Christopher Bell, who has had success at Circuit of the Americas in the past, will try to make it back-to-back wins when the NASCAR Cup Series moves to the road course at Austin, Texas, on Sunday. Bell won his 10th Cup Series race of his career last week when he took the checkered flag at the Ambetter Health 400 in Atlanta. Bell finished second at COTA a year ago, behind William Byron. He also placed third in the event during the 2022 NASCAR season. Shane Van Gisbergen is the +400 favorite for NASCAR at COTA 2025, followed by pole-sitter Tyler Reddick at +500, Kyle Larson at +750, and Chase Elliott at +850 in the latest 2025 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix odds from FanDuel. Sunday’s 2025 NASCAR at Circuit of the Americas race is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. ET. The latest Austin weather forecast is calling for partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the 70s. Tyler Reddick will be on the pole. Before making any 2025 EchoPark Texas Grand Prix picks or NASCAR predictions, you need to see what NASCAR insider Steven Taranto has to say.
Taranto, who moonlights as a sim racer and has 20 career wins in iRacing, is the lead NASCAR writer for CBSSports.com and chronicles stock car racing with the same thoroughness and passion he’s had since becoming a full-time race fan in 2001. He has an annual NASCAR medial credential and also publishes a popular weekly NASCAR predictions column, famously calling Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez’s breakthrough wins in 2022.
Taranto was red-hot for SportsLine in 2024 as he nailed 17 winners, including 16-1 longshot William Byron at the Daytona 500 and 14-1 longshot Chase Elliott at Texas. Anyone following his NASCAR picks could have seen huge returns.
Now, Taranto has analyzed the starting lineup and odds for Sunday’s 2025 EchoPark Texas Grand Prix. He’s sharing his best bets at SportsLine.
2025 NASCAR EchoPark Texas Grand Prix expert picks
For the 2025 EchoPark Texas Grand Prix, Taranto is high on New Zealand driver Shane Van Gisbergen. The 35-year-old is a road course expert, earning three road course wins in the Xfinity Series a year ago, including at Portland, Sonoma and Chicago. He ran 33 Xfinity races a year ago, earning three poles and four top-10 finishes. He has raced in 14 Cup Series races over the past two years, earning one win, one pole and four top-10 finishes.
He won the first Cup race he ever ran, taking the checkered flag at the 2023 Grant Park 220 in Chicago. He has been dominant in the Supercars Championship, winning three season championships in 2016, 2021 and 2022. In 508 races in the circuit, he has earned 81 wins with 48 poles and 176 trips to the podium. He has also driven in both the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the ARCA Menards Series. See which other drivers he’s backing at SportsLine.
A surprise: Taranto is fading Kyle Larson at +750. Although Larson won NASCAR’s last road race at Charlotte Roval this past fall, he has struggled at the Circuit of Americas. After finishing second at the 2021 event, he has faltered. In 2022, he placed 29th, before improving a bit in 2023, finishing 14th. Last year, he finished 17th at the 68-lap, 3.426-mile event.
During his 13-year NASCAR Cup Series career, Larson has appeared in 367 races. He has earned 29 wins with 183 top-10 finishes, and has earned 21 poles. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was sixth overall in 2024, and has one career championship (2021). His first career race was the 2013 Bank of America 500 in Charlotte, and earned his first career Cup Series win at the 2016 Pure Michigan 400. See all of Taranto’s picks at SportsLine.
How to make 2025 EchoPark Texas Grand Prix predictions
Taranto has also identified four other drivers in his 2025 NASCAR EchoPark Texas Grand Prix best bets. He’s also high on a huge NASCAR longshot who’s going off at 80-1, potentially netting any backer a huge payday. You can only see who they are here.
So who wins the 2025 EchoPark Texas Grand Prix, and which massive longshot could stun NASCAR? Visit SportsLine now to see the 2025 COTA EchoPark Texas Grand Prix picks and best bets from a NASCAR insider who nailed a colossal 17 winners last year, and find out.
2025 EchoPark Texas Grand Prix odds, field
See full NASCAR COTA at Austin picks at SportsLine
Shane Van Gisbergen +400
Tyler Reddick +500
Kyle Larson +750
Chase Elliott +850
Connor Zilisch +1400
Ross Chastain +1600
Christopher Bell +1600
William Byron +1700
Daniel Suarez +2200
Bubba Wallace +2200
Alex Bowman +2400
Chris Buescher +2500
Denny Hamlin +3000
Chase Briscoe +3000
Austin Cindric +3000
Ryan Blaney +3000
Michael McDowell +3500
Joey Logano +3500
Carson Hocevar +8000
Cole Custer +10000
Bubba Wallace +10000
Brad Keselowski +10000
Zane Smith +10000
Todd Gilliland +13000
Justin Haley +15000
Noah Gragson +20000
Josh Berry +20000
John Hunter Nemechek +20000
Austin Dillon +20000
Riley Herbst +25000
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +25000
Erik Jones +25000
Ty Dillon +25000
Ryan Preece +25000
Cody Ware +30000
CBS Sports Staff
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