AUSTIN, Texas -- NASCAR is set to race the Circuit of the Americas for the first time and all eyes are on both Chase Elliott and an unsettling weather forecast of rain that could make the inaugural Texas Grand Prix a wild one.
Elliott, NASCAR's defending champion and most popular driver, will start today as the favorite given his career mastery of road courses. And he needs a win. NASCAR's season of parity has so far produced 10 winners through 13 races but none from Elliott.
Elliott's been close with five top-five finishes and he was runner-up at the Daytona 500 and at Martinsville. He led a race-high 44 laps on the road course at Daytona but a late yellow flag ruined his chance at victory.
It may not be time to worry about Elliott's season, but his Hendrick Motorsports teammates have all been to victory lane this year. Kyle Larson and William Byron have one win each, while Alex Bowman's victory last week was his second of the season.
"I'm not one to guarantee things in my life," Elliott said when asked last week whether he'd expected to win by now. "We all want to win as a team. I want to win as much as anyone else. But we haven't and that's really the bottom line."
In normal conditions, Elliott should feel as comfortable as anyone on a new track. His five career road course wins are the most among active drivers and he's won four of the last five outings on road tracks.
If he wins a sixth race on a road course, Elliott would be just the seventh driver in history to reach that mark, tying him with Bobby Allison, Richard Petty, Rusty Wallace and Ricky Rudd.
But the dark cloud looming over today's race is the likelihood of rain, which National Weather Service forecasts at better than 50%. The drivers slipped and slid their way through Saturday morning's windy and wet practice session that may have been fun for some, but likely left none of them feeling comfortable about the race.
For some, it was their first laps around a track that was built for Formula One.
"It was a blast," said Byron, who was fastest in the session. "I hope it rains. For the fans, I think it would be awesome if it rains."
Joey Logano was second in practice, ahead of Larson and Kyle Busch. Busch and Martin Truex Jr. each have four road course victories.
Elliott, who was fifth in practice, admitted this week he doesn't think he's very good racing in wet conditions.
"The rain tire is certainly a bit of a question mark and it's not one I'm very good at," Elliott said. "Especially coming to a new track. [Rain] completely changes everything about the course and what you do.
"For guys who race in the rain enough, they can make that transition. I just haven't done it enough to feel real confident. What to change, where to change it, how to change it, braking zone changes. There's really not a good way to prepare for that."
NASCAR Cup Series
TEXAS GRAND PRIX
WHEN Today, green flag at 1:45 p.m. Central
WHERE Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas
QUALIFYING Today, beginning at 9 a.m. Central
TV FS1 (race and qualifying)
