Overview

The Circuit of the Americas or COTA is a 3.426-mile Formula 1 road course that features 20 turns. The drivers will turn just 68 laps translating to 231.88 miles making dominator points more important than the Truck and XFINITY races but still not something we should run to seek out, specifically the “laps led” metric.

Strategy

Place differential and finishing position. These two factors are paramount in this race, especially with some of the surprising qualifying positions for Sunday. This track is huge with plenty of room to move around so expecting the big wreck or two that we’ve seen to this point isn’t a sound strategy.

Most comparable tracks: Watkins Glen International, Sonoma Raceway, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Daytona Road Course, Charlotte ROVAL

*Note: all pricing is DraftKings focused

Top Drivers

Tyler Reddick ($10,500), Starting 3rd

The favorite to win this race is Reddick and it’s with good reason. The road course ace will start third and is coming off a win here last season, a race in which he started on the front row. Overall at COTA Reddick has that win last season along with a fifth-place finish in 2022 and a ninth in 2021. In 21 road course races at the Cup level he has three wins, six top-five’s and 13 top-10’s.

Chase Elliott ($10,300), Starting 9th

It’s time for Chase to start being Chase again consistently and I think that last week showed a lot in getting to that point. Finishing fifth in a race that was something no one expected is a big step and coming to a road course, a type of environment where Elliott is strong is a good recipe for success. Elliott is just about a year removed from his snowboarding accident and thus he missed this race a year ago. In his two COTA races Elliott has a win and a fourth-place finish. with the win coming in an epic race which featured absolute downpour conditions. In his Cup career Elliott has seven road course wins and 17 top-fives. Those seven wins came over a 12-race stretch so clearly Elliott has the talent to run the left and right turns.

Kyle Larson ($10,200), Starting 15th

Larson was great yesterday when he needed to be taking the lead late in the XFINITY race and winning. Larson has four wins and nine top-five’s in his career in Cup on road courses. While those numbers might not jump off the page, he had the extra track time yesterday and he’ll start 15th giving him some good P.D. if he does find himself upfront.

Ryan Blaney ($7,500), Starting 28th

Blaney has not been a road course stud over his career but he’s more than held his own, especially here at COTA. He’s posted an average finish of 14th with a sixth-place finish here in 2022. His 21st-place finish isn’t special here from last season but it’s important to note that he started 38th in that race and was priced at $9,100. This year, he’ll start 28th and is priced at $7,500 leaving plenty of room for ROI.

William Byron ($9,700), Starting on the Pole

Not considered a road course ace, Byron has performed well at COTA and this weekend he looks to have a great car. Byron dominated practice and qualifying leaving just one more hurdle for him; the actual race. Wild Bill finished fifth here last year from the pole after leading 28 laps and has a road course victory (Watkins Glen) and three top-five’s under his belt. He’s not a popular play but from the looks of Byron’s car, he could easily be a factor at the end.

Michael McDowell ($8,000), Starting 27th

Starting deep in the field at COTA is nothing new to the driver of the 34 car. In his three races at COTA, McDowell has an average finish of 10th finishing 12th, 13th, and seventh over that last three years. In those races McDowell started 20th, 27th, and 23rd.

Alex Bowman ($7,700), Starting 17th

COTA has been Bowman’s best road course track. Over the last three races here Bowman has an average finish of fourth with a third and second place finish over the last two years. While not considered a great road course racer overall, clearly Bowman has a high-level of comfort here and is coming in with momentum after a fourth-place finish last week.

Road Course Standouts:

AJ Allmendinger ($8,800), Starting 14th

Shane Van Gisbergen ($9,500), Starting 12th

Kamui Kobayashi ($7,000), Starting 25th

Also Consider:

Christopher Bell ($10,000), Starting 4th

Brad Keselowski ($6,900), Starting 36th

Chae Briscoe ($7,100), Starting 32nd

Erik Jones ($6,800), Starting 38th

GOOD LUCK!!