'COTA has everything.' What NASCAR drivers are saying ahead of Sunday's Austin race

Coming in at a lengthy 3.41 miles, the Circuit of the Americas track is NASCAR's longest of the season, and arguably most technical.

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- NASCAR drivers are in for a different test this week as they head to Austin.

Coming in at a lengthy 3.41 miles, the Circuit of the Americas track is NASCAR's longest of the season, and arguably most technical.

The 68 laps at COTA Sunday will test drivers' all-round skill, adding in nine right-hand turns in addition to 11 going left, and with 133 feet of elevation change sprinkled in.

A wild atmosphere greeted Formula One when the track first opened in 2012. Nine years later it welcomed NASCAR fans for the series debut races in 2021, in the rain. Sunday's race will be NASCAR's fourth at COTA, and the first of five road courses of the season.

With seating for more than 100,000 fans, Sunday's race is expected to be packed. The event dates are March 22-24. Tickets are still available here.

Before heading to town, drivers weighed in on what they're expecting.

Denny Hamlin

"It's a lot different for sure. With the extended practice next week, I definitely feel a little better about getting up to speed before qualifying goes. I'll put the same to maybe a little more time on it simply because I'm not as familiar with how to make really good speed on that track quite yet. It's just gonna take a little little time, and certainly a lot different mindset from my standpoint."

Bubba Wallace

"It's just different going right in some curves and you know, long straightaways."

A.J. Allmendinger

"COTA is a racetrack that I really love. It's a road course. So it's in my background. It's a unique racetrack because I feel like a lot of road courses you have a type of racetrack where (there are) slow corners or fast corners or long straightaways with short straightaways. COTA has everything, so it's a racetrack that is hard to get your car right in all aspects of the racetrack, but I thoroughly enjoy it."

Brad Keselowski

"The thing that makes being a NASCAR driver so difficult is the tracks and the venues change week-to-week. What it takes to win on one week is not what it takes the next week. (It) requires a significant amount of versatility."

Todd Gilliland

"It’s a road course where we’re turning left and right, and for me, it’s just a really nice switch up of things that we do every single week. There are some sections that are really slow, and some sections that are super fast, some really heavy braking zones. So it’s a really good mix of everything."

The event dates are March 22-24.