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CUP: Fuel The Difference In Brotherly Battle
Written by: Tom Jensen   
11/09/2009
Fort Worth, TX
 
At the end of a long day in Texas, Kyle Busch had the guns, but his big brother Kurt had the numbers. And the numbers — specifically, fuel mileage numbers — won the Dickies 500 for the elder Busch, and a $1 million prize for a lucky race fan who correctly picked him to win.
Kurt Busch was able to stretch his fuel out farther then his brother Kyle Sunday at Texas but ran out on his way to victory lane. (Photo: LAT Photographic) ยป More Photos

Kyle Busch began the day at Texas Motor Speedway with a shot at making NASCAR history, having won the Camping World Truck Series race there Friday night and the Nationwide Series race on Saturday. No one had ever won races in all three of NASCAR’s top divisions at the same track on the same weekend, but the younger Busch certainly looked like he was headed in that direction.

The brothers Busch combined to lead all but 13 of 334 laps around the wicked fast 1.5-mile TMS oval, with Kyle leading 232 and Kurt 89 more. Although Kyle’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota appeared to be faster than Kurt’s No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge, the elder Busch had a secret weapon in lame-duck crew chief Pat Tryson, who midway through the race correctly surmised that fuel mileage would be an issue and thus instructed his driver to begin conserving.

Just as importantly, with few cautions on the day, the No. 2 would stay out longer than the No. 18 on green-flag fuel runs. That meant Kyle, who got fresh tires earlier than Kurt, would go out front during the stops, but in the end it played perfectly into the Penske squad’s hands.

“For me sitting inside the car, when I came out with two stops to go, or one stop after we just initially stopped, Pat said, ‘Save fuel.’ I looked at the scoreboard, I saw 120 something (laps) to go, if I'm not mistaken,” said Kurt Busch. “I did the math. Divide that by two, it's 60 something on a tank of gas. For us, it wasn't necessarily as big a risk as you might think. … We stayed out a little extra on the first run. That enabled us to stay out on the second run. I could feel it. I knew that's what Pat's direction was going to be. To risk fuel, I didn't think we were in that zone of risking.”

All that was needed was for the track to stay green at the end, which is exactly what happened. There were just five cautions all race long, the final one concluding on Lap 212.

“The biggest thing is when you're doing that, worrying about a caution falling late because you're giving up track position,” said Tryson. “That's how Kyle got the lead from us the first time, by shortstopping, making up half second a lap there for three or four laps, gets him by us. You know, only concern was a caution falling before everybody had to pit.”

Team owner Roger Penske concurred. “You could see the 00 (David Reutimann) pitted four laps before we did. The 18 (Kyle Busch) pitted. I think we ran two laps longer than they did. We knew if everything
went to the end, with Kurt having to pick up one lap, we were in pretty good shape. We weigh the fuel after every stop so we know exactly what the fuel mileage is.”

And that’s how it played out, with Kyle having to pit out of gas, surrendering the lead to Kurt for the final time on Lap 332 of the 334-lap race.

The victory was a joyous one for Kurt, but not without conflicting feelings: He prevented his brother from sweeping at TMS and he’s losing Tryson, who in 2010 will join Michael Waltrip Racing, after two more races.

“Right now, with the way that we're situated, it's bittersweet because, hey, Pat is leaving,” said Kurt. “We wish that we could stick together. We want to get the best we can out of these last few races. It's bittersweet to beat Kyle. He was going for the sweep. We took it away from him. I don't think he could have picked a better driver to lose to tonight. So it's fun. It's really fun. We race each other to the bone, but we pat each other on the back at the end of the day.”

One person who had no emotional conflict after the race was Michael McGee of Broken Bow, Okla., who won $1 million through the Dickies American Worker of the Year promotion. McGee had to randomly pick one of 12 drivers to win at Texas; if that driver won, McGee got $1 million. He selected Kurt Busch.

“Actually I didn't even follow NASCAR that much,” McGee said. “I watched it on TV every now and then, but I didn't follow it that close. I can tell you now, I'm Kurt Busch's favorite fan. Go No. 2.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED, and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com! Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel
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