NASCAR’s visit to the Circuit of the Americas last weekend has seemingly reinvigorated the fraternity’s interest in road course racing. The 2025 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix not only promoted racing quality for the fans to witness, but drivers such as Denny Hamlin also took note of how the conditions changed at the venue from years past.
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The Joe Gibbs Racing regular touched on how the quality of racing at the track improved with more organic overtaking and strategic calls throughout the event. One of the main reasons for this change was the track’s reconfigured layout, which better suited NASCAR’s Next Gen cars this year.
A shorter overall lap comprising more corners allowed drivers to attack each other, promoting overtaking as a result. However, there was another reason why Hamlin thought the drastic change on track came about this year.
The #11 Toyota Camry XSE driver elaborated on a recent episode of his podcast Actions Detrimental and said, “This is what you get when you have (tire) falloff. This was an exceptional race, it was a race where tires mattered. This is quintessential NASCAR racing from yers of old. Now there’s overtaking, now you have comers and goers.”
Hamlin credited the sport’s official tire supplier, Goodyear, for coming up with a tire with enough falloff, i.e., wear that allowed teams and drivers to capitalize on different strategies throughout the race. One example of the same came in the form of Chase Elliott, who, despite being spun on the first corner by Ross Chastain, rebounded to a P5 finish at the end.
The 23XI Racing co-owner also gave due credit to the reconfiguration of the track layout and added, “50% is track reconfig, and the other 50% is the Goodyear tire.”
Will NASCAR return to COTA next year?
Denny Hamlin also clarified how the future of one of the better road course races from this year might be hanging in the balance come the 2026 season. Speaking on the specifics of how a NASCAR event is ultimately set up at the venue, Hamlin elaborated how COTA is leased dates away from Speedway Inc.’s Marcus Smith, owner of the majority of tracks the sport races at today.
If the venue chooses to charge Smith an amount larger than the previous year, it will be up to Smith to either accept or deny that offer. “If they increase the price 30-40% and then Marcus says, ‘Oh, screw that! That takes too much profit away, and so I’m just going to put it back at one of my old tracks.’ I think if they increase the price, we probably won’t go back,” elaborated the JGR veteran.
It remains to be seen how things unfold for next year. Meanwhile, the teams and drivers prepare to go racing at Phoenix Raceway this Sunday for the 2025 Shriners Children’s 500.
