Fuel strategy becoming The Factor in NASCAR's top series?
Saturday, Jul. 09, 2011
SPARTA, Ky. – Whether it’s the NASCAR Sprint Cup or Nationwide series, the deciding factor in a growing number of races is fuel mileage.
It was on display again Friday night as Brad Keselowski stretched his tank to cover the final 61 laps and held off Kevin Harvick to win the Feed the Children 300 at Kentucky Speedway.
“I would say that here the falloff (on tires) didn’t happen, so the tire had long-run speed and would repeat,” Keselowski said. So fuel was the premium.
“We took fuel only on that last stop and still maintained our lead and kept our relative speed.”
Keselowski and Harvick aren’t among the drivers running for points in the series, so they are more willing to take gambles on things to garner wins.
The addition of two new "wild card" spots in the Chase based on wins is having the same effect on the Cup side.
Elliott Sadler, who finished third Friday night and reclaimed the series points lead, said fuel is becoming more important than tires in almost every race.
“The way races are going this year, it seems like if you can make it to the end of a race – or a couple laps short – you go ahead and pit and fill it up with fuel,” Sadler said.
“Teams are just looking at what can get them to the finish (on fuel), whether it’s Nationwide or Cup.”
Keselowski, who earned his first Nationwide win of the season, said he believes fuel strategy still depends largely on the track.
“What we’ve seen this weekend is that the track took rubber extremely quick, but what has been different is that instead of building up rubber continuously, it stopped taking rubber,” he said.
“That makes it multigroove and you could race really well around each other. What you’re seeing is the aero effects of track position more than offset the effects of new tires.
“I would agree fuel means more than in years past.”
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