites being Cup drivers, as Custer won the Xfinity race at Auto Club a month ago. However, Wallace is going to look at improving his road course game and hopes to find good momentum as he will also race in the Cup Race on Sunday for 23XI Racing. Ty Gibbs looks to be a threat week in and week out, so I definitely wouldn’t count him out. Lastly, if it’s a road course, we got to mention AJ Allmendinger who is probably the best full-time Xfinity driver on road courses. Look for him to be a threat.

My Xfinity at COTA Pick Four:

Cole Custer

Bubba Wallace

Ty Gibbs

AJ Allmendinger

NASCAR Cup Series at COTA

We all remember last year’s race and the wet conditions it brought. It felt like more of a learning curve for NASCAR as there was a ton of visibility issues, which led to the race being called early and Chase Elliott being declared the inaugural Cup winner at COTA. This time around, the weather looks promising and we won’t have an issue with that. Now we get to see our first look at the NextGen car at a road course. Some notable entries include the return of The Money Team with Kaz Grala in the #50, AJ Allmendinger in the #16 for Kaulig Racing, Joey Hand in the #15 for Rick Ware Racing, Andy Lally in the #78 for LiveFast, Loris Hezemans making his Cup debut in the #27 for Team Hezeberg, and Boris Said in the #66 for MBM. Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson were the kings of the road courses last season and I see that repeating again this year. If there are no issues, look for the two Hendrick teammates to be upfront. Ross Chastain’s hot start cannot go unnoticed as well, he and Trackhouse Racing are off to a great start and if things line up well, Ross Chastain could get his first Cup Series win soon, if not this weekend. Like the Xfinity race, AJ Allmendinger is worth talking about, as he also got his first cup win since 2014 last season at Indianapolis.

My Cup Series Pick Four at COTA:

Chase Elliott

Kyle Larson
Ross Chastain

AJ Allmendinger