By: Ashley McCubbin

While we have seen the dynamics of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race package overcome some of the worst race surfaces across the country, that was not the case at Kentucky Speedway. The Alsco 300 ultimately will go down as being possibly one of the worse events of the season – if you forget about the Noah Gragson and Harrison Burton drama.

In an effort to improve the racing, track officials laid down the traction compound in the second groove. Rather than creating side-by-side action as they hoped, it instead turned into a battle of who could find the right lane and stick there to gain the advantage.

There was passing throughout the night, with drivers who had capable cars able to make their way through the field. Though once they reached the top-10 with equal competition, the progress was halted – unless your name was Austin Cindric and you were super fast.

The horror show of the package came through when you saw drivers able to catch each other quickly, but unable to do anything. Brandon Jones caught Daniel Hemric in a matter of laps – but was stuck right behind him, until an effort to make a move turned into getting loose and into the wall. The same also occurred with the battle of the lead between Jeremy Clements and Gragson.

Ultimately, it turned into what the NASCAR Cup Series package has turned into – clean air is key, and you’ll do whatever it takes to get there. Cindric worked his way there with some thrilling moves on the restarts, and the speed of the No. 22 for the second night in a row allowed him to get out to a 12-second lead before a late caution.

Being able to sweep a weekend should give anybody a confident boost, and allow them to showcase their ability to be a title contender. Going into the year, Cindric was in that conversation. But is he at the top of the list? You cannot say that considering the performances by Chase Briscoe the past couple weeks with five trips to victory lane, and another pair of top-fives at Kentucky.

Cindric may have lost his second event in a row if Justin Allgaier had been able to put himself into the picture for the win. Instead. for the second night in a row and an example of his year to date, a tire issue early due to running over a broken brake rotor from another car put him down a lap that he was unable to make up until a late caution. The JR Motorsports driver still made the most of the situation, scoring a fifth-place finish at the checkered. Now imagine if he could have half the luck of others.

His teammate, though, has other problems on his hands. Noah Gragson’s aggressive nature on a restart saw him get loose, and make contact with Harrison Burton as they both got into the outside wall. It is not the first time an incident of this kind has happened, as Burton reminded everybody following their pit road scuffle.

It’s been discussed before about Gragson’s aggressive nature, and sometimes it works in his favor. We saw the success of that at Daytona, as well as his victory at Bristol at the expense of his teammate. However, it has also blown up in his face as he caught the attention of Myatt Snider at Las Vegas, along with restart incidents at Auto Club Speedway and Pocono Raceway.

The speed and ability of his team have him in a position to contend for a championship this year, as evident with sitting second in points with two wins and eight top-five’s. His aggressiveness can be applauded, too, as it is nice to see a driver give it their all no matter what. As he said after winning at Bristol, “I can’t drive back to pit road and finish second and say that I didn’t try. I’m going to try, win or draw. It’s probably not the best thing, but you can’t say at the end of the day that I didn’t try.”

However, if you find yourself in trouble more than not, it will come back to bite you and perhaps at the worst time. Gragson will need to keep this mind if he wants to be a serious contender alongside Cindric and Briscoe.