The Circuit Of The Americas in Austin is one of those tracks that guarantee a good race. Yes, last year the NASCAR Cup Series race was a disaster, but it was so because of mother nature. This year, the track redeemed itself and lived up to the high expectations with a nail-biting race through and through.

There’s a reason COTA is on the NASCAR, Formula 1, and MotoGP calendars. It is that good.

However, it is about to get better (or worse, depending on which side you’re going to be on).

It was recently announced that the track is going to build an amusement park; yes, an amusement park by 2023.

“We’re building a massive amusement park that I hope opens in ’23,” Bobby Epstein, the Chairman of the track, said. “We’ll have 30-plus rides and two mega-coasters. One of them will be the first of its kind in the country.”

“It’ll be an amusement park to rival any other.”

The grand plans aside, this announcement turned out to be divisive for NASCAR fans.

Some of them seemed to welcome this idea of an amusement park inside a racetrack while some simply couldn’t wrap their head around this.

NASCAR drivers love the Circuit Of The Americas

During the recent racing weekend at the COTA, drivers Tyler Reddick and Kurt Busch expressed their admiration for the track.

“I’d like to see us do everything we can to stay here. This track should on the A list,” Reddick said.

“When you consider the Formula One races, MotoGP, all the international sports car races they’ve held here, it’s a prestigious place. COTA should be an annual stop.”

While Kurt Busch believes the Texas road course track has a “European feel.”

“I drove some sports cars here years ago,” the No. 45 Toyota driver said. “I was intrigued by the place, the aura of it. The track has a lot of personalities, from technical to speed. It has a European feel.”

The veteran driver added that racing in COTA, a driver gets the sense of being in “someplace special,” that it’s a feeling that drivers don’t experience every week.

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