By: Ashley McCubbin

The Brickyard 400 for 2020 will go down as being exciting to watch as there was lots of storylines and memorable passes to fill the highlight reel. But combining the tire issues with the current intermediate racing package, and you’re shaking your head.

As we’ve seen all year with this package for the intermediate tracks, the restarts were fantastic to watch. The long straightaways allotted for some of the biggest runs that you have seen all season long, resulting in some thrilling passes for position. Each time they lined up, you witnessed drivers willing to put themselves three-wide in the matter of trying to get the extra spot.

But the desperation on the restarts was brought forth by one thing – the inability once again to pass once you got into a run. The same image repeated itself as witnessed at Pocono Raceway and other tracks, with the single-file hard to catch and pass train forming around the whole track for the times that we got to see lengthy runs throughout the day.

Kevin Harvick and Rodney Childers knew this, and were able to execute the perfect strategy to go along with a quick No. 4 Ford once again for the second straight week in a row. Everybody will remember the three-wide pass he made on the restart to get by both Denny Hamlin and Austin Dillon to assert himself into position, but it was Childers staying ahead of the strategy right from the beginning with a trip to pit road before the competition yellow that set the stage.

The stage could easily be setting for your championship battle right here, too, as this weekend was a repeat of last with the race for the checkered coming down to Harvick and Denny Hamlin. It seemed like the No. 11 Toyota was going to take his turn in victory lane until a tire failure in the final 10 laps ended his day with hard contact with the wall.

His tire failure was ultimately one of several throughout the day, as several contenders found themselves out of the event with the same issue. Notably, Indianapolis Motor Speedway has proven to be tough on tires through the years as each year there seems to be at least one issue. Recall the one year where they had a throw a caution every 15 laps due to a issues; this year, it seemed after Lap 20, the nerves began to form.

The speeds they carry around the two-mile oval only emphasized the issue as the new package sees you let off very little through the corners, resulting in contact with the wall happening at around 150 mph, if not more and a sharp angle at that. Goodyear warned teams to be wary about running low air pressures, and whether that was cause or not, who knows. But when you have guys like Alex Bowman, William Byron, Erik Jones, and Hamlin all having issues and each hit harder than the last, it makes you wonder. Considering the loads they’re carrying through the corners, it wouldn’t be a surprise if that was the case.

With the racing package diminishing, and the fact they always seem to have issues, it makes you wonder if perhaps it’s time to stop running the IMS oval and switch to the infield road course. The NASCAR Xfinity Series did that on Saturday, and it put on a show, with one of the most memorable finishes of the year already. However, you also cannot deny the prestige of winning on the actual oval with the track’s history.

Rookie class proved their worth once again, with three of the members taking turns running within the top-five throughout the event, with Cole Custer rising to the occasion this time around for a fifth-place run. Tyler Reddick was credited with eighth, while Christopher Bell faded late for 12th.

As he has done since the return to action, Chase Elliott showed speed to be there with Hamlin and Harvick at the front. Though all he has to show for his efforts is an 11th-place finish, after Alan Gustafson elected to pit him at Lap 134 while the rest of the leaders stayed out. Rather than restarting fourth, he was back in 13th, and could not go anywhere much from thereafter.

Gustafson’s original plan was to put two tires on the No. 9, but the field did not close up and give them a chance to do that and come off pit road ahead of those who were taking four. Though knowing it was a track position race all day, why take the risk of coming down anyway if you’ve made your stop already?

On top of the box, he has been under fire this year already for miscues, as seen with the team’s loss at Charlotte Motor Speedway last month. While you are not going to win every event, continually losing ground near the end of a an event with a decision could prove costly if the pattern continues in the playoffs.