2025 is booming already. During the season-opening Daytona 500, we saw how the purse for the Great American Race made our jaws drop. The payout was a staggering $30 Million, a total $2 Million jump from last year’s total. Falling in place with NASCAR’s multi-billion dollar media rights deal which began this year, this lucrative trend will also continue for the upcoming weekend.After the first two superspeedway races have been done and dusted, we now head to the first road course. NASCAR will go to the Circuit of the Americas, the earliest it has been to the Austin racetrack in a Cup schedule. Despite the changed dates, the greens will dazzle the drivers and fans alike.NASCAR is hiking up the rewardsThe Circuit of the Americas remains one of NASCAR’s newer stops. The 2025 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix will be the Cup Series’ fifth trip to the Lone Star Capital. Despite its novel appearance, it figures largely on NASCAR’s payout plans. Last year, the purse prizes featured $9 Million for the Cup race and $1.7 Million for the Xfinity Series race. Although there was a bump in the payout numbers, it was not more than $1 Million. It followed a trend of incentivizing other race purses as well, like in Daytona or Atlanta. But 2025 offers a notch above.NASCAR journalist Jonathan Fjeld recently updated the race prizes for the Circuit of the Americas weekend. He tweeted, COTA race purses: “Cup: $11,055,250 (was $9,740,789 last year)…Xfinity: $1,651,939 (was $1,778,948 last year).” This marks almost a $2 Million jump for the Cup Series, although the Xfinity Series numbers are not very promising. The number should be enough to motivate William Byron to go back-to-back in defending his COTA title. COTA race purses:Cup: $11,055,250 (was $9,740,789 last year)Xfinity: $1,651,939 (was $1,778,948 last year)#NASCAR— Jonathan Fjeld (@Jonathan_Fjeld) February 26, 2025However, Byron has some interesting contenders on the Cup Series grid. Earlier, there was only one dominant force to beat on road courses, like Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart. Currently, parity is the name of the game as 16 of 37 active drivers have won on a road course. That features 43.2% of the field, which is star-studded. For instance, Chase Elliott leads with seven victories on tracks with left and right turns. Then expect Shane van Gisbergen to be a powerful contender too, as the Kiwi speedster is known for setting fire to road course races.However, all these strong drivers will need to revise their strategies this weekend. That is because NASCAR has revamped the COTA track.Navigating the changesAside from fattening the race purse, NASCAR has introduced other changes for the upcoming COTA race. A new look and configuration will debut this weekend, keeping pace with the city’s motto of ‘Keep Austin Weird.’ Race promoters announced the revamp last November. Instead of the 3.41-mile full layout, drivers in both Cup and Xfinity will race at a shorter 2.3-mile “national” circuit. The new shape of the course has removed the section from Turn 7 through the Turn 11 hairpin. Compared to last year’s event’s 231.88 miles, this year’s race will feature 228. The lap count will also go up from 68 to 95.To let drivers adapt to this revamped course, NASCAR will host an extended practice session on Saturday. This will involve computer simulation testing and real-world track time. Road course ace Chase Elliott is banking on that opportunity: “It’s kind of one of those things where it’s tough because the only thing you can do is simulator work, right, until you can get some eyes on it,” Elliott said. “The good news is that we’ve got some practice next week to understand the reconfiguration. I do not have my head wrapped around it completely at this point…I would have to imagine it will change the racing a little, I would think, just based off the way it’s shaped. So hopefully, it gives more opportunities to get crafty, have some more options, opportunities to pass or just be different.”Evidently, the upcoming Circuit of the Americas race presents new avenues for growth. That includes both the greens and racing strategies on road courses. So let us wait and watch our Cup Series favorites perform!The post NASCAR Boasts Nearly a $2 Million Growth as COTA Sees Better Days Than 2024 appeared first on EssentiallySports.