by Darrell Waltrip

Comment

Eighteen gallons is an approximate because no one seems to be sure how much their fuel cell actually holds. Fuel cells aren't measured by contents, but by dimensions. Some guys will deliberately run their car out of gas during practice just to see how far they can go and to verify that the fuel pickup is working correctly.

Fuel mileage races are intense. Put yourself in the driver or crew chief's position. Just imagine yourself running late to catch a flight out of town. You are driving as hard as you can but you realize your fuel light is on and the gauge reads empty. Well, you are sweating bullets hoping you can make it. Now, take that to the 1000th power and that's what a fuel mileage race is to these teams.

I have gone through this scenario many, many times in my career when Hammond would come on the radio and tell me we are probably at least two laps short and I needed to save gas. At Michigan for example, it's a two-mile track, so if we are two laps short, well that's four miles.

Most of these engines get about four and a half miles to the gallon, so that means you are just a tick over a gallon short. There's ways to save fuel which I have explained before. You can squeeze out of the throttle a little bit on the staightaways. Stay off the brakes, back off the throttle a little early going into the turns and let it coast thru the turn. Don't jack the throttle up and down.

Fuel mileage racing is a science. It's not luck. Sure, sometimes it is luck if you make it because maybe you were able to save more fuel than you thought. Back in the day we even had carburetors that burned less fuel. When we went to a Pocono or a Michigan or even Sonoma, we would use a carburetor that burned less fuel just in case we needed that extra fuel late in the race. That's just all part of your race package going into the weekend.

Fuel mileage racing is not you're A-Plan. You're A-Plan is to outrun everybody with the best car and not worry about fuel. Your B-Plan is fuel mileage. Sunday you saw Mark Martin switch over to his B-Plan at Michigan. You saw Greg Biffle and Jimmie Johnson not use their heads and they ended up racing themselves out of fuel.

I don't fault them for that though. They had nothing to lose. They both are pretty well locked into the Chase and they know it. Wins right now to them are more important than finishes. So in their mind, hammer down. Go for it because that is 10 bonus points for a win once you get into the Chase.

Mark is a veteran and has the experience. Mark is a classic. He has been there before and he has done that. It takes a driver with experience and discipline like Mark has to pull that off. He let those two cats go on up there and run themselves right out of the win while he cruised right on into Victory Circle. Yes, it's like the classic tortoise and the hare.

It's not exciting racing because it only comes into play at the end of the race. But folks, it is intense racing. It's intense for everyone involved. I've been there and done that. That's how I won the Daytona 500 in 1989. Bill France Jr. asked me after the race how I was able to go so far on that tank of gas. I told him, "Bill, its simple. I had more."

That's the secret of your success. Save fuel and have more than anybody at the end. The other factor that comes into play is if everyone is in the same fuel mileage boat, well, you just have to be smarter than the other guy. You have to figure out how to get just that little bit more out of your tank of fuel than the others do.

Back in the day, Harry Gant and Bobby Allison were really good at it. I won a lot of races that way too. Again, it's not you're A-Plan, but it is your B-Plan and you know what? Sometimes that's good enough to "B" in Victory Circle.

We had a great weekend of racing. Boy the kids sure had their way with things up until Sunday. 18-year-old Parker Kligerman won the ARCA race. 18-year-old Colin Braun won the truck race. Joey Logano, who is all of 19 years old, goes to Kentucky and wins the Nationwide race. But come Sunday in the Cup race which is, as I always tell you, on a whole different plateau, it was 50-year-old Mark Martin using his wisdom and experience to come home the winner.

There's a lot of good young talent out there right now. Austin Dillon, Richard Childress grandson, is one of those rising stars. Austin's running that No. 3, so if he continues having success and moves up the ranks, it wouldn't surprise me if it were he that could convince his Grandpa to dust off that No. 3 again.

A lot of people have mixed emotions about that subject. Personally, I look forward to that day. I want to see that No. 3 car back out there on that race track and particularly running up front.

Oh, by the way

For the life of me I don't understand at the Nationwide race how they could have had 27 pit road speeding violations. Forget who the drivers are for a second and do the math. Normally you would get five, maybe six violations in a weekend at a track. But 27 pit road violations? Do you really think everybody could be that far off on their speeds? I think not. I think there was a glitch in the system somehow. There's simply no way you could have that many violations in one race. So I am curious to hear the "rest of the story" and see if anything ever comes to light about that situation.

Oh, by the way II

Speaking of Kentucky, did you see the crowd for a Nationwide Series race? Do you see now why Bruton Smith bought the place to put a Cup race there one of these days? The people in that region are huge NASCAR fans and they support that track whole-heartedly. It's a great racing market and I look forward to seeing a Cup race there. The drivers will tell you that they all love racing there because it's a great track to race on.

Oh, by the way III

I want to send out my prayers and thoughts to Johnny Benson. Johnny is one of the nicest men in racing. He's had a rough go of it as late. He lost his truck ride and then was involved in that crash at Berlin Speedway that sent him to the hospital. Get well Johnny B!

Oh, by the way IV

We all keep hearing the noise about Danica Patrick moving to NASCAR. I just don't think she will. Danica is made for Indy cars. I think she is a natural there and that's where she should stay. Don't get me wrong, she would light up NASCAR ticket sales but I would rather she stay where she knows she will be successful than take a chance like Dario and some of the others have. Coming into our sport and struggling like some of the others have would hurt her and hurt our sport. I love watching her race and I love who she is but I just think she needs to stay where she is.

Oh, by the way V

I love drivers that will give 100 percent effort 100 percent of the time. That's what these young guys are doing out there now. That's what folks like Kyle Busch are doing and that's what I want to see. Folks, it makes for exciting racing so don't lay down on me boy, give me 100 percent effort 100 percent of the time.