The engines were loud. The air was thick with that specific North Texas humidity that makes your shirt stick to your back by 10:00 AM. If you were sitting in the stands at Texas Motor Speedway during that strange, transitional summer, you probably remember how quiet the world felt outside the track, even while the cars were screaming at 180 mph. We're talking about the 2020 My Bariatric Solutions 300, an event that somehow became a pillar of the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule during a year when most of the sports world was basically holding its breath.
It wasn't just another race.
Back then, the schedule was a mess. Everything was being shuffled. This race, originally supposed to happen in the spring, got pushed to July 18th. It was hot. Brutally hot. But for fans of the Xfinity Series, it provided one of the most technical displays of driving we'd seen in years on the high-banked quad-oval. People sometimes forget that the sponsor, My Bariatric Solutions, wasn't just a name on a billboard; they are a massive healthcare provider in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, specializing in weight loss surgery. Having them as the title sponsor for a high-speed endurance event always felt like a bit of a meta-commentary on transformation and discipline.
The Chaos on the Asphalt
Austin Cindrinc won. Let's just get that out of the way. But the way he did it? That’s where the story lives. Cindric was on an absolute tear in 2020, and the 2020 My Bariatric Solutions 300 was his third consecutive win. Think about that for a second. Winning one race is hard. Winning three in a row in a field that included guys like Justin Allgaier and Harrison Burton is borderline impossible.
The race was 200 laps. That's 300 miles of vibrating metal and burning rubber. Cindric didn't just win; he dominated the final stages, leading several laps and showing a level of tire management that most veterans would envy. It’s funny because, at the time, some people were still calling him a "road course specialist." Texas Motor Speedway is about as far from a road course as you can get. It’s a fast, intimidating 1.5-mile oval where the margins for error are basically non-existent.
If you hit the wall in Turn 2, your day is done. Period.
The heat played a massive role. In July, the track temp in Fort Worth can easily climb north of 130 degrees. This changes the chemistry of the tires. The rubber starts to "grease up," meaning the cars slide around like they're on ice even though they're glued to the ground by downforce. Drivers were fighting the steering wheel for two and a half hours. You could see the exhaustion during the post-race interviews. These guys weren't just driving; they were wrestling.
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The Rivalries that Defined the Day
Noah Gragson was there, being Noah Gragson. He finished third, but he was lurking the whole time. The battle between the Team Penske Ford of Cindric and the JR Motorsports Chevys was the primary narrative. You had these different philosophies on how to handle the "traction compound" (that sticky PJ1 stuff they spray on the track). Some guys loved it. Some guys felt like it was a trap.
Honestly, the 2020 My Bariatric Solutions 300 proved that Cindric was the real deal. He took the lead late after a series of restarts and just checked out. Chase Briscoe, who was usually his main rival that year, had a bit of a rougher go, finishing second but never quite having the raw speed to jump the 22 car on that final long run.
- Winner: Austin Cindric (Team Penske)
- Margin of Victory: 0.989 seconds
- Total Cautions: 9 for 39 laps
- Lead Changes: 15 among 7 drivers
Why We Still Talk About This Race
You might wonder why a random Xfinity race from five or six years ago still gets searched for. It’s because 2020 was a pivot point for NASCAR. Without practice or qualifying for most events, drivers had to unload their cars and go straight into green-flag racing.
Imagine being a rookie. You’ve never driven this car on this track in this specific heat. You get zero laps to test the waters. You just floor it.
The 2020 My Bariatric Solutions 300 was a "no-practice" race. That means the setups were based entirely on simulation data and engineering guesswork. When Cindric pulled into victory lane, it wasn't just a win for him; it was a win for the engineers back at the shop who nailed the geometry of the suspension without ever seeing the car hit the track.
The sponsorship from My Bariatric Solutions also highlighted a growing trend in NASCAR: the localization of title sponsors. Instead of massive global conglomerates, we saw regional powerhouses like Wise Health System (who owns the My Bariatric Solutions brand) stepping up to keep the sport alive when things were looking pretty grim economically.
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Technical Breakdown: The PJ1 Factor
The track surface at Texas was notoriously difficult back then. They had "aged" the asphalt in some spots and used the traction compound to try and create a second lane of racing. If you stayed in the bottom groove, you were safe but slow. If you ventured up into the PJ1, you had more grip—until you didn't.
During the 2020 My Bariatric Solutions 300, we saw several drivers lose the back end of the car because the transition between the "sticky" part of the track and the "slick" part was too abrupt. It’s like walking on a carpet and then stepping onto a waxed floor while wearing socks. It makes for great television, but it’s a nightmare for the person behind the wheel.
Justin Allgaier, a perennial favorite, had his share of struggles that day too. He ended up finishing 5th, but many felt he had a car capable of winning if the cautions had fallen differently. That's the thing about Texas; the "clean air" leader has such a massive advantage that if you lose the lead on a pit stop, you might spend the next 50 laps just trying to get back to where you started.
What This Race Meant for the Championship
You can't talk about the 2020 My Bariatric Solutions 300 without looking at the bigger picture. This win solidified Cindric’s momentum. He eventually went on to win the 2020 Xfinity Series Championship.
Would he have won the title without this specific mid-summer hot streak? Maybe. But the confidence boost from winning at a "driver's track" like Texas is massive. It signaled to the rest of the garage that the 22 team had figured out the 1.5-mile aero package better than anyone else.
The race also featured some notable names that have since moved on to different stages of their careers. Harrison Burton was a rookie then, finishing 4th. Riley Herbst was in the 18 car. Michael Annett was still a fixture in the top ten. It was a snapshot of a series in transition, caught between the veteran "lifers" and the young guns who were about to take over the Cup Series.
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Real-World Actionable Insights for Racing Fans
If you're looking back at these races to understand modern NASCAR, there are a few things you should take away from the Texas 2020 event:
- Watch the Restart Lines: Look at how Cindric used the "side drafting" technique on the final restarts. He would pull his car close to the side of the 98 of Briscoe to "steal" the air off his spoiler, slowing the other car down just enough to clear him by Turn 1.
- Tire Fall-off Matters: Notice how the lap times dropped by nearly two seconds over the course of a fuel run. If you're betting on or watching races today, pay attention to which teams prioritize "short-run speed" versus "long-run stability."
- The Venue Evolution: Texas Motor Speedway has changed its configuration and its surface treatment many times since 2020. This race represents one of the final "classic" high-downforce struggles before the car specs started shifting again.
The 2020 My Bariatric Solutions 300 wasn't just a placeholder on a calendar. It was a high-speed pressure cooker that proved championship mettle is forged in the 100-degree heat of a Texas July. It remains a masterclass in how to manage a car when the track is trying to spit you into the wall every single lap.
To really appreciate the nuance of what happened that day, you have to look past the box score. Watch the old footage. Listen to the radio transmissions. You'll hear the stress in the crew chiefs' voices as they try to manage tire pressures. You'll see the sweat on the drivers. It was a gritty, unglamorous, and absolutely essential chapter in NASCAR history.
For those interested in the technical side of the sport, the setup sheets from this era are still studied by late-model racers looking to understand "coil-binding" and "bump-stop" technology on intermediate tracks. The data gathered during those 300 miles helped shape the simulation programs used by teams today.
If you're heading to a race at Texas anytime soon, keep an eye on the transition from the apron to the banking. It’s the same geometry that gave drivers fits during the 2020 My Bariatric Solutions 300, and it remains one of the most challenging aspects of the circuit. Understanding the history of the track helps you appreciate the skill required to navigate it at full tilt.