Out of Gas—Again?

He’s universally viewed as the top crew chief on pit lane, calling the shots from atop the pit box for Jimmie Johnson in the Lowe’s 48 car. But for both 2009 races at Michigan International Speedway, Chad Knaus has looked like anything but a race strategy genius.

For the second time this year at MIS, with the checkered flag in sight, Johnson ran out of fuel either on the last lap or the penultimate lap. Johnson dominated the Carfax 400 Sunday—the car to beat all day—until those deadly closing laps. Back in the June race, JJ had taken the white flag in second place behind race leader Greg Biffle. But Biffle coughed, out of gas on the bell lap, followed shortly by Johnson, allowing third-place Mark Martin to steal a win. Sunday, Johnson experienced the ill-planned fallout of Knaus’s strategy, the call made with 42 laps left. “Stay out!” came the command from the pits, and Johnson eschewed pit road for track position as race leader. He had last pitted with 51 laps to go, the fuel maximum, a choice also made by Brian Vickers, second to Johnson at the time, and Jeff Gordon, running third. All three figured to fly home on fumes, if they could conserve enough gas and make it to the finish. Of the three, Johnson was the only one who didn’t, gassing out with two laps remaining. Vickers and Gordon finished 1 and 2.

Dale Earnhardt’s third-place finish, though welcomed by all, had to be disappointing for the entire 88 team. Little E looked to have a shot at winning it, having pitted 10 laps later than the race-leading trio, all of whom elected to stay out to keep track position. With his foot to the floor, Earnhardt could run wide open. He began to carve his way through the field over the final 40 laps, clicking off laps a second faster than Johnson and the other fuel conservers up front. It looked like he would either run them all down or reel them all in, due to the leaders’ cautionary driving. But with the final laps clicking off, Earnhardt couldn’t significantly close the gap.

Read Alan Ross’ article “Leaping Lords,” on receivers Larry Fitzgerald and R. C. Owens in the current issue of Lindy’s Pro Football 2009 Preview at newsstands everywhere. alanross_sports@yahoo.com
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