Rain and Fuel Mileage -
A Texas Playoff Race
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The race was so 2020. It started on Sunday before mist red-flagged the race. Attempts to dry the track resumed Monday, again Tuesday. Throw in some rain, high humidity, dropping temperatures (yeah there were rumors of sleet) and it was Wednesday evening before racing could resume. The race that had opened with a bang on Sunday finished as a 260-mile fuel mileage race on Wednesday with Kyle Busch stretching his fuel just enough to come up with his first win of the year.
TEXAS BOTTOM LINE
The final stats will say for the 2020 Auto Trader Echo Park Automotive 500 there were 23 lead changes between 11 different drivers. It will show that race winner Kyle Busch led the most times and the most laps – 5 times for 90 laps, while 17th place finisher, Clint Bowyer led 4 times for 89 laps. Second place finisher, Martin Truex, Jr. who was waiting for Busch to run out of fuel before the end of the race also had the lead five times but only 53 laps - one shy of what he needed for the much needed win to put him into the Playoffs.
On the surface it looks like a lot of action.
Bottom line, the bulk of the 18 green flag passes were on restarts (6 passes on 3 restarts) and the leader pitting from the lead under green flag pit cycles in Stages Two and Three (8). Harvick turned over the lead after smacking the wall on lap 29 as the mist slickened the track up. The remaining green flag passes were a result of racing passes – non-restart, non-leader pitting, non-leader wrecking, just old-fashioned racing passes. For the 287 Green Flag laps, we had three of those passes and two of those involved fuel. Kyle Busch passed Martin Truex, Jr. on lap 199, when Truex ran out of fuel and had to switch to his reserves and Clint Bowyer passed Kyle Busch on lap 283 because Busch slowed to conserve fuel and get behind a car to further conserve fuel. That proved to be a good move as he saved just enough to make it across the line for the win.
267 Green Flag Laps – three green flag passes.
TEXAS ANALYSIS
But... But... the race had 23 Lead Changes! Yes, it did. Among eleven drivers. That’s more than Kansas City. Yes, it is. Out of the 11 Leaders only three were Playoff Contenders. Non-Contenders not only won the race, but led over two thirds of the race. The last Contender to lead was Truex, Jr. on Lead Change 19 on lap 268 when Kyle Busch pulled off the track for his final pit stop. After that it was Non-Contenders leading the way to the Checkers.
More interesting is that even with all the Contenders starting up front only Harvick, Bowman and Truex, Jr. went to the front in the first Stage. Harvick lead from the drop of the green, Bowman took over after Harvick smacked the wall and Truex, Jr., who started the race in 35th was in the lead after a Lap 82 restart. So much for that illegal spoiler penalty. Just goes to show you though, one car could pass. Wonder where the other front-starters/Contenders who have everything to gain and nothing to lose to, whom every lap matters, every position matters and every point matters were?
They weren’t up front. At least not in the beginning.
Stage One had three contenders scoring Stage Points including Joey Logano who is already locked in and doesn’t need them.
Stage Two saw that total increase to four as Elliott and Logano fell out and Bowman, Keselowski and Harvick climbed into the Top Ten.
At the finish it looked more like one would expect-with 6 contenders finishing in the Top 10 with Harvick falling out and Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano climbing back in.
Martin Truex, Jr was the only Contender to score points in all Stages. No Contenders won a Stage as Clint Bowyer won Stage One and Kyle Busch won Stages Two and the Race.
Race winner and Lap Leader, Kyle Busch lead 26.9% of the race with Bowyer an eyelash behind as he led one less lap.
TEXAS BOTTOM LINE
The final stats will say for the 2020 Auto Trader Echo Park Automotive 500 there were 23 lead changes between 11 different drivers. It will show that race winner Kyle Busch led the most times and the most laps – 5 times for 90 laps, while 17th place finisher, Clint Bowyer led 4 times for 89 laps. Second place finisher, Martin Truex, Jr. who was waiting for Busch to run out of fuel before the end of the race also had the lead five times but only 53 laps - one shy of what he needed for the much needed win to put him into the Playoffs.
On the surface it looks like a lot of action.
Bottom line, the bulk of the 18 green flag passes were on restarts (6 passes on 3 restarts) and the leader pitting from the lead under green flag pit cycles in Stages Two and Three (8). Harvick turned over the lead after smacking the wall on lap 29 as the mist slickened the track up. The remaining green flag passes were a result of racing passes – non-restart, non-leader pitting, non-leader wrecking, just old-fashioned racing passes. For the 287 Green Flag laps, we had three of those passes and two of those involved fuel. Kyle Busch passed Martin Truex, Jr. on lap 199, when Truex ran out of fuel and had to switch to his reserves and Clint Bowyer passed Kyle Busch on lap 283 because Busch slowed to conserve fuel and get behind a car to further conserve fuel. That proved to be a good move as he saved just enough to make it across the line for the win.
267 Green Flag Laps – three green flag passes.
TEXAS ANALYSIS
But... But... the race had 23 Lead Changes! Yes, it did. Among eleven drivers. That’s more than Kansas City. Yes, it is. Out of the 11 Leaders only three were Playoff Contenders. Non-Contenders not only won the race, but led over two thirds of the race. The last Contender to lead was Truex, Jr. on Lead Change 19 on lap 268 when Kyle Busch pulled off the track for his final pit stop. After that it was Non-Contenders leading the way to the Checkers.
More interesting is that even with all the Contenders starting up front only Harvick, Bowman and Truex, Jr. went to the front in the first Stage. Harvick lead from the drop of the green, Bowman took over after Harvick smacked the wall and Truex, Jr., who started the race in 35th was in the lead after a Lap 82 restart. So much for that illegal spoiler penalty. Just goes to show you though, one car could pass. Wonder where the other front-starters/Contenders who have everything to gain and nothing to lose to, whom every lap matters, every position matters and every point matters were?
They weren’t up front. At least not in the beginning.
Stage One had three contenders scoring Stage Points including Joey Logano who is already locked in and doesn’t need them.
Stage Two saw that total increase to four as Elliott and Logano fell out and Bowman, Keselowski and Harvick climbed into the Top Ten.
At the finish it looked more like one would expect-with 6 contenders finishing in the Top 10 with Harvick falling out and Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano climbing back in.
Martin Truex, Jr was the only Contender to score points in all Stages. No Contenders won a Stage as Clint Bowyer won Stage One and Kyle Busch won Stages Two and the Race.
Race winner and Lap Leader, Kyle Busch lead 26.9% of the race with Bowyer an eyelash behind as he led one less lap.
There were 8 caution flags for 47 laps (11.6% of the race). This left 287 green flag laps. With the start and eight cautions that gave nine Start/Restart opportunities involving 27 laps. This left 260 non-Start/Restart Green Flag Racing Laps (75.6% of the race).
Busch’s margin of victory was .482 seconds. This was his 26th career win, tying him for 31st on the All-Time Win List with Dale Earnhardt Jr. He is currently one win behind Martin Truex, Jr., but most importantly, this win gives him a pass to the Cup finale in Phoenix to compete for the Cup Championship.
There were 35 cars running at the end of the race with 15 on the lead lap.
Now let’s take a look at the LEAD CHANGE SUMMARY and LEAD CHANGE SCORECARD to get a closer look at those passes. Because of the activity, it will be broken down into two sections with Stage One in the first section and the remainder of the race in the second.
Stage One
Busch’s margin of victory was .482 seconds. This was his 26th career win, tying him for 31st on the All-Time Win List with Dale Earnhardt Jr. He is currently one win behind Martin Truex, Jr., but most importantly, this win gives him a pass to the Cup finale in Phoenix to compete for the Cup Championship.
There were 35 cars running at the end of the race with 15 on the lead lap.
Now let’s take a look at the LEAD CHANGE SUMMARY and LEAD CHANGE SCORECARD to get a closer look at those passes. Because of the activity, it will be broken down into two sections with Stage One in the first section and the remainder of the race in the second.
Stage One
Stages Two and Three
Which can be summarized in this LEAD CHANGE SCORECARD
Here is a SCORECARD broken down by Stages to give you a better idea of the flow of the race’s action.
OBSERVATIONS:
Basically, this race saw six of the eight caution flags occur in Stage One. After completion of Stage One the race settled in and other than the Stage Two caution only saw one other caution for debris. This Stages were long enough, and the caution occurred early enough in Stage Two that it became a fuel mileage run. Stage Three was longer and ran caution free, so it was a fuel mileage run as well. This meant that the bulk of the passes were either on restarts or for the Leader Pit Green. Basically, not competition passes but the Leader relinquishing the Lead for fuel. The three Pass On Tracks occurred in Stages Two and Three and as mentioned earlier, even they were the result of fuel with Kyle Busch passing Martin Truex, Jr. when he ran low on fuel and when Kyle Busch slowed to save fuel and Clint Bowyer passed him.
It was a good night in that Texas finally got a whole race in, so the series can be back on schedule for the Martinsville race. Kyle broke his winning streak by having just enough fuel to make it to the Checkered Flag first. He had a large enough lead where no one could push him to burn more fuel and run him out of the fuel. That was the drama and excitement. Could Kyle make it to the finish?
So, if you like Fuel Mileage Races, Texas was a dandy.
Good race/Bad race? That’s not my call. That belongs to those few brave hardy fans who fought the elements for multiple days to finally get to see a Cup race. I commend them. Talk about race fans!
On to Martinsville. One more and then the Finale. Let’s see what they can do this weekend on the tight half-mile, final Cut-off race with everything on the line.
Should be fun.
Stay safe!
Basically, this race saw six of the eight caution flags occur in Stage One. After completion of Stage One the race settled in and other than the Stage Two caution only saw one other caution for debris. This Stages were long enough, and the caution occurred early enough in Stage Two that it became a fuel mileage run. Stage Three was longer and ran caution free, so it was a fuel mileage run as well. This meant that the bulk of the passes were either on restarts or for the Leader Pit Green. Basically, not competition passes but the Leader relinquishing the Lead for fuel. The three Pass On Tracks occurred in Stages Two and Three and as mentioned earlier, even they were the result of fuel with Kyle Busch passing Martin Truex, Jr. when he ran low on fuel and when Kyle Busch slowed to save fuel and Clint Bowyer passed him.
It was a good night in that Texas finally got a whole race in, so the series can be back on schedule for the Martinsville race. Kyle broke his winning streak by having just enough fuel to make it to the Checkered Flag first. He had a large enough lead where no one could push him to burn more fuel and run him out of the fuel. That was the drama and excitement. Could Kyle make it to the finish?
So, if you like Fuel Mileage Races, Texas was a dandy.
Good race/Bad race? That’s not my call. That belongs to those few brave hardy fans who fought the elements for multiple days to finally get to see a Cup race. I commend them. Talk about race fans!
On to Martinsville. One more and then the Finale. Let’s see what they can do this weekend on the tight half-mile, final Cut-off race with everything on the line.
Should be fun.
Stay safe!