The historic 2020 National Finals Rodeo has reached the halfway point.

The 2020 season has been a story, over the year there has been less rodeos, less payouts, and more fight to earn a spot at the Super Bowl of Rodeo. Five days ago, the strain of the year was faded by the PRCA putting together one of their biggest accomplishments in the history of their organization and having the NFR.

Over the five rounds of competition the action has been as hot as ever and the fight to earn the coveted Gold Buckle has been as intense as ever. Today we are going to look at each event, note some top performers and review the world title implications.

Bareback– Five rounds five winners, it appears that all the bareback athletes came to Texas with winning on their minds, as of round five there is just not a standout performance from one athlete. If a person is to pick one athlete to watch it would have to be World Title leader Tim O’Connell, he continues to place in most of the rounds to include a round win. Tim currently sits $32,266 ahead of second place Kaycee Field, who you can never count out. The next five rounds will be worth watching to see how they shake out. One other notable performance at NFR comes thanks to Kansas cowboy Jesse Pope, his NFR rookie has placed in several rounds and continues to have an impressive showing as a first timer.

Steer Wrestling– Another event with five rounds and five round winners, all five round winners are within striking distance of the World Title and have their sights set. Current world number one Matt Reeves of Cross Plains, Texas captured the round five win giving himself a little breathing room. Jacob Talley is just $9,878 behind Reeves so with just a round win we could see a change in the title race in steer wrestling.

Team Roping– It has not been total domination, but Dustin Egusquiza of Marianna, Fla. and Travis Graves of Jay, Okla. currently have two round wins, and both sit on top of the World standings. Over the next five rounds there is little doubt that these two will put themselves in the money. As for the title race this is another event where the margins are slim. On the heading side Dustin is only $177 ahead of the second-place competitor Luke Brown. The healing side has Graves with a little more cushion at $11,881. As you can see by the numbers there is nothing locked on either side when it comes to the World Title.

Saddle Bronc– The NFR has been the Ryder Wright show, with two round wins and placing in all but one round, Ryder is having a great finals. Even with his stellar performance he still has did not cracked the top spot in the World Standings. Current number one Wyatt Casper of Miami, Texas, continues to hold on to the number one spot. Wyatt has quietly made an impact by collecting a check in all the rounds but one, which includes the round five win for the big money. Casper currently holds a $38,878 lead on Ryder Wright, as long as he keeps his pace by placing in rounds he very well could be claiming a title.

Tie Down Roping– NFR kicked off looking like it was going to be the Marty Yates show, winning the first two rounds Yates made a huge impact on the standings in the first two days. Since then, Yates has gone quiet and a couple other ropers have claimed round wins. One of the more touching round wins came via Cory Solomon who started NFR as an alternate but grabbed his opportunity by winning a round. The World chase is still on, going into NFR Shad Mayfield had a commanding lead in the world standings and their was a lot of question if he could even be caught. So far Mayfield has only collected a check in one round of the NFR but his sizable lead continues to hold on. He currently sits $66,662 over number two Westyn Hughes. Mayfield’s title is still not locked but with just one decent round he will clinch his title, that is of course as long as no other bad circumstance comes up.

Barrel Racing– This is simply summarized with one name, Haley Kinsel. Kinsel has three round wins and has simply dominated NFR. If her performance continues there will be little doubt why she is a two time, and potentially a three time, consecutive World Champion. With the stellar performance in Texas, Kinsel holds a $18,390 lead over second place Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi.

***Scores via WPRA website

Bull Riding– This event is not only the most electric at NFR but is also providing to be the thrilling race to the title. With five rounds of competition complete, Stetson Wright has claimed two rounds, Ty Wallace also has claimed two rounds and in between Colton Fritzlan has collected the big check. Now what does all this mean? Well for the bull riding fan, there are some popular names missing from the list. This also means there are some new names at the top of the title race. Leading the show now is Ky Hamilton, this Queensland cowboy sits in the number one spot thanks to a stellar year of rodeo. However, Ty Wallace and his two round wins are nipping at his heels with only $1078 separating the two. The other shocker is the other cowboy with two round wins, Stetson Wright has climbed into the three spot and is only $18,647 out of the lead. With new names and new athletes on the top things are interesting in Texas.

Rolling into the last half of NFR a lot of things can develop, stay tuned and we will all see how things shake out.