Tyler Reddick leads the championship standings after winning the first two races of the 2026 NASCAR Cup season, following up his Daytona 500 triumph with a fender-less victory at Atlanta.

NASCAR now travels to the Circuit of the Americas where Shane van Gisbergenhopes to continue his road course dominance after winning the last five road/street courses on the schedule. However, COTA eluded him in 2025, and Christopher Bell is the defending winner of the event.

This week in the news, the lawsuit between Joe Gibbs Racing and its ex-competition director Chris Gabehart is escalating as he pushes back against JGR's claims. In another lawsuit, Pacific Life Insurance and the Busch family have reached a settlement.

NASCAR also revealed a radical new format for the 2026 All-Star Race, which heads to Dover for the very first time.

Richard Childress Racingannounced that Austin Hill will run a partial schedule in the Cup Series this year, and JR Motorsports revealed that Lee Pulliam will make his NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series debut with the team at Martinsville. 13-year-old Keelan Harvick (son of 2014 Cup champion Kevin) has signed a driver development deal with Toyota.

In this story, you can find all the information you need to watch the action from COTA, from the weekend schedule to where and how to watch, and even the full entry list.

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Read Also: NASCAR's Dover All Star Race format requires a calculator Chris Gabehart responds to lawsuit, claims dysfunction at Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing is now suing Spire and Chris Gabehart Why the early NASCAR Cup standings have some consequence Kyle and Samantha Busch reach lawsuit settlement with insurance firm

Friday, February 27

5pm EST -- NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series practice practice -- CW App

6pm EST -- NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series practice qualifying -- CW App

Saturday, February 28

10am EST -- NASCAR Cup Series practice -- PRIME VIDEO

11am EST -- NASCAR Cup Series qualifying -- PRIME VIDEO

3pm EST --NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race (65 laps) -- The CW

Sunday, March 1

2:30pm -- NASCAR RaceDay pre-race show -- FOX

3:49 pm EST -- NASCAR Cup race green flag at COTA (95 laps) -- FOX

Read Also: How to watch 2026 IndyCar and NASCAR at St. Pete: Weekend schedule, start time, TV

General view

How can I watch the NASCAR Cup Series at COTA?

Date: Sunday, March 1 TV start time: 2:30pm EST Green flag: 3:49pm EST  Laps: 95 laps  Stages: 20 / 25 / 50 TV channel: FOX | TSN (Canada) | Other international viewing optionsLive stream: In-car cameras on HBO MAX Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Who is racing at the Circuit of the Americas?

There are 36 chartered entries and one open entry for the Cup race. Reigning NASCAR O'Reilly Series champion Jesse Love will pilot the #33 for Richard Childress Racing.

In the O'Reilly race, all three Trackhouse Racing Cup drivers plan to take part with Shane van Gisbergen (#9) and Connor Zilisch (#1) driving for JR Motorsports, while Ross Chastain will compete for Jordan Anderson Racing (#32). They, along with Love, are the only drivers pulling double duty this weekend at COTA.

Below is the complete entry list for the Cup race on Sunday:

No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet
2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford
3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet
4	Noah Gragson	Front Row Motorsports	Ford
5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford
7	Daniel Suarez	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet
8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet
9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
10	Ty Dillon	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet
11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford
16	AJ Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet
17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford
19	Chase Briscoe	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
21	Josh Berry	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford
22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford
23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota
24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
33	Jesse Love	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet
34	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford
35	Riley Herbst	23XI Racing	Toyota
38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports	Ford
41	Cole Custer	Haas Factory Team	Chevrolet
42	John Hunter Nemechek	Legacy Motor Club	Toyota
43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Toyota
45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota
47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Hyak Motorsports	Chevrolet
48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet
54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
60	Ryan Preece	RFK Racing	Ford
71	Michael McDowell	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet
77	Carson Hocevar	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet
88	Connor Zilisch	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet
97	Shane van Gisbergen	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet

 

 

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