Crew chief Chad Knaus didn’t worry as much about what might happen on pit road before. Jimmie Johnson would stop for fuel and four tires. Should Johnson lose the lead to cars that took only two tires, well, no problem; Johnson would pass them and win the race.
Knaus thought he had the best car and the best driver. And that mattered.
Not anymore.
With rules designed to keep cars closer together on the track and tires that don’t slow deeper into a run, the winner sometimes has the best game plan, not the fastest car. Fuel mileage and pit strategy will shape NASCAR’s title Chase just as they did last week at Chicagoland Speedway when Tony Stewart won by stretching his fuel, while Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth were among those who ran out and lost several spots.
This has turned crew chiefs into gamblers.
“Everybody throws Hail Marys all day long,” Knaus said, “and it’s really difficult to call a race in that type of environment.”
Knaus’ Hail Mary didn’t work last week, as Johnson ran out of fuel on the final lap and finished 10th, losing seven spots.
“We left points on the table because of fuel mileage at Chicago,” Johnson said, “but it’s just too early to start worrying about that stuff.”
Maybe it’s too early for Johnson to worry, but Knaus is focused on everything with nine races left. The five-time defending champion crew chief admits he has more to consider when Johnson comes down pit road than in years before.
“You get 10 laps through a run and you’re trying to diagnose what’s going to happen when the caution comes out,” Knaus said. “How much fuel do you need? How good is your pit crew? How many guys have bad pit crews and they’re going to take two tires? How many guys aren’t worried about getting the full fuel load because they can’t go the distance anyway? You go through all those scenarios in your head constantly.”
While some fans might not like this type of racing, it has allowed more drivers to win. Stewart became the 16th driver to win this year – three short of the record for winners in a season that happened in 1956, ’58, ’61 and 2001.
So, why does strategy matter more now? A few reasons:
– While it’s a refrain, the competition is better. Credit NASCAR’s rules for keeping big-budget teams from building cars others can’t match. Instead, even a part-time team has won a race this year (the Wood Brothers in the Daytona 500).
– Tires. Goodyear often brings a tire that doesn’t wear out as quickly as in the past. Thus, a driver can run the same speed longer, making passing more difficult. That allows crew chiefs to focus on track position and decide to change no tires or two tires for quicker pit stops to get in front of more cars. Or not to stop at all and gamble on fuel to keep track position.
– When the caution waves. The fuel window for today’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is around 75 laps. If there’s a caution with about 80 laps or more to go, some might try to stretch their fuel the rest of the way.
Fuel mileage determined last year’s Chase race at New Hampshire. Stewart ran out of fuel while leading about a lap from the finish, allowing Clint Bowyer to win.
Such races are nerve-racking for crew chiefs and drivers.
“Every week for me, two races a weekend for the last seven years, it’s ‘Go as fast as you can all the time,’ ” Carl Edwards said, noting his Cup and Nationwide involvement. “And then for (crew chief) Bob (Osborne) to say, ‘Hey, you’ve got to save 4.5 laps of fuel,’ you have to shut everything else out and not worry about the win and not worry about racing. It’s a totally different mindset.
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“I’m telling you, if you put heart-rate monitors, blood pressure stuff on the crews and the drivers, it goes through the roof. It’s like playing Russian roulette; you just don’t know when it’s going to run out and your race is over.”
Johnson predicts there will be other fuel-mileage races this Chase. That will put the focus on crew chiefs and pit road.
“It’s who beats who on pit road because track position is so important,” said Steve Addington, crew chief for Kurt Busch. “It’s a chess game.”
And a game of risk.
“I think a tremendous amount (of pressure) is going to be on us,” said Gil Martin, crew chief for points leader Kevin Harvick. “If you try to pit early on the field and it goes bad for you, it’s going to be a lot worse because now that you’re in the Chase you can’t afford to have one of those decisions go bad and finish 14th or 20th trying to gamble to win.”
Then again, some crew chiefs might not have a choice as their title chances dwindle.
“Races now are just a little bit different than what it used to be,” Knaus said, “and they’re going to continue to get more and more difficult.”
