Give Circuit of the Americas Another Date Already

1. Returning to Austin next year shouldn’t even be a debate

By and large, the move to host NASCAR at Circuit of the Americas has been a success. Sure, there’s been some assorted weather challenges, but what facility does not have that?

Since 2021, the NASCAR events there have delivered from an excitement standpoint. With apologies to the Chicago street course, COTA is an actual road course, and it produces a setting, notably with this year’s shorter course, that showcases road-racing ability and to borrow a trendy term these days, “race craft.”

That’s why it’s puzzling that the future events at this track are not locked in.

Remember, this is not a track owned by Speedway Motorsports, but rather leased to host this race. If the brain trust in Cabarrus County, N.C. had a track for which it needed a date, it’d have to make hard choices to expand its footprint in the sport’s top series. It would not be the first time – see Kentucky Speedway at the expense of Atlanta Motor Speedway.

With a hunger to expand the schedule to new markets, venues that do not produce, on the track and in the fan surroundings, should be on notice.

The track in Austin, however, should not be one of them.

2. Invocations should be about the race, not a VIP

If your formative years as a race fan included the Daytona 500 on CBS, the odds are good that you remember a pre-race invocation by the late, great Hal Marchman. He kept it simple, offering short and succinct prayers of safety for all competitors.

If you’re a pastor of any type who is a race fan, being able to publicly pray for the safety of drivers is a bucket list, a high honor. Which is why it was puzzling on Sunday that the invocation was offered by…Riley Gaines.

Are you trying to tell me that in the great state of Texas, there was not a single pastor available for the job? Some former United Methodist Church pastors may be harder to find depending on where their new denomination has taken them, but it’s stunning that in Texas of all places, no pastor or chaplain was on the mic for the invocation.

Not only that, but she was introduced not as a pastor, preacher or evangelist. But as…the host of a podcast on Outkick.com. That’s how you might expect a national anthem singer to be introduced as a reference to their talent. What in the world does a podcast host have to do with an invocation?

Yes, the very same Outkick that has chased a clickbait bonanza over all things Bubba Wallace with descriptive headlines regarding Wallace that have included:

“Soils himself”
“Divides NASCAR Fans with his Juneteenth message”
“Acts like a child”

Why then, would someone be part of pre-race events who is associated with stirring up vitriol against one of the sport’s drivers?

Frankly speaking: what were the pre-race decision-makers even thinking?

Forget what was even prayed during the invocation. Pastor Joe Nelms of Tennessee taught us that anything can happen with an invocation on the microphone.

But when someone is the face of pre-race ceremonies for those few seconds, it puts them and the sport front and center.

Many people are passionate about one side of an issue that Riley Gaines represents. Others are passionate about the other.

When a moment set aside to wish drivers safety turns into a publicity moment, it calls into question how much pre-race festivities should be televised.

Sporting events happen all the time where the national anthem, pre-game prayer and such occur and are not televised. If the goal is to make sure an invocation is televised, it calls into question the reason why having it in the first place.

3. Track limits should meet their conclusion

Superspeedways have the yellow-line rule. Road courses, in theory, have track limits. Both are in place for the interest of driver safety. This past weekend at COTA was a strong case of the law of unintended consequences.

To put it mildly, the enforcement of track limits was inconsistent, and when you have drivers and crew chiefs also trying to get a feel for those limits, it makes things more confusing.

The intent of said track limits is a noble goal. Giving drivers free rein to drive off in the grass is asking for bedlam.

Charlotte Motor Speedway may have devised one tactic for its Speedway Motorsports brethren to take advantage of with its placement of the turtles, even though the four-inch items were replaced last fall by curbing. Did the turtles cause a jarring impact? Yes, but drivers are not as likely to take a chance running off the course if that risk is there through that route or even additional rumble strips.

Regardless, NASCAR needs a better option for driver safety than track limits.

4. Is there such a thing as too driven?

A young driver getting behind the wheel of great equipment with high expectations that publicly holds himself to a high standard.

Over the weekend, despite a win in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at COTA, Connor Zilisch, rather than soaking in the glory of a win, instead lamented how he could have done better.

He’s hardly the first driver with this mentality. Until he finally broke through for his first NASCAR Cup Series win, it was not hard to find a sound bite of Chase Elliott beating himself up. Elliott was far from the only driver who knew full well that with incredible equipment comes an expectation to perform at a lofty level.

When someone is that driven, two paths are there for the taking – either for that driver to have a zest to succeed no matter what or to be so hell-bent on the little things that the sight of the main thing is lost.

How great can Zilisch be? How he handles the drive for excellence will tell that tale going forward.

5. Chase Briscoe is badly in need of good fortune

The falling of the checkered flag in the Daytona 500 appeared to give Chase Briscoe a strong start behind the wheel of his new ride at Joe Gibbs Racing. Instead, it’s been as if a black cloud is hanging over the No. 19.

By the time everyone unloaded the next week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Briscoe was dropkicked to the bottom of the pile thanks to a penalty for a modified single-source component and the loss of 100 driver points and 10 playoff points that came with it.

There’s pressure and Briscoe knows it. He even noted in Atlanta about a higher level of expectation knowing how much better equipment JGR has to compete with compared to what he raced in the past.

That’s why Briscoe needs a good finish this weekend in a bad way at Phoenix Raceway. After a pole position at Daytona International Speedway, Briscoe has qualified no higher than 18th and finished no better than 14th.

When a driver is with a new team, you need to do some good things early to get a feeling of being on the right track. Briscoe needs that soon, and Phoenix would be just the ticket given that another downforce-centric track looms at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the next week.