August 17, 2009
By Ron Felix
CIA Stock Photos
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Vickers Wins Fuel Mileage Race
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Again, the race came down to a fuel mileage event.
Brian Vickers took the lead in the Carfax 400 at Michigan International Speedway with two laps to go when leader Jimmie Johnson ran out of fuel. It was Vickers' second Sprint Cup victory, the last one coming at Talladega Superspeedway in October of 2006, 87 races ago.
Vickers led three times for 22 (of 200) laps after earning his sixth pole of 2009 and third consecutive at Michigan.
Crew Chief Ryan Pemberton made the call and the gamble to stay on the track when others were pitting.
"I've got to say that, at the moment, it wasn't what I expected (Crew Chief Pemberton) to do, knowing where we're at in the Chase, but it was the right call," Vickers said. "The minute he made it, I had complete faith in it.
"He hasn't run me out of fuel yet. Usually when he tells me that we're going to be two laps short, if I get him two, we're good. If he tells me we're four short, and I get him four, we're good. I have complete confidence in that, and that takes time to build. We've gone through this fuel thing I don't know how many times for me to prove to him what I can save and for him to prove to me how good he is with his math."
Sunday’s win marks the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win for Toyota at Michigan, seventh NSCS win in 2009 and 17th since joining the series in 2007.
Jeff Gordon was second on Sunday and Dale Earnhardt Jr., with his best finish of the year, brought his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet home third.
"It was a really good run. I mean, we started 21st, just slowly but surely worked our way up to the front," said Gordon. "We got in the top five there that one time. We took two tires. That got us a little bit behind. We were playing a little bit of catch up from that point on. We had a good car. We didn't have the best car. But like you saw today, the best car doesn't always win. We did everything we could to get the best finish we could."
Carl Edwards placed his Ford in the fourth spot and Sam Hornish Jr. had another great run, coming in fifth.
Edwards asked about his fuel situation in the final segment of the race.
“It’s not out of fuel, but it’s really close," Edwards said of his crew chief. "Aflac’s motto is, ‘We’ve got you under our wing,’ and Bob (Osborne, crew chief) definitely had me under his wing today. He really talked me into slowing down and saving all that fuel."
Casey Mears finished sixth followed by rookie Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer, David Reutimann and Denny Hamlin to round out the top ten.
Similar to the scenario that played out in the June 2009 race, Jimmie Johnson looked to be on his way to victory leading six times for a total of 165 laps. Johnson finished 33rd and dropped to third place in the point standings.
"Certainly frustrated. We've won one race on fuel mileage ever, it is just not what we are good at," Johnson said. "I think it is a little too risky for us to even try it. We got lucky once in Phoenix, outside of that, we always come up short. From inside the car, I did all I could. I mean, I was running half throttle for 80 to 90% of that run. I don't know how else I could have saved any. Just the way it goes. We had a lot of power under the hood. It takes a lot of fuel...we had a great car. It sucks to have stats like we do here, leading laps and not go to victory lane, but we are working hard at it.
Mark Martin led four times for a total of 26-laps but also fell victim to the fuel mileage issue. He finished 31st and dropped to 12th in the standings.
Jeff Gordon moved up to the runner-up spot in the standings behind Tony Stewart, who clinched a spot in the "Chase for the Championship." Stewart holds a 284-point lead after finishing 17th in his No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet. The finish wasn't what Stewart envisioned, but it put him in the Chase and on this day, that's all that mattered.
“We had a spring that was out of its bucket, and so we got all of our loads and pre-loads all messed up," Stewart sighed. "But our guys were fighting back and fighting through it today, but we just never got in a position where we could do anything. We just missed it and had an off day.
“It just shows that you can’t let your guard down, especially in something as simple as happy hour like that. We just had one little mistake and it got us behind going into today. So, it just shows that you can’t relax and you can’t lose concentration. You have to stay on top of it.”
Without knowing what the problem was until after Sunday’s 400-miler at Michigan was over, the team performed a workman-like effort to salvage the best finish they could.
Joey Logano was the top rookie at Michigan on Sunday, his seventh-place finish was his fifth top-10 of the season. He claimed Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the 17th in 2009.
“We had a really good racecar all day I thought. We started off in the beginning of the race we moved up into the top-five. We were able to run there for a little bit and then after that first pit stop a lot of guys took two tires we took four tires and we lost a lot of track position there and I kept getting shuffled around on the restarts so I’ve got to figure what I’ve got to do there a little bit better to stay up there. We had a good car," said Logano. "There coming to the end we stayed out. That was a mistake, but it ended up working out all right for us where we didn’t have to save any fuel. Overall it was a good day for us, you know, coming home seventh, compared to where we finished last time. I think we finished 25th the first race so I’m happy with what we gained on this one.”
Logano becomes the first Raybestos Rookie to finish inside the top-10 in the Carfax 400 (August race) at Michigan since 2006: Reed Sorenson (eighth) and Denny Hamlin (ninth).
The Sprint Cup Series moves to Thunder Valley at the Bristol Motor Speedway next Saturday night, August 22nd. The race is scheduled for 6:30 PM / Eastern time and will be broadcast by ESPN television and PRN will carry the radio broadcast.
The race will also be broadcast live on SIRIUS Satellite Radio Channel 128
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