The Winner and Losers In The Fuel Mileage War

After last week’s one hot day of racing in Michigan the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is headed to Tennessee for one hot night of racing.

I took my son to his first ever NASCAR race last week at Michigan International Speedway and I’m quite sure he had a good time, although he probably would have had a better time if it weren’t so hot.

Not only was it hot in the stands but the action was hot on the track too, especially in the last 50 laps. Fuel mileage reigned supreme last week with Brian Vickers getting Red Bull’s first victory ever as a team.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a strong performance finishing third behind his teammate Jeff Gordon while his other teammates gambled and lost in the fuel mileage war. Both Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin ran out of gas in the closing laps of the race.

The reason why Earnhardt finished so well was because he had to pit to change his tires earlier in the later part of the race. Earnhardt complained of a vibration in the car and was worried about a tire going down. After a little debate about whether he should stay out or pit, it was decided he should pit because they didn’t have enough gas to go all of the way and they would eventually have to pit anyway. So he came down pit road got four fresh tires and a tank full of gas and went back out onto the track where he ran consistently faster than most of the others on the track who were trying to save gas.

One of the drivers that Earnhardt ‘picked off’ near the end was Carl Edwards whose team was unsure if he had enough fuel to make it so they told him over the radio to let Earnhardt go and not race him because that would burn up more fuel. Edwards was reminded that they were racing to stay in the Chase and they needed all the points they could get so he had to settle for a good points day instead of a win. I heard Edwards over the radio at the end of the race saying he hated racing that way but he understood why he had to.

One team that should have came in for fuel around the same time Earnhardt did was Mark Martin. His team gambled and lost. Martin, who was running in the top 5 all day, ran out of gas on the last lap and finished 31st the second to last car on the lead lap. This finish hurts Martin and drops him to last place in the Chase standings just 12 points ahead of Brian Vickers.

It looks like Martin’s team should have taken a page out of Carl Edwards’ team’s book.

Now Martin has to go into Bristol trying to hold onto his twelfth spot in points.

He has a tough job now as Bristol is a fast high banked short track where the action is fast and furious and where you can get caught up in someone else’s trouble faster than blinking an eye.

The drivers to look out for at this track are Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, and Jeff Gordon.

In the “Where did he come from category?” I’d be looking for Kevin Harvick, Dale Eanhardt Jr., and Greg Biffle.

Although the action will be everywhere on the track the drivers I’m going to be watching are Martin, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers as they are all racing for that last Chase spot and that is the bigger story right now and will be until the first race of the Chase next month.