In 2021, there will be a new addition to the NASCAR Cup Series calendar. To be precise, the fraternity will visit the Circuit of The Americas road course in Austin, Texas. According to The Athletic’s report, the NASCAR All-Star Race will also have a new home.
Apparently, the calendar changes include the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) hosting a 2021 Cup race. The COTA race will be one of two Cup races in Texas, with the other venue being the Texas Motor Speedway.
In addition to that, the Texas Motor Speedway would also host the All-Star Race. So far, NASCAR have played coy on the news, but are hoping to make an announcement on the 2021 schedule soon.
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The Circuit of The Americas: The latest NASCAR venue
The 3.426-mile, 20-turn road course made its grand debut in 2012. Primarily, it hosts Formula 1, MotoGP, and IndyCar events, the latter of which began in 2019.
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With this newest addition, NASCAR now boasts of at least five road courses raced next year. The other four are Watkins Glen, Sonoma Raceway, Charlotte Roval, and the Daytona road course.
This isn’t the first time NASCAR paid the Circuit of The Americas a visit, but this will be its inaugural race. Former NASCAR driver Tony Stewart drove a Stewart-Haas Racing car at the track in 2019 for a demonstration run.
COTA and the Texas Motor Speedway are roughly 220 miles apart, and Speedway Motorsports owns the latter. TMS played host to two Cup points races in 2005 and has been on the calendar since.
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On the subject of the All-Star Race, the Bristol Motor Speedway hosted this year’s edition in July. This was largely due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, that forced NASCAR to move there instead of the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The Athletic also noted that the All-Star Race will kick off later than usual. In other words, it will commence before the Coca Cola 600 in May.