The 2023 XPEL 225 was the 4th stock car race of the

2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series The 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series was the 29th season of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season started with the NextEra Energy 250 on February 17 at Daytona ...

, and the 3rd iteration of the

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

. The race was held on Saturday, March 25, 2023, in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, at

Circuit of the Americas Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located in Austin, Texas, United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand Pr ...

, a permanent asphalt road course. The race took the scheduled 42 laps to complete. Zane Smith, driving for

Front Row Motorsports Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The team began running part-time in 2004 as Means-Jenkins Motorsports under a part ...

, would hold off the field in the final 10 laps, and earned his 9th career

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock car racing, s ...

win, along with his second of the season. Smith would also dominate a portion of the race, leading 16 laps. To fill out the podium,

Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation)#ZL1, Chevrolet ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and par ...

, driving for his own team,

Kyle Busch Motorsports Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) is an American professional dirt racing team that competes in dirt divisions across the United States. They formerly competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, CARS Tour, CRA Super Series, A ...

, and

Ty Majeski Tyler Brad Majeski (born August 18, 1994) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 98 Ford F-150 for ThorSport Racing, as well as in late model racing. He ha ...

, driving for

ThorSport Racing ThorSport Racing is an American professional stock car racing team competing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Founded in 1996 as SealMaster Racing and based in Sandusky, Ohio, the team is owned by Duke Thorson and his wife, Rhonda. Currently ...

, would finish 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

Background

(COTA) is a grade 1 FIA-specification

motorsports Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and powered aircraft An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the po ...

facility located within the

extraterritorial jurisdiction Extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) is the legal ability of a government to exercise authority beyond its normal boundaries. Any authority can claim ETJ over any external territory they wish. However, for the claim to be effective in the external ...

. It features a

road racing Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a race track, closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily c ...

circuit. The facility is home to the

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

United States Grand Prix The United States Grand Prix is a motor racing event that has been held on and off since 1908, when it was known as the American Grand Prize. The Grand Prix later became part of the Formula One World Championship. , the Grand Prix has been held ...

, and the

Motorcycle Grand Prix of the Americas The Motorcycle Grand Prix of the Americas is a motorcycling event that is part of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing season that takes place at Circuit of the Americas. It became the third MotoGP r ...

, a round of the FIM Road Racing World Championship. It previously hosted the

Supercars Championship The Supercars Championship, also known as the Repco Supercars Championship under sponsorship and historically as V8 Supercars, is a touring car racing category in Australia and New Zealand, running as an International Series under Fédération I ...

, the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship, abbreviated as WEC, is a world championship for automobile endurance racing organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The se ...

, the

IMSA SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (I ...

, and

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

Entry list

* (R) denotes rookie driver. * (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

Notes

Practice

The first and only practice session was held on Friday, March 24, at 3:30 PM CST, and last for 20 minutes.

, driving for his own team,

, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 2:15.582, and an average speed of .

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Friday, March 24, at 4:00 PM CST. Since

is a

road course Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily closed publi ...

, the qualifying system is a two group system, with two rounds. Drivers will be separated into two groups, Group A and Group B. Each driver will have multiple laps to set a time. The fastest 5 drivers from each group will advance to the final round. The fastest driver to set a time in that round will win the pole. Under a 2021 rule change, the timing line in road course qualifying is ''not'' the start-finish line. Instead, the timing line for qualifying will be set at the exit of Istanbul 8.

Ross Chastain Ross Lee Chastain (born December 4, 1992) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation)#ZL1, Chevrolet ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing, part-tim ...

, driving for

Niece Motorsports Niece Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Owned by Al Niece, it currently fields the No. 42 Chevrolet Silverado full-time for Matt Mills (racing driver), Matt ...

, would win the pole after advancing from the preliminary round and setting the fastest lap in Round 2, with a lap of 2:13.613, and an average speed of . Three drivers would fail to qualify: Samuel LeComte,

Alex Bowman Alexander Michael Warren Bowman (born April 25, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation)#ZL1, Chevrolet ZL1 f ...

, and

Mason Massey William Mason Massey IV (born January 24, 1997) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 45 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation), Chevrolet SS for Alpha Prime Racing. M ...

Full qualifying results

Race results

Stage 1 ''Laps: 12'' Stage 2 ''Laps: 14'' Stage 3 ''Laps: 16''

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings *Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References

{{2023 NASCAR Truck Series NASCAR races at Circuit of the Americas XPEL 225 XPEL 225