{"id":508881,"date":"2026-03-02T05:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T05:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/508881\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T05:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T05:47:09","slug":"heat-takes-toll-on-drivers-at-cota-and-st-pete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/508881\/","title":{"rendered":"Heat Takes Toll on Drivers at COTA and St. Pete"},"content":{"rendered":"

With temperatures in the mid-80s in Austin, Texas, and the high 70s in St. Petersburg, Florida, NASCAR drivers faced their first hot races this season, and the heat adversely affected a few competitors in the Cup and Craftsman Truck series.<\/p>\n

On Sunday at Circuit of the Americas, several Cup drivers, including Kyle Larson, Ryan Preece, and A.J. Allmendinger reported their cool shirts stopped working during the 95-lap race on the 20-turn, 2.4-mile course. Alex Bowman also had health issues. <\/p>\n

Larson, who finished sixth, attributed his ability to make it through the event to the fluids he had in his body.<\/p>\n

Related Story<\/p>\n

\u201cI started feeling progressively better as the race went on with just dumping water on me, putting ice on my chest and drinking a lot of fluids,\u201d Larson said. \u201cI felt good there at the end but was hot early in the race. I was getting nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Allmendinger\u2019s ninth-place finish, the Kaulig Racing driver laid down beside his car while medical personnel attended to him. Eventually, he was removed from pit road on a gurney. Kaulig Racing posted on its X (Twitter) account that Allmendinger was evaluated and released from the infield care center. <\/p>\n

Bowman pulled into the garage with slightly more than 20 laps remaining because he was too ill to finish the race. Since Toyota driver Chase Briscoe was the only competitor out of the race, Bowman\u2019s Hendrick Motorsports team turned to Fox Sports for help. NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Myatt Snider was spotting for Fox pit road reporter Jamie Little. The Hendrick team asked Little if they could have Snider as Bowman\u2019s relief driver. She agreed and Snider finished 36th in the 37-car field, six laps off the pace.<\/p>\n

\"nascarJames Gilbert\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Myatt Snider behind the wheel of Alex Bowman\u2019s #48 Chevrolet, driving in relief.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an unexpected situation,\u201d Jeff Andrews, Hendrick Motorsports president and general manager, said. \u201cAlex wasn\u2019t feeling well enough to continue, so we made the call to get him out of the car. It came on suddenly. He was seen in the care center and received fluids, but we don\u2019t have anything further to share at this time. We\u2019re grateful to Myatt for stepping in on such short notice.\u201d <\/p>\n

After Saturday\u2019s NASCAR Truck race in Florida, Niece Motorsports driver Tyler Reif was transported to an area medical facility where he was treated for heat exhaustion. Reif, who finished 16th to winner Layne Riggs, was later released.<\/p>\n

Related Story<\/p>\n

Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, who served as Dario Franchitti\u2019s crew chief in the truck race, tended to his driver after the event. After finishing 27th in his first NASCAR race since 2008, Franchitti went over and sat down beside his pit box while Johnson poured cold water on him and provided him with cold towels. <\/p>\n

Pit Strategy Pays Dividends for Bell<\/p>\n

Christopher Bell, who was last year\u2019s race winner at Circuit of the Americas, salvaged a top-five finish in this year\u2019s event thanks to aggressive pit strategy by crew chief Adam Stevens.<\/p>\n

Unlike the majority of the competitors who pitted only once in the final 50 laps, Bell pitted twice for fresh tires. His second stop came during the third caution period that occurred with 20 laps remaining. <\/p>\n

\"nascarLogan Riely\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Christopher Bell.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuper thankful that Adam Stevens\u2026 got us on offense, got me a tire advantage over the field,\u201d Bell said after finishing third to winner Tyler Reddick. \u201cWe were just super aggressive on strategy, jumping the Stages, keeping our track position the best that we could. We gambled making an extra pit stop there in the third Stage and it got us a good finish out of it, but clearly, I wasn\u2019t going to run with the top guys. All race long whenever I was on equal tires with guys I was falling backwards. <\/p>\n

Blaney Fades In Closing Laps<\/p>\n

Throughout most of the DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix, Ryan Blaney dogged eventual winner Tyler Reddick on the 20-turn, 2.4-mile Circuit of the Americas. He even led the second most laps, setting the pace for 11 of the 95 circuits. The only driver who led more laps than Blaney was Reddick.<\/p>\n

However, when it came to the final 15 laps, Blaney\u2019s Ford faded and the Team Penske driver eventually had to settle for eighth.<\/p>\n

\"auto:Icon Sportswire\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Tyler Reddick leading Shane van Gisbergen and Ryan Blaney.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just kind of lost grip and lost touch with Shane (van Gisbergen) and Tyler,\u201d Blaney said about the first- and second-place finishers. \u201cIt was weird. I wasn\u2019t really pushing hard like after the green flag pit stop with Tyler, knowing it was going to be a longer run.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey (the tires) didn\u2019t really fire off very good, and I stayed in touch with those guys for maybe five laps. They (tires) just kind of started to slowly lose and then really fall off the cliff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Briscoe\u2019s Toyota Suffers Race\u2019s Only Mechanical Failure<\/p>\n

Chase Briscoe was the only driver eliminated from the DuraMAX Texas Grand Prix, having to settle for a last-place finish in the 37-car field after completing 62 of the 95 laps. <\/p>\n

Briscoe, who\u2019s 27th in the driver standings after three NASCAR Cup races, said something in his Toyota\u2019s transaxle broke as he exited a corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cWent to shift and it was like I was in neutral and it was trying to spin the one side and not the other,\u201d Briscoe said. \u201cJust frustrating.\u201d <\/p>\n

Related StoryKeselowski Completes COTA Event<\/p>\n

Brad Keselowski, who broke his leg in December while on a snow skiing trip with his family, had Ford factory driver Joey Hand standing by in his pit in case he needed relief at Circuit of the Americas but the RFK Racing co-owner never called on him. Keselowski, who has said it will take six months for his leg to heal, finished 20th on the lead lap in the season\u2019s first road course race.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t as fast as we wanted to be, so it turned into a don\u2019t beat yourself day,\u201d said Keselowski, who walks with a cane. \u201cGlad it\u2019s over. Not the day we wanted to have \u2026 but we have something we can move forward with, and I\u2019m trying to appreciate that.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Lettermark\"<\/p>\n

A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com<\/a>, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association\u2019s sports feature category.\u00a0 During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication\u2019s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With temperatures in the mid-80s in Austin, Texas, and the high 70s in St. Petersburg, Florida, NASCAR drivers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,782,202516,784,1642,634,202515,82,183339],"class_list":["post-508881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-17bcad05-b45e-4d4d-bff1-a87820333986","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-locale-us","tag-nascar","tag-shorttitle-heat-takes-toll-on-drivers-at-cota-and-st-pete","tag-sports","tag-subsection-nascar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}