Learn How To Race At COTA From NASCAR's Road Course Master

The Circuit of the Americas outside of Austin, Texas is a tricky track. Designed for the return of the  Formula One U.S. Grand Prix, and featuring one of the most dramatic main straight elevation changes in racing, COTA is one of the very few Hermann Tilke-designed tracks that is actually kind of fun to race. NASCAR has only been racing at the Texas road course since 2021, but it instantly became one of my personal favorite rounds of the season. In 2025 the series started running a short version of the track, cutting off the back end of the track from turn six to turn twelve. 

If you've ever wanted to know how best to get around the short 2.4-mile version of the circuit, you're in luck. NASCAR's current resident road course ringer, Shane Van Gisbergen, is here to break it down for you in a new season of SVG's Racing School on YouTube. Ironically COTA is the one road course on the NASCAR calendar that SVG hasn't yet won, having been nerfed back to 20th with a broken transmission when he raced there with Kaulig in 2024, and falling short of the win last year with an overheating issue. 

This is a truly wild track, and with it being so short, it feels like the 2.4 miles flies by in a second. The onboard video with commentary from Steve Letarte and SVG is great. For 2026 Shane is very cognizant of NASCAR's track limits rules at COTA. and regardless of what sanctioning body you're racing with, that's a good thing to keep in your mind. NASCAR is a lot more lenient with track limits than, say, Formula One or World Endurance Championship historically has been. But, cross those lines too many times, and you'll be penalized for it. 

The thing I found most interesting about this segment is SVG's dedicated focus on finding grip. The big heavy NASCAR cup cars thrive on rear grip, and managing tires is one of the things Van Gisbergen has excelled at in the past compared to his competitors. Rushing out to the paint on the exit of 20 because that's where the grip is, it's just completely counterintuitive to the idea of hitting your apex and tracking out. Forget the apex, SVG wants to be four wheels off the standard racing surface to find his grip. 

If you want to see how SVG has done at the track in the recent past, here's the complete 2025 race. He starts out strong and runs up toward the front many times, but ultimately finished in sixth position, right where he qualified. After leading in the third stage, a late pit stop and a few violent chrome horns from competitors prevented him from getting to victory lane. Perhaps if he'd been able to hook it up on the restarts, he might have won at COTA last year, but that's why we run the races, right?

I don't know about you, but I'm extremely excited for the race at COTA this weekend, and look forward to seeing if SVG and his Trackhouse team have learned enough from his wins at Chicago, Mexico City, Sonoma, and the Charlotte roval to take on the impressive momentum that Tyler Reddick and the 23XI team have coming off two wins in a row to start the season. This year's NASCAR season holds quite a bit of promise, I believe. Give it a watch!