2021 Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500

The 2021 Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on October 17, 2021, at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Contested over 334 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) intermediate quad-oval, it was the 33rd race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, the seventh race of the Playoffs, and first race of the Round of 8.

Background
Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The track measures 1.5 mi around and is banked 24 degrees in the turns, and is of the oval design, where the front straightaway juts outward slightly. The track layout is similar to Atlanta Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway (formerly Lowe's Motor Speedway). The track is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., the same company that owns Atlanta and Charlotte Motor Speedway, as well as the short-track Bristol Motor Speedway.

Entry list

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

Qualifying
Kyle Larson was awarded the pole for the race as determined by competition-based formula.

Race
Kyle Larson was the pole sitter for the race. 30 laps into the race, a crash occurred off turn 2 taking out a number of competitors. Kyle Busch won Stage 1 and Larson won Stage 2. Multiple playoff drivers suffered issues late in the race, with Joey Logano blowing an engine and Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. involved in wrecks. Larson would lead 257 of the 334 laps to win his eighth race of the season and be the first to advance into the Championship 4.

Stage Results
Stage One Laps: 105

Stage Two Laps: 105

Final Stage Results
Stage Three Laps: 124

Race statistics

 * Lead changes: 8 among 5 different drivers
 * Cautions/Laps: 11 for 55
 * Red flags: 1 for 11 minutes and 9 seconds
 * Time of race: 3 hours, 42 minutes and 54 seconds
 * Average speed: 134.859 mph

Television
NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Two–time Texas winner Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and 2000 Texas winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. called the race from the broadcast booth. Parker Kligerman, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast handled the pit road duties from pit lane.

Radio
PRN covered their final 2021 broadcast, which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice & Mark Garrow covered the action for PRN when the field raced down the front straightaway. Nick Yeoman covered the action for PRN from a platform outside of Turns 1 & 2, & Pat Patterson covered the action from a platform outside of Turns 3 & 4 for PRN. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan and Heather DeBeaux had the call from pit lane for PRN.

Standings after the race

 * Drivers' Championship standings


 * Manufacturers' Championship standings


 * Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.