The exhilaration of 2025 is in full swing, with the adrenaline-pumping Daytona 500 season opener setting the tone by surprising fans with an incredible $30 million purse, a whopping $2 million increase from the previous year. This growth is in line with NASCAR’s multi-billion dollar media rights deal, marking a promising trend for the year ahead.
Next on the docket is the first road course of the year, the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin. This is the earliest NASCAR has scheduled a Cup race at this track, but the lush greenery and the excitement it brings remain a constant, ready to impress fans and drivers alike.
COTA, one of the newer additions to NASCAR’s itinerary, is stepping up in terms of rewards. The 2025 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix will be the Cup Series’ fifth visit to Texas’s capital. Despite its relative novelty, COTA is a significant player in NASCAR’s payout strategy. The previous year saw a $9 million purse for the Cup race and $1.7 million for the Xfinity Series race. Although there was an increase in the payouts, it did not exceed $1 million, following a trend seen in Daytona and Atlanta races. However, 2025 is set to take it up a notch.
NASCAR journalist Jonathan Fjeld recently revealed the updated prize amounts for the COTA weekend. According to him, the Cup Series will see a nearly $2 million increase, taking the purse to $11,055,250, up from last year’s $9,740,789. The Xfinity Series, however, sees a slight dip, with the purse now at $1,651,939 from the previous $1,778,948. This substantial increase in the Cup Series prize should be enough to fire up the defending COTA champion, William Byron, to aim for a back-to-back win.
Byron, however, will face stiff competition on the grid. Once dominated by single forces like Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart, road courses now see a more evenly matched field with 16 out of 37 active drivers boasting a win. This includes the likes of Chase Elliott, with seven victories on mixed-direction tracks, and Shane van Gisbergen, a New Zealand speedster renowned for his performance on road courses.
The competition is set to heat up further as NASCAR has revamped the COTA track. The new layout is shorter – 2.3 miles as opposed to the previous 3.41 miles – and excludes the section from Turn 7 to the Turn 11 hairpin. The total race distance has been slightly reduced to 228 miles, while the number of laps has increased from 68 to 95.
To help drivers adapt to the new course, NASCAR has scheduled an extended practice session on Saturday, involving computer simulation testing and real-world track time. Road course specialist Chase Elliott is looking forward to this session, saying, “It’s tough because the only thing you can do is simulator work, right, until you can get some eyes on it. The good news is that we’ve got some practice next week to understand the reconfiguration. I do not have my head wrapped around it completely at this point… I would have to imagine it will change the racing a little, I would think, just based off the way it’s shaped. So hopefully, it gives more opportunities to get crafty, have some more options, opportunities to pass or just be different.”
Clearly, the upcoming COTA race offers exciting prospects for growth, both in terms of monetary rewards and racing strategies. So, let’s sit back and watch our Cup Series favorites take on this new challenge.