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FUEL GAMBLE PAYS OFF AS CASEY MEARS WINS HIS FIRST!
Sometimes the victory doesn’t go to the swiftest – just ask Tony Stewart who finished sixth at the 600 after clearly being the car to beat as the laps wound down. But late-race pit stops to get fuel doomed a clutch of racers to lower positions in the Top 10 – Dale Earnhardt Jr. thought he had finished in second instead of eighth, for example, when he stopped for fuel and other teams stayed out.
Hendrick Motorsports rubbed salt into the other Cup teams with Casey Mears piloting the star-crossed #25 to his first win in Cup -- on a gas mileage gamble. “What does it take to beat those Hendrick guys,” the competition must be asking themselves. Generally considered the weakest of the four-car Hendrick team behemoth over the years, Mears did his part by staying off the wall on the treacherous track and iron-hard tires.
Crew chief Darian Grubb earned his pay (give the man a bonus!) by making the gutsy call to stay out for a shot at the win with the laps winding down and for trusting his fuel mileage calculations. Mears ran out of fuel on the backstretch of his victory lap.
It was the first win for Chevy’s new R07 cup engine in a points-paying event, and awarded Hendrick Motorsports with their ninth win of 12 races this year – a staggering achievement in today’s Cup racing with so many strong teams and supposed “parity.”
For his part, Mears had to look around Victory Lane to make sure he really was there. “I am so proud of everybody here," said Mears. "It is definitely a team win. We had a third, fourth, maybe fifth place car. The only way we were going to win it was to stay out. I tried to
conserve fuel the best I could. All the Darian (Grubb) and the National Guard/GMAC guys did an excellent job. I want to say hi to all the National Guard guys out there; they have all paid a big price for us. I am proud to take them to Victory Circle. It is a big night for all of us."
Mears started 16th but was never lower than 13th in the running order the entire 400-lap/600-mile race. J.J. Yeley helped keep his ride by taking the #18 Monte Carlo to second place.
Kyle Petty brought some nostalgia to the Top 5 by also gambling on fuel and securing third in the season’s longest race. Kudos to crewchief Billy Milburn for that call and his other pit timings. “We had a Top 10 car and we were able to get a Top 5 finish with it,” said Petty. “When you can do that you always feel great afterwards. But I'll be honest with you. I have finished 35th some nights and feel like I drove and worked much harder than I did tonight. Tonight I had a great car. My pit crew, man, I can't say enough about those guys. They knew we had a good car and didn't try to do too much. They just gave me solid stops all night. To beat teams like Hendrick and Gibbs takes an overall team effort and there is no doubt that Petty Enterprises gave a team effort tonight.”
Team effort and a little fuel mileage luck, too. (GM Racing/Dorsey Patrick)[05/30/07]