Breaking down the weather forecast for the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at COTA

NASCAR is headed to Austin, Texas this week, where we’ll be treated to a full weekend of racing. The Austin-based Circuit of the Americas course will play host to the Toyota Tundra 225 Truck Series race and Pit Boss 250 Xfinity Series race on Saturday. On Sunday, they’ll hold the 2021 EchoPark Texas Grand Prix.

This weekend marks the first time we’ll have qualifying since March. NASCAR has pivoted to a performance-metric formula for setting starting lineups, but eight tracks this season feature qualifying. We saw it at Daytona and the dirt races at Bristol Motor Speedway, and COTA marks the third such instance.

This is notable because we could see some rain in the early going on Saturday. Truck Series qualifying is scheduled for 9:05 a.m. ET and Xfinity Series qualifying is scheduled for 11:05 a.m. ET. On Saturday, there is some rain in the forecast at 5 a.m. local time (CT) and then again from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. CT. There’s a chance of rain off and on in the afternoon, so all of this will be something to track. On Sunday, the weather should be sufficiently clear for Cup Series qualifying and the race to get in.

Here’s a look what to expect from the weather at the COTA course in Austin this weekend, courtesy of Accuweather.

Saturday, May 22nd

Hi 81°, Low 67°: Tropical rainstorm, 71% of rain

9:00 a.m. ET, Qualifying for Toyota Tundra 225
11 a.m. ET, Qualifying for Pit Boss 250
1:00 p.m. ET, Toyota Tundra 225 (41 laps, 140 miles)
4:00 p.m. ET, Pit Boss 250 (46 laps, 156 miles)

Sunday, May 23rd

Hi 77°, Low 67°: Mostly cloudy with a thunderstorm, 54% of rain

2:30 p.m. ET, EchoPark Texas Grand Prix (68 laps, 231 miles)