Every NASCAR season, it’s the same thing, over and over. From one year to another, it doesn’t change, it’s always a bone of contention.
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“It” is two of the worst words in the sport, namely: Fuel Mileage.
No matter how much crew chiefs, team engineers, and drivers try, after more than 75 years of racing in NASCAR history, no one has been able to crack the perfect fuel mileage strategy.
Crew chiefs swear on a stack of Bibles that they have the magic formula to make it to the finish line on a few drops. Unfortunately, their mantra is a 50-50 proposition at best.
On a recent edition of the Team Blaney Podcast, the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang, Ryan Blaney, spoke at length about the same.
Drivers not only have to implement the strategy their crew chiefs have given them but have to find a way to go over and beyond a crew chief’s decision if they feel there’s just enough left in the gas tank to make it to the checkered flag, rather than making one last gas-and-go short pit stop.
Blaney’s former crew chief, Todd Gordon, likes to say that the best time to start saving fuel is when you wake up in the morning on race day.
While that may seem humorous, there’s a bit of truth in that saying. So many things can impact a race, including track temperature, tire wear, and everyone’s least favorite issue – rain or the possibility of approaching wet stuff – that fuel mileage strategies can change from one lap to the next.
“It’s part of the game sometimes,” Blaney said. “In a fuel mileage race, if it’s tight (for) your last pit stop and then a caution comes out and it’s like, ‘All right, well, we have to pit.’ Even if you’re going to be two laps short, you’ve got to pit at that point, then try to save what you can.”
Even though only a handful of races wind up being fuel mileage events, drivers “save gas nowadays all the time,” Blaney said. “And if it’s for a pit stop, you kind of speed up just because you never know what predicament you’re going to be in (if/when a caution occurs).”
The biggest issue teams and drivers have in fuel mileage situations is time spent on pit road. At some tracks like Daytona, Indianapolis, Talladega, or Pocono, because they’re some of the largest tracks on the calendar, there usually is enough time to fill up all the way.
But at places like Bristol, Martinsville, Atlanta, and others, there’s not enough time to put every drop in because drivers have to be ready to go as soon as the jack drops – even if the gas can is still in place.
“Sometimes it pops up like, ‘Hey, you need three laps’ and it’s easier at some tracks than others. Three laps at Dover is a little bit different than saving three laps at a Michigan. Three laps, that’s a lot of miles in Michigan, that’s six miles.” Much like driving on road courses or short tracks, the difference in tracks where fuel mileage comes into play more often than not is an acquired taste, Blaney said.
“It’s kind of like a skill: some guys are really good at it when they have to save, and how it’s not only saving, it’s ‘How much time do you not lose while saving? That’s a skill that you have to have,” he added.
“You’re completely changing up your driving style in the moment on the fly while trying to keep the best lap time, but also trying to save as much gas as you can. NASCAR is neat because you don’t know how much gas is in it, you’re just calculating how much you think you’ve got in, you can see the fuel mileage on it in real-time,” rounded off the Cup Series champ.
With the Next Gen car and its drafting characteristics, especially at tracks such as Daytona and Talladega, fans can only wish that the focus on fuel mileage would be reduced. However, sometimes wishes don’t come true right away.
