Dillon Shines in Texas, picks up win #1 of the season (7-19-20)
By: Becca Cottingham
Headline Photo Courtesy:NASCAR Twitter
We are at Texas Motor Speedway and everything is bigger in Texas. Possibly even bigger break issues for our pole sitter for Aric Almirola. There were multiple drivers who decided to stay out at the competition caution. Teammates are battling it out after neither took up on the competition caution. Which will allow them to battle it out for the top position. William Byron did get loose under Kyle Busch and almost had an issue, but was able to get the car corrected. The temperatures inside of the car are reaching over one hundred and thirty degrees. Martin Truex Jr pushed his car to the limit and had to switch over to the reserve tank to make it to pit road. Aric Almirola got penalized for being back on the track too early. Drivers are gambling trying to get points some drivers took fuel only. Drivers are fighting for stage points as we closer to the end of the regular season. Ryan Blaney scores the first stage win.
We get back to racing with Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch. Jimmie Johnson has an issue and scrapes the wall pretty hard. They got this car fixed up decently but had too many men over the wall. This is a two lap penalty that he is now serving. Matt DiBenedetto made it three wide. Christopher Bell got really high and almost lost the car completely as hw goes sideways. He does have some ride side damage. While that was happening Denny Hamlin took over the lead. It did not take long for Ryan Blaney to get back to the lead. As we go through green flag pit stops this places Kevin Harvick into the lead but additional pit stops will be happening probably till the end of the stage. The pit stops have brought Ryan Blaney back to the front of the pack.
We start the third and final stage and it opens with a wreck. We had a great restart until Ryan Blaney got loose which stacked multiple drivers up. The Aric Almirola tagged Kyle Busch that tagged Martin Truex Jr which caused additional issues. The red flag came out to get everything cleaned up and the safety crew gave out some water. When we got back to racing there was no holding back. Ryan Blaney made it back to the front of the track. John Hunter Nemechek brought out the caution followed by Ty Dillon. Quin Houff hit the wall very hard and kept multiple cars a lap down that will take a wave around. This brings Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon to the front of the pack. Denny Hamlin got loose and collected Alex Bowman. Denny Hamlin brings out another caution after the air gets removed and he goes spinning. This will bring out a three lap shootout, with Austin Dillon leading the race. Austin Dillon had a great restart and was able to unofficially win his first race of 2020 until after post race inspection.
