2022 EchoPark Texas Grand Prix explained

Type:	CUST
Description:	Race 6 of 36 in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series
Race Name:	EchoPark Texas Grand Prix
Details Ref:	^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6]
Year:	2022
Location:	Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas
Course Mi:	3.426
Course Km:	5.514
Distance Laps:	69
Distance Mi:	236.394
Distance Km:	380.686
Scheduled Laps:	68
Scheduled Mi:	231
Scheduled Km:	372
Avg:	70.253mph
Pole Driver:	Ryan Blaney
Pole Team:	Team Penske
Pole Time:	2:12:343
Most Driver:	Ross Chastain
Most Team:	Trackhouse Racing Team
Most Laps:	31
Car:	1
First Driver:	Ross Chastain
First Team:	Trackhouse Racing Team
Network:	Fox
Announcers:	Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, and Tony Stewart
Ratings:	2.18, 3.731 Million Viewers
Radio:	PRN
Booth Ann:	Doug Rice and Mark Garrow
Turn Ann:	Rob Albright (1), Ralph Sheheen (2 to Becketts), Mark Jaynes (Chapel to S to Senna), Nick Yeoman (Sepang Hairpin), Pat Patterson (Motodrom), and Brad Gillie (Istanbul 8 to Turn 20)

The 2022 EchoPark Texas Grand Prix was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on March 27, 2022, at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Contested on the 3.426-mile (5.514 km) road course over 69 laps, extended from 68 laps due to an overtime finish, it was the sixth race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. Ross Chastain, of Trackhouse Racing, won the race to secure his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory, and Trackhouse' first win in NASCAR.

Report

Background

Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a grade 1 FIA-specification motorsports facility located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Austin, Texas. It features a 3.426miles road racing circuit. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand Prix, and the Motorcycle Grand Prix of the Americas, a round of the FIM Road Racing World Championship. It previously hosted the Supercars Championship, the FIA World Endurance Championship, the IMSA SportsCar Championship, and IndyCar Series.

Entry list

(R) denotes rookie driver.
(i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1			Chevrolet
2	Austin Cindric (R)		Ford
3			Chevrolet
4			Ford
5			Chevrolet
6			Ford
7			Chevrolet
8			Chevrolet
9			Chevrolet
10			Ford
11			Toyota
12			Ford
14			Ford
15			Ford
16	nowrap	A. J. Allmendinger (i)		Chevrolet
17			Ford
18			Toyota
19			Toyota
20			Toyota
21	Harrison Burton (R)		Ford
22			Ford
23			Toyota
24			Chevrolet
27	Loris Hezemans (i)	nowrap		Ford
31			Chevrolet
34			Ford
38	Todd Gilliland (R)		Ford
41			Ford
42			Chevrolet
43			Chevrolet
45			Toyota
47			Chevrolet
48			Chevrolet
50	Kaz Grala (i)		Chevrolet
51			Ford
66			Ford
77	Josh Bilicki (i)		Chevrolet
78	Andy Lally (i)		Ford
99			Chevrolet
Official entry list

Practice

Kyle Busch was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 2:12.455 seconds and a speed of 92.681mph.^[7]

Practice results

Pos		Time
1	18	2:12.455	92.681
2	99	2:12.567	92.602
3	48	2:13.632	92.557
Official practice results

Qualifying

Under a 2021 rule change, the timing line in road course qualifying is not the start-finish line. Instead, the timing line for qualifying will be set at the exit of Istanbul 8. Ryan Blaney scored the pole for the race with a time of 2:12:343 and a speed of 92.759mph.^[8]

Qualifying results

Pos		Driver	Manufacturer
1	12		Ford	2:12.632	2:12.343
2	99		Chevrolet	2:11.787	2:12.369
3	41		Ford	2:11.832	2:12.471
4	8		Chevrolet	2:12.276	2:12.552
5	48		Chevrolet	2:12.777	2:12.656
6	22		Ford	2:12.538	2:12.892
7	20		Toyota	2:12.410	2:12.912
8	11		Toyota	2:12.490	2:13.051
9	31		Chevrolet	2:12.250	2:13.566
10	2	Austin Cindric (R)	Ford	2:11.935	2:13.940
11	45		Toyota	2:12.669	—
12	9		Chevrolet	2:12.698	—
13	5		Chevrolet	2:12.698	—
14	14		Ford	2:12.782	—
15	18		Toyota	2:12.790	—
16	1		Chevrolet	2:12.801	—
17	19		Toyota	2:12.994	—
18	4		Ford	2:13.164	—
19	21	Harrison Burton (R)	Ford	2:13.263	—
20	16	A. J. Allmendinger (i)	Chevrolet	2:13.297	—
21	3		Chevrolet	2:13.352	—
22	17		Ford	2:13.356	—
23	23		Toyota	2:13.682	—
24	24		Chevrolet	2:13.922	—
25	10		Ford	2:14.137	—
26	6		Ford	2:14.149	—
27	34		Ford	2:14.164	—
28	47		Chevrolet	2:14.255	—
29	38	Todd Gilliland (R)	Ford	2:14.324	—
30	43		Chevrolet	2:14.411	—
31	50	Kaz Grala (i)	Chevrolet	2:14.476	—
32	7		Chevrolet	2:14.492	—
33	42		Chevrolet	2:14.531	—
34	77	Josh Bilicki (i)	Chevrolet	2:15.307	—
35	51		Ford	2:15.584	—
36	27	Loris Hezemans (i)	Ford	2:15.660	—
37	66		Ford	2:18.038	—
38	15		Ford	0.000	—
39	78	Andy Lally (i)	Ford	0.000	—
Official qualifying results

Race

Stage Results

Stage OneLaps: 15

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	10
2	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	9
3	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	8
4	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	7
5	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	6
6	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	5
7	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	4
8	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	3
9	21	Harrison Burton (R)	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	2
10	2	Austin Cindric (R)	Team Penske	Ford	1
Official stage one results

Stage TwoLaps: 17

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	10
2	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	9
3	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	8
4	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	7
5	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	6
6	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	5
7	21	Harrison Burton (R)	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	4
8	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	3
9	2	Austin Cindric (R)	Team Penske	Ford	2
10	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage Results

Stage ThreeLaps: 38

Pos	Grid		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	16	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	69	43
2	5	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	69	43
3	7	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	69	34
4	12	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	69	37
5	4	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	69	32
6	1	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	69	47
7	17	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	69	30
8	10	2	Austin Cindric (R)	Team Penske	Ford	69	32
9	30	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	69	28
10	21	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	69	32
11	18	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	69	26
12	24	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	69	25
13	27	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	69	24
14	26	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	69	23
15	9	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	69	27
16	29	38	Todd Gilliland (R)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	69	21
17	19	21	Harrison Burton (R)	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	69	26
18	8	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	69	29
19	25	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	69	24
20	33	42	Ty Dillon	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	69	17
21	22	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	69	16
22	34	77	Josh Bilicki (i)	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	69	0
23	3	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	69	14
24	2	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	69	23
25	31	50	Kaz Grala (i)	The Money Team Racing	Chevrolet	69	0
26	37	66	Boris Said	MBM Motorsports	Ford	69	11
27	35	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	69	10
28	15	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	69	18
29	13	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	69	14
30	14	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	69	10
31	6	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	69	21
32	11	45	Kurt Busch	23XI Racing	Toyota	69	5
33	20	16	A. J. Allmendinger (i)	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	68	0
34	36	27	Loris Hezemans (i)	Team Hezeberg Powered by Reaume Brothers Racing	Ford	62	0
35	38	15	Joey Hand	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	60	2
36	32	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	57	1
37	28	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	52	1
38	23	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	44	2
39	39	78	Andy Lally (i)	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	19	0
Official race results

Race statistics

Lead changes: 13 among 9 different drivers
Cautions/Laps: 9 for 13
Red flags: 0
Time of race: 3 hours, 20 minutes and 57 seconds
Average speed: 70.253mph

Media

Television

Fox Sports covered the race on the television side. Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, and three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing Tony Stewart called the race from the broadcast booth. Jamie Little and Regan Smith handled pit road for the television side, and Larry McReynolds provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

Radio

PRN had the radio call for the race which was simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Chase Elliott	208
4	2	Ryan Blaney	195 (–13)
1	3	Joey Logano	185 (–23)
5	4	Alex Bowman	183 (–25)
5	5	Ross Chastain	180 (–28)
2	6	William Byron	175 (–33)
1	7	Martin Truex Jr.	172 (–36)
1	8	Aric Almirola	168 (–40)
6	9	Chase Briscoe	166 (–42)
5	10	Tyler Reddick	158 (–50)
	11	Kyle Busch	154 (–54)
4	12	Austin Cindric	153 (–55)
8	13	Kurt Busch	153 (–55)
	14	Kevin Harvick	153 (–55)
2	15	Daniel Suárez	150 (–58)
4	16	Kyle Larson	149 (–59)
Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings

Pos	Manufacturer	Points
1	Chevrolet	222
2	Ford	204 (–18)
3	Toyota	197 (–25

Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

Notes and References

Web site: 2022 schedule . Jayski.com. . February 28, 2022.
Web site: Entry List. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. March 21, 2022. March 21, 2022.
Web site: Practice Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR. March 26, 2022. March 26, 2022.
Web site: Qualifying Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR. March 26, 2022. March 26, 2022.
Web site: Texas Grand Prix Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR. March 27, 2022. March 27, 2022.
Web site: Points standings. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. March 27, 2022. March 27, 2022.
Web site: Utter. Jim. Kyle Busch spins but still leads Cup practice at COTA. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. March 26, 2022. Austin, Texas. March 26, 2022.
Web site: Utter . Jim . March 26, 2022 . Ryan Blaney's pole at COTA a "pretty good surprise" after wreck . March 26, 2022 . . . Austin, Texas.