NASCAR’s fifth year in Austin ‘has been spectacular,’ but will there be a sixth in 2026?

Christopher Bell and William Byron flipped the script at Circuit of the Americas.

Bell’s hard-charging on the final few laps of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on Sunday reversed the order of last year’s Austin race. Bell, in the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, now has won back-to-back, with Atlanta last week, and is the first driver since 2018 to take two of the season’s first three races.

“Almost deja vu from last year here,” Bell said. “These road course races are so much fun. Kyle (Busch) was leading, and we tried to be so cautious after what happened between us last year. His car started falling off, and ours was still strong. I kept thinking, ‘don’t beat yourself.’ We didn’t have the superspeedway last week circled, but we certainly had this road course in our sights.”

Byron, who won the season-opening Daytona 500, said, “I was waiting for bobbles by Christopher. Didn’t happen. We’ve always raed well together. I did not want to blatantly move him out of the way.”

Tyler Reddick finished third, followed by Chse Elliott, who won the inaugural NASCAR COTA race in 2021, Busch, whose tires wore out, and Shane Van Gisbergen, a road-course specialist from New Zealand who was the race favorite, finished fifth and sixth.

Busch, the two-time Cup Series champion, led a race-high 41 laps. He was passed by Byron and Bell with five laps to go of 95.

Race day was a bad day for Connor Zilisch

It was not a dream day for precocious Connor Zilisch, the 18-year-old hyped as the Next Big Thing in NASCAR, crashed out. It was his first Cup start, the youngest driver to make his Cup debut since Joey Logano in 2007. The Charlote native got caught up in lap 51 of 95 when Daniel Suarez spun around and Zilisch, trying to avoid him, lost control and went into the barrier.

Zilisch’s No. 87 Chevrolet burst into flames, but he escaped unharmed.

“We had a fast car,” said Zilisch, who had earlier issues that sent him mid-pack after qualifying 14th. “It was so much fun preparing for this. I passed a lot of guys I watched on TV growing up.”

Zilisch was coming off a powerful victory in Saturday’s Xfinity Series Focused Health 250 at COTA while driving for JR Motorsports, co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Will there be a sixth year in 2026 for COTA and NASCAR?

Sunday’s race took place on COTA’s new, shorter National Course, one mile and three turns fewer than the Formula One layout. It was the fifth Cup weekend in Austin, and speculation already has begun whether there will be a sixth. Austin is not a traditional NASCAR market.

Speedway Motorsports owns and operates 11 major facilities around the country, including Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, and rents Circuit of the Americas for race week. In the past SMI and COTA chairman Bobby Epstein have negiated deals often with a one-year renewal, and the status of 2026 is up in the air, depending on the NASCAR overall schedule and SMI’s interest in staying in Austin.

Epstein wants them back. He lists NASCAR as his No. 3 best-attended event behind F1’s U.S. Grand Prix and MotoGP. Speedway Motorsports officials sounded bullish on Austin.

“Our fifth year here has been spectacular,” said Scott Cooper, SMI communications chief. :We had a lot of energy, and the feedback about the National Course has been positive.”

Cooper said there were fans from all 50 states and 14 countries.

NASCAR does not disclose attendances. While some veteran track obsevers suggested the crowd was down a bit, Epstein said, “I think it will wind up the same as last year. The lines coming in the grand plaza are long.”

Race director Bryan Hammond has told the American-Statesman that Austin and Nashville are “two hot markets where we’d like to keep coming back.”

‘There is nothing I dislike here’

In year one, 2021, when a May monsoon caused havoc in a rain-shortened race, SMI President Marcus Smith estimated to the Statesman the race-day crowd north of 50,000. Subsequent races have been in that range. And Ryan Blaney, the 2023 Cup champion, said he hopes for many happy returns.

“There is nothing I dislike here,” he said. “I love music and Austin’s vibe, the fans seem passionate, so why not keep coming back? It’s not just the city, but we’re competing on a world-class road course. The whole package here is hard to beat.”

Epstein wants them back. He lists NASCAR as his No. 3 best-attended event behind F1’s U.S. Grand Prix and MotoGP. Speedway Motorsports officials sounded bullish on Austin.

“Our fifth year here has been spectacular,” said Scott Cooper, SMI communications chief. “We had a lot of energy, and the feedback about the National Course has been positive.” 

Cooper said there were fans from all 50 states and 14 countries.  NASCAR does not disclose attendances. While some veteran track observers suggested the crowd was down a bit, Epstein said, “I think it will wind up the same as last year. The lines coming in the grand plaza are long.”

Race director Bryan Hammond has told the American-Statesman that Austin and Nashville are “two hot markets where we’d like to keep coming back.”

In Year 1 at COTA, 2021, when a May monsoon caused havoc in a rain-shortened race, SMI President Marcus Smith estimated to the Statesman that the race-day crowd was north of 50,000. Subsequent races have been in that range.

Ryan Blaney, the 2023 Cup champion, said he hopes for many happy returns.

“There is nothing I dislike here,” Blaney said. “I love music and Austin’s vibe, the fans seem passionate, so why not keep coming back? It’s not just the city, but we’re competing on a world-class road course. The whole package here is hard to beat.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: NASCAR runs fifth grand prix race in Austin as COTA officials eye 2026