Austin, TX. - While I unfortunately missed the Friday segment of the COTA Nascar weekend, I was able to be in attendance for all of the races and what an action packed few races. 

The Craftsman Truck series started off strong on Saturday with the Xpel 225. Ross Chastain and Kyle Busch were two of the favorites to win this race as they step down from their cup series rides and into some Craftsman Series trucks. William Byron was also slated to be a competitor in this race but unfortunately had issues in qualifying and did not make the race. At the end of the race Zane Smith battled his way to the lead and held it through the checkered flag winning the race.

AJ Allmendinger shows us why he was brought into the cup series after putting on a spectacular show in and winning the PitBoss 250 Xfinity Series race. A little longer and a little later than the Truck Series Xpel 225, the PitBoss 250 also had some top talent drop down into the lower tiers for some extra practice. Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman, and Ty Gibbs join AJ in this race.

No one had anything for Tyler Reddick in the Echo Park Automotive Texas Grand Prix. The number 45 car was the car to beat all day long with William Byron being second most of the race but still not as fast as Reddick. The first lap led to a lot of issues for a few teams as the 84 car of Jimmie Johnson, the 77 car of Ty Dillion, and the 6 car of Brad Keselowski get into each other taking Johnson and Dillion out of the race without completing a single lap. Chase Briscoe spins at the top of turn 1, Kyle Larson spins down the backstretch and turn 15, Ty Gibbs gets 2 cross-over penalties, and chaos galore for the last 5 or 6 laps of this race. Overall a fun and enjoyable weekend. Unless of course you are like me and have to walk all over the 3.41 mile track taking pictures. I certainly got my steps in.

8.2/10