It felt like the annual Autotrader EchoPark 500 was never going to happen at times, as it was postponed from Sunday to Monday after 53 laps were run due to misty conditions. Those conditions stayed around on Monday, forcing the race to be postponed to Tuesday, and the same conditions were prevalent on Tuesday, forcing another postponement to Wednesday. Finally, the weather cleared for a 4 PM CST start time on Wednesday afternoon with Clint Bowyer as the leader, as he took two tires on the caution for mist on Sunday, vaulting him to the lead. Only a fraction of the fans that attended on Sunday were able to make it, however, due to the need to get home and back to reality. However, the few fans that attended Wednesday(including myself) have all been rewarded with free hot passes for next year’s All-Star Race at Texas, giving us the maximum amount of access a fan can gain at a race(thank you Eddie Gossage!). Us fans were treated to the best Texas race since the repave in 2017, as there were intense battles all throughout the field all day as well as varying tire and fuel strategies that were intriguing to see play out. In the end, it was Kyle Busch, who had to save fuel in the final run to make it, grabbing his first win of the 2020 season.

Kyle Busch has had an uncharacteristic season in 2020, as he’s rarely shown speed capable of getting him to victory lane. Nobody expected this for the 2019 champion, but it’s just another oddity of 2020 at this juncture. Busch, who had won a race every year since joining the Cup Series in 2005, was able to extend that streak to 16 seasons by earning his 57th career win on Wednesday night. Busch led a race-high 90 laps en route to the emotional victory. “We finally got it,” Busch said. “I was so nervous… I was nervous the whole last run. I’ve been in this position so many times. The last three laps, though, that’s like winning the championship. That’s how nervous I was.”(Spencer, 2020) Busch stayed out with Clint Bowyer at the end of stage 2, as he pit under green flag conditions late in stage 2, but had to save fuel throughout the rest of the race to make it to the finish. Busch was able to hit his number perfectly, as he ran out of fuel after doing a few donuts on the frontstretch before getting out of his car to celebrate. “I can’t believe it, but just so proud to be here. My team guys, awesome pit stops, they were phenomenal. We’re ready to fight next year — we’ll be back.”(Spencer, 2020) It snapped a 33 race winless streak, as Busch’s last win was in the championship event at Homestead last year, where he clinched his second title.

Clint Bowyer was not as lucky as Busch with his fuel mileage, as he pit with 78 laps to go after running out of fuel earlier than he expected. Drivers could stretch a tank of fuel to 66-67 laps at most, so Bowyer had to pit again, giving up the lead with 24 laps to go. Bowyer, who’s retiring after this season is completed on November 8th, salvaged a 17th place finish. He led 89 laps and won the first stage of the race in what was an uncharacteristically competitive performance for him. The underdog that stole the show, however, was rookie Christopher Bell. Bell’s team, Leavine Family Racing, is shutting down at the end of the season due to the cost to fund a competitive entry. The team made their debut in 2011 at Texas Motor Speedway with David Starr driving their #95 car. The team has kept that number and even had Bell run a throwback paint scheme to the car that the team ran in 2011. While Bell has typically hovered around 20th place or so, he put together the best performance of his career en route to a 3rd place finish in LFR’s third-to-last event and last event at their home track, as they are based in Tyler, Texas. “I feel like I’ve had the speed to run in the top 10, top 5 the last several races, but just haven’t been able to execute and get the job done,” Bell said. “Pretty happy today that we didn’t have anything stupid happen .” (Merryman, 2020)

Here are the playoff standings heading into the penultimate race of the 2020 season at Martinsville, which will set the Championship 4 for Phoenix.

Driver                                                              Points +/- Cutoff

1.Joey Logano                                                 ADVANCED

2.Kevin Harvick                                             +42

3.Denny Hamlin                                             +27

4.Brad Keselowski                                          +25

____________________________ CUTOFF

5.Alex Bowman                                                -25

6.Chase Elliott                                                  -25

7.Martin Truex Jr.                                           -36

8.Kurt Busch                                                     -81

Written on October 30th, 2020

Sources:

Spencer, Reid (29 Oct 2020). Kyle Busch Ends Long Winless Skid with Texas Victory: NASCAR, Accessed 29 Oct 2020, Official Site Of NASCAR, www.nascar.com/news-media/2020/10/28/results-texas-motor-speedway-cup-series-playoffs-race-recap/.

Merryman, Jonathan (29 Oct 2020). Christopher Bell Scores Third-Place Finish at Texas: NASCAR, Accessed 30 Oct. 2020, Official Site Of NASCAR, www.nascar.com/video/franchise/nascar-cup-post-race-reactions/bell-scores-third-place-finish-at-texas/.

Davis, Eric (30 Oct 2020). NASCAR Cup Series, Accessed 30 Oct 2020, Official Site Of NASCAR, www.nascar.com/standings/nascar-cup-series/.