Cota Austin Weekend Plan, TV information for Nascar Cup and XFinity Series

The Nascar Cup series will make your fifth visit to the racetrack of America this weekend, but the Austin, Texas, will differ significantly this season.

A new “national” course is used for warehouse cars. The 2.4 mile layout of 20 rotations shortens the traditional circuit of the route (which is used for Formula 1) by about a mile and shaved about a minute after round times.

The shorter track length also enables more rounds, since the race is increased from 2021-24 to 95 laps at a distance of 65 rounds.

William Byron is the defending champion of the Cup race, and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson won the XFinity race of Cota last year.

Timetable for America

(All times Eastern)

Friday, February 28th

Garage open

• Lunch – 7:30 p.m. – Xfinity series
• 1 p.m. – 6 p.m. – Cup series

Track activity

• 1-11: 40 p.m.-VP Racing Sportscar Challenge exercise
• 3 – 3:40 p.m. – VP Racing Sportscar Challenge practice
• 5 p.m. – 5:50 p.m. – XFinity Practice (CW App Streaming)
• 6:05 pm – 7pm – XFINITY QUALITY (CW App Streaming)
• 7:30 a.m. – 8:05 p.m. – VP Racing Sportscar Challenge Qualifying

Saturday, March 1st

Garage open

• 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Cup series
• 11:30 a.m. – 8 p.m. – Xfinity series

Track activity

• 9:40 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. – VP Racing Sportscar Challenge Race (45 minutes)
• 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Cup exercise (Prime)
• 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. – Cup qualifying (Prime, Performance Racing Network, Siriusxm Nascar Radio)
• 2:30 p.m. – Xfinity Race (65 laps, level 1 in round 20, level 2 in round 40, 156 miles; CW, Performance Racing Network, Siriusxm Nascar Radio)
• 6 p.m. – 6.45 p.m. – VP Racing Sportscar Challenge Race

Sunday, March 2nd

Garage open

• 12:30 – 10:00 p.m. – Cup series

Track activity

• 3:30 p.m. – Cup race (95 laps, level 1 in round 20, level 2 in round 45, 228 miles; FOX, Performance Racing Network, Siriusxm Nascar Radio)

Weekend weather

Friday: Sometimes cloudy, high from 77 with a 2% probability of rain.

Saturday: Mix clouds and sunshine with a high of 86 degrees and a rain probability of 7%. It is expected that at the beginning of the XFinity race it will be partially cloudy and 54 degrees.

Sunday: Partly cloudy sky with a high of 80 degrees and a rain probability of 15% at the beginning of the cup race.