NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Being Fuelish
Mileage game could continue to be factor in closing weeks of Chase…
Mike Hembree  |  Posted October 15, 2012   Charlotte, NC
Denny Hamlin, driver of the No.11 FedEx Ground Toyota, stands in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
Only five races remain in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and three of those will unfold on 1.5-mile tracks. That could mean more of the roller-coaster ride teams endured Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Fuel-mileage racing.

Denny Hamlin, one of the drivers in the newly tightened race for the championship, called it “running the race backward, basically,” and that’s a spot-on description. Teams essentially ran Saturday night’s race in the same way they typically approach road-course events; that is, they started calculating fuel mileage two pit-stop cycles from the end and tried to stretch gas loads to cover that distance with limited trips down pit road.

The circuit’s 1.5-mile tracks seem particularly susceptible to such activity. The Chase will continue Sunday at Kansas Speedway (a freshly repaved 1.5-miler) and will stop at two other 1.5-mile tracks – Texas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Clint Bowyer won the fuel game – and the race – Saturday and put himself back in the Chase battle. Brad Keselowski lost the fuel duel, running out of gas and ultimately finishing 11th, losing a chance to create some significant space between himself and the other Chase challengers.

“If we wouldn’t have run out of fuel, we would have had a shot at winning the race,” Keselowski said. “The bottom line is we did, so that’s kind of a moot point.”

Clearly, being fuelish can be critical over the Chase’s closing races.

Jimmie Johnson, who admittedly is not among the field’s best at saving fuel to extend a gas run, said he has had to “retrain” himself to compete in that environment.

“We're getting a lot better at this fuel-mileage racing,” Johnson said. “It is a tough thing to do. We've worked hard to get it right. We're still not the best car out there at it, but we're making it work week-in and week-out. It's part of the game right now for whatever reason.

"It's a tough way to race for sure, but I'm happy that as a group and a team we've figured out how to get better. It's something that we didn't have in our repertoire for a lot of years. So, I'm very pleased with the progress we've made, that I've made in the car. My driving style just eats up fuel.”

Considering he has won five Cup championships, it’s odd to hear Johnson talk about being the “worst” at anything, but he says he’s the worst in the Hendrick Motorsports group at dealing with fuel saving.

“Within the race, there's a lot of little victories here that we've got our team better from the car standpoint when it's time to save fuel,” he said. “I'm trying to retrain myself here and in general use it so that I always have that working in my favor. But I still have my habits, and I've got to really talk myself through that lap after lap.”

Hamlin raced against his better judgment Saturday night in saving fuel and accepting a second-place finish instead of chasing Bowyer and trying to reach victory lane. It’s the new reality, he said.

“It's finally good to have a fuel-mileage race somewhat go our way,” Hamlin said. “We've been struggling with these things in the past, so it teaches you you've got to be prepared for these because they seem to happen more often than not."

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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