I discovered a major oil leak I believe coming from the distributor oil ring?

This was all that came out during the oil change. Truck ran fine, good oil pressure...

I did not replace the oil filter.

 

without dropping the oil filter there is still a 1/2 qt there....
check oil sending unit right next to dist, they have a nasty habit of springing a leak right where the plastic top is crimped to the metal bottom....
could it be burning some? I just changed the valve guide seals on my 96 V8 Dakota which was getting bad for drinking oil.... so far nearly 1000 miles on this oil change and ~1250 since the valve guide seals went in, and big improvement. also check the plenum pan (bottom of the intake, which the intake has to come off to replace) gaskets aren't that expensive but it'll take you about 1/2 a Saturday to do

 

Thank you for the advice. It does burn a little oil, but it is stained all the way down the back of the engine with caked oil.

 

Clean it, drive it for a couple days, see where the fresh oil is coming from.