Austin Dillon gets his first win since 2018 at Texas Motor Speedway

            It was a scorcher of a day at Texas Motor Speedway for the NASCAR Cup Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 Sunday afternoon. Temperatures at the track were 95 degrees, with heat indexes well over 100. The inside temperature of the cars was well over 130 degrees. This was the hottest race of the 2020 season and at Texas Motor Speedway. By virtue of a draw, Aric Almirola was the pole sitter along with Ryan Blaney to make up the front row. Before the race got underway, several drivers had to start in the rear, including Chase Elliott, Reed Sorenson (failing inspection twice), Joey Gase, Josh Bilicki, and J.J Yeley (driver changes). Aric Almirola reported to his crew that he was having brake issues shortly before the race got underway.

#NASCAR … Aric Almirola on radio: "I have a problem. I have no brake pedal." Says it works if he pumps it up 3-4 times but none before. — Dustin Long (@dustinlong) July 19, 2020

Time to bring the noise in the Lone Star State! The #OReilly500 from @TXMotorSpeedway is GREEN on NBCSN! pic.twitter.com/2AhNhJVMPx — NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 19, 2020

Some early goings were eight laps into the start, Jimmie Johnson made his way into the tenth spot after starting 20th. Denny Hamlin was not off to a good start, falling to the 16th position after starting seventh.

Aric Almirola was leading when the competition caution came out at lap 20. Almirola was still dealing with brake issues. During the caution, the leaders pitted with some taking two tires. Jimmie Johnson was issued a penalty for too many men over the wall and had to restart in the rear of the field.

The race resumed at lap 26 with Almirola still in the lead. Kevin Harvick was able to get by his teammate for the lead. Almirola stayed with Harvick for twenty laps until Harvick got blocked by JJ Yeley. Almirola was able to take advantage of it and get the lead back on the 56th lap. Almirola and Kevin Harvick pitted on lap 63 for their scheduled pit stops, and Martin Truex Jr. took over the lead. Almirola was penalized for a blend line violation, which is after exiting pit road, he entered the track before he was allowed to do so. Almirola was issued a pass-through penalty. Five laps later, Truex Jr. was running out of gas and had to coast to pit road. Ryan Blaney was now the new leader.

An issue for @MartinTruex_Jr! The No. 19 runs out of fuel while leading in Stage 1! #OReilly500 pic.twitter.com/o8rdKaT1sf — NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 19, 2020

After a blend line penalty was issued to @Aric_Almirola in Stage 1, @NASCARonNBC's @JeffBurton explained what the No. 10 was trying to accomplish. pic.twitter.com/gA05G1snWJ — NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 19, 2020

The scheduled green-flag pit stops continued as Blaney would come in at lap 90 along with Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott. Clint Bowyer and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. came in a lap later. Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski, and Christopher Bell all pitted within three laps. Ryan Blaney resumed the lead as the pit cycles concluded. Ryan Blaney would go on to win stage one at lap 106 with Cory LaJoie getting the free pass.

During the caution, the leaders pitted once again going with different strategies as Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano stayed out while Martin Truex Jr., William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Kurt Busch pitted for two tires and Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, and Cole Custer pitted for four tires. Ryan Blaney led the field back to green on lap 112 to start stage two.

Five laps into stage two, Jimmie Johnson, got loose coming off of turn four as his rear hit the outside wall hard to bring out the third caution of the day. Martin Truex Jr. came to pit road because of fluid in the box. Once again, Jimmie Johnson had too many men over the wall penalty under the damaged vehicle policy and was held for two laps. The race got back underway at lap 122 with Ryan Blaney in the lead.

The 4️⃣8️⃣ is in the wall! @JimmieJohnson makes contact with the fence coming off of the corner at @TXMotorSpeedway. pic.twitter.com/DlJxQ0rtBO — NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 19, 2020

Kyle Busch would take the lead on the restart. A lap later, Denny Hamlin took the lead away from Busch. Christopher Bell got sideways at turn four from the 13th position and dropped to 19th after making contact with the outside wall.

This could have been a lot worse for @CBellRacing. pic.twitter.com/luuYJTWT3y — NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 19, 2020

On lap 126, Ryan Blaney would get the lead back from Denny Hamlin. On lap 159, William Byron pitted to start the next cycle of green-flag pit stops. Blaney would come in a lap later, followed by Clint Bowyer, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Joey Logano. The new leader was Erik Jones, who had not yet pitted. Jones came in at lap 170, and the new leader was now Kevin Harvick. Harvick would pit at lap 177 with Almirola taking the lead. He would come it in at lap 180, leaving Martin Truex Jr. inheriting the lead. Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski would pit at lap 189 to complete the pit cycle as Ryan Blaney resumed the lead. Blaney would go on to win stage one, and Ryan Newman got the free pass.

STAGE WINNER: @Blaney collects another #NASCARPlayoffs point with his second stage victory of the day at @TXMotorSpeedway. pic.twitter.com/d9Pr0jcc3u — NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 19, 2020

During the caution, all of the leaders pitted with Ryan Blaney winning the race off of pit road followed by his teammate Brad Keselowski, who only took two tires. The final stage got underway at lap 218. A lap into the restart, chaos erupted as multiple cars were involved in a massive wreck off of turn four. The drivers involved were Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr., Aric Almirola, Ryan Preece, Cole Custer, William Byron, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Matt Kenseth bringing out the fifth caution of the day. The red flag came out, halting the race. Drivers were given bottles of water from the safety crew as the red flag lasted eleven minutes.

Chaos at the front of the field! @KyleBusch, @MartinTruex_Jr and others are involved in this wreck at @TXMotorSpeedway. pic.twitter.com/ZztTHQtLf0 — NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 19, 2020

Once the yellow flag was displayed, several drivers, including Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano stayed out while others headed to pit road. Brad Keselowski led the field back to green on lap 232. Keselowski, Hamlin, and Blaney were in a three-way battle for first place until Blaney got tight and dropped back. Hamlin would take the lead away from Keselowski a lap later.

The battle is on at @TXMotorSpeedway! @keselowski and @dennyhamlin are putting on a show for the lead in the final stage! pic.twitter.com/cPLn8N1avD — NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 19, 2020

Blaney recovered and was able to get by both Keselowski and Hamlin for the lead five laps later. Keselowski would lose the third spot to Aric Almirola, who had rebounded after a blend line penalty earlier in the race. Three laps later, the sixth caution would come out after John Hunter Nemechek got loose and scrapped the outside wall off of turn two Nemechek only suffered minor damage.

Under the caution, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Aric Almirola, Chase Elliott, Ryan Newman, and Matt DiBenedetto stayed out while the other leaders pitted. The race resumed at lap 249. Two laps into the restart, Ty Dillon got loose at turn two and got into William Byron to bring out another caution for the seventh time. Both drivers would pit under the caution.

Caution is out during the final stage for @tydillon and @WilliamByron. NBCSN | https://t.co/BHXvTwJmNc pic.twitter.com/6YKgHCoE1N — NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 19, 2020

Blaney would lead the field back to green on lap 256. Twenty-one laps into the restart, Chase Elliott would pit on lap 287 to start the next cycle of green-flag pit stops. Blaney would pit on lap 288 with a 2.2-second lead, Denny Hamlin took over the lead. Aric Almirola pitted a lap later, followed by Denny Hamlin. On lap 305, the eighth caution would come out once again due to an incident involving Quinn Huff, Matt DiBenedetto, and Christopher Bell.

A heavy hit for @P1_Houff brings out a late caution. @CBellRacing and @mattdracing are also involved in this incident. (📺: NBCSN) pic.twitter.com/eeDUKFR5Ft — NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 19, 2020

During the caution, all of the leaders came to pit road. Tyler Reddick won the race off of pit road, taking fuel only. Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, and Bubba Wallace only took two tires while the rest went with four. The race resumed on lap 312 with Reddick in the lead. On the same lap, Austin Dillon drove past his teammate, taking the lead. Seven laps into the restart, the caution would come out again for the ninth time involving Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin at turn two. Hamlin got loose in the middle, hitting Bowman then Bowman hit the outside wall hard.

We've got ANOTHER yellow at @TXMotorSpeedway! This time, @dennyhamlin and @AlexBowman88 come together in the middle of the corner. pic.twitter.com/XKhg9GII4s — NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 19, 2020

No one came to pit road during the caution as Austin Dillon lead the field back to green with less than ten laps to go. Five laps into the restart, the tenth caution would come again for Denny Hamlin, who got loose coming out of turn four, setting up a restart with two laps to go.

Sorry, @dennyhamlin fans. pic.twitter.com/Vr6nxfCIF2 — NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 19, 2020

Austin Dillon led the field back to green. Tyler Reddick made a run at him; however, it was not meant to be as Austin Dillon took the checkered flag and won the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 by .149 seconds over his teammate Tyler Reddick, his best career finish in the Cup Series. This was Austin Dillon’s first win since 2018 at Daytona. With the win, Dillon punches his ticket to the Cup Series playoffs.

This one means so much! 🏁 Retweet to congratulate @austindillon3 on his first victory of the 2020 season! pic.twitter.com/D6kbuKz6hL — NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 19, 2020

The rest of the top ten finishing order was Joey Logano comes in third place, Kyle Busch fourth, Kevin Harvick fifth, Erik Jones sixth, Ryan Blaney seventh, Kurt Busch eighth, Brad Keselowski ninth, and Aric Almirola tenth.

The next race for the Cup Series will be at Kansas Speedway for the Super Start Batteries 400 Presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts on Thursday, July 23rd, at 7:30 pm on NBCSN.

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