By Cole Cusumano

They say everything’s bigger in The Lone Star State, and while this proved to be true in terms of playoff implications and strategy, excitement was kept at a minimum for a majority of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. 

Ringing in at nearly four hours, the 500-mile event felt unnecessarily long. Ryan Blaney dominated the race and won both stages, but failed to win for the seventh time after leading 100 laps or more. Intensity noticeably picked up in the final stint of the day, but shortening the length of competition at Texas should be something that NASCAR should seriously consider.

While varying strategies throughout the day may have made the race tolerable for avid fans, the product on display should have been nowhere near satisfactory for casual viewers. The racing in general was very bland and this was yet another testament to the sport’s failed attempt at the 1.5-mile rules package for 2020.

Track preparations were implemented to aid in potentially increasing on-track opportunities, but in hindsight, this proved to be an insignificant factor. The PJ1 traction compound helped drivers turn in the outside lane with older tires, but we also saw guys like Blaney and Kyle Busch, be able to overtake cars underneath the substance with fresher tires. 

Seeing this trend, the frontrunners throughout the day fell victim to the temptation of getting four fresh Goodyear tires on the last set of pit stops. In the end, track position and clean air would prove to be king in a race riddled with varying strategies. 

Richard Childress Racing teammates, Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon, opted for fuel-only and two tires, respectively, on the money stop and a result lined up on the front row for the final slew of restarts.

Three was the magic number of the day, which coincided with Dillon’s Chevrolet, the amount of times he had to hold off second through fourth-place finishers Reddick, Busch and Joey Logano on restarts and the career wins he now has in the Cup Series.

This victory had been a long time coming for the 30-year-old, who’s silently excelled on 1.5-mil tracks this season. This was an area the No. 3 team drastically struggled in last season and after focusing all winter on improving this program, the results through the halfway point are four top-10s, his first victory in two years and a spot in the Playoffs.

Texas was the sight for two instances of controversy — the blending rule violation committed by Aric Almirola and a race-defining blunder by Quin Houff.

Pole-sitter Almirola, was able to rebound for his seventh consecutive top-10, after a blend line violation put him two laps down. This ruling sent teams into a frenzy of confusion, as there was no official marker for where this guideline could be met.  

In what would ultimately set up the final wave of pit stops and decide the race, Christopher Bell was taken out by Houff, a lapped car who appeared to make a move for pit road from the middle lane without looking to his inside. It was revealed after the checkered flag  the mirror on the No. 00 broke off and that’s why the rookie didn’t realize he wasn’t clear.

While this error didn’t heavily affect Bell’s finishing position in the standings or race, it had a large impact on Matt DiBenedetto’s efforts that afternoon. The driver of the No. 21 was well on his way to a second consecutive top-10 until scheduled green flag pit stops put him in the unfavorable position of getting tangled with the rookies. He had to settle for 17th.

This game-changing move sparked a conversation amongst fans and drivers wondering if certain drivers should be penalized for actions like this. Ninth-place finisher, Brad Keselowski, believes NASCAR should have a system in which developmental drivers “graduate” into the premier series and can face demotion after a certain amount of failures.

While there may be no short term solution for the incident between the two rookies, a program in which drivers can essentially race their way into the Cup Series sounds like an enticing way to bring more excitement and race-ready young guns up to the highest level. As for the blending rule, it would be wise for NASCAR to delve deeper into the parameters of this violation and maybe provide a marker on the apron.

These incidents may not have heavily affected the Playoff picture, but there was a rather large shakeup.

Teammates, Jimmie Johnson and William Byron, suffered the biggest points hits of the day after sloppy showing for Hendrick Motorsports. The seven-time Champion had one of the fastest cars in the early stages and worked his way up from a deep starting spot and a costly penalty, but after slamming the outside wall, he got taken out of contention.

Luckily for the No. 48 team, they were able to continue and managed to finish 26th after the unfortunate occurrence left them 40th at one point in Stage Two. This was a prime example of why, no matter the circumstance, it pays to be relentless. Sure, placing outside of the top-25 isn’t ideal, but they were able to pick up 14 more points and hang on to the final spot in the Playoffs.

The same couldn’t be said for Byron, who unfortunately got caught up in an incident with Ty Dillon that resulted in a 37th-place DNF. The 22-year-old now finds himself without a points cushion and eight races remaining until postseason.

Next up is the Thursday night event at Kansas Speedway. As highlighted throughout the season and magnified in Texas, 1.5-mile tracks have not produced the best racing thus far. Hopefully with the lights on another week night competition there is an added intensity to the intermediate venue with eight races remaining until the Playoffs.