From a NASCAR Fan’s View
Well, it’s the first road course race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup season, and COTA is the place. Yeah, the Circuit Of The Americas, one of the most challenging Road courses the teams face, is the track that starts off the Road Course part of the year, and there are a couple of favorites already picked as possible winners, and the rest will just be also-rans.
Tyler Reddick is what many are talking about for this weekend, and everyone wonders if he is going to start off this season with three wins in a row. Well, before we talk about the choices of winners, I’d like to offer my opinion of the first two races of the year and that would be Daytona and Echo Park – You know, the track near Atlanta.
(Okay, in case you’re wondering about that last statement, it’s just some poor humor on this fan’s part.)
In all seriousness, though, I do have an opinion of the first two races and the driver that won them. It is true that Tyer Reddick has started off this 2026 season by winning those first two races. Now, as a fan, I’m going give my opinion of those two races and how they ended. In saying what I’m going to say, I absolutely don’t want to take anything away from the talent he has as a racecar driver. He is very good and always shows a lot of determination to get the job done when it comes to finishing or winning a race.
You see, the point is, and I stress this is just this fan’s opinion, I think he not only showed his talent and determination in those two races, but I also believe he is on the good side of racing luck so far. Sure, I know you have to be in a position to win, and he and his team did that part when it came down to the final laps.
What I observed and believe is that, because of that thing called “racing luck,” he was able to capitalize on where he was positioned for both of the wins. Both Daytona and Echo Park were wreck-fests, and in both of those races, several of the cars that could have beaten him were eliminated in one of the multiple wrecks that happened. So, in my opinion, he was one of the luckiest drivers in both of them, and he won both even after the challenges he faced. The ones this fan thought would be the obvious ones to win instead of him weren’t around at the end to even challenge him.
So, what do you think? Was he lucky or not? (I’ve given you my opinion. You make up your own mind.)
Getting back to the race at COTA, there are other drivers that many have been talking about as possible winners of this one, other than Tyler Reddick. Of course, everyone talks about SVG’s ability on road courses, and it is possible he could win this one, too. After last year and his record of road course wins, it is hard to ignore him as one of the possible winners at the end of the day.
That being said, there are a lot of other drivers who are good road course racers and one of them could win today at COTA. Just to name a few – and I admit some of them are really long shots – but here are a few names to consider. Michael McDowell, Kyle Larson, William Byron, and young Conner Zilisch. That’s just a few off the top of my head.
We all know there are others. Right? How about Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, and Ryan Blaney? I could go on, but why should I? There are a lot of good road course racers in NASCAR, and this fan believes, given the right set of circumstances, just about any of them could win today at COTA.
Road races are some of the hardest ones to predict a winner at. There are just too many variables that enter into the mix. I mean, there are parts failure that can happen, there are driver errors that can cost them greatly when it comes to the win and there are accidents that can severely damage cars along with the hopes of a possible winner.
I don’t know about you, but from this fan’s view, road races are better to watch than to try to predict. Just about anything can happen, and just about any one of the drivers can win. I guess it all comes down to whether they’re lucky enough to be around at the front at the end.
Wait a minute. Did I just mention that “Luck” thing again? Oh well, maybe luck is what you need…
Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© March 01, 2026 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
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