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RUSTY WALLACE & TEAM KNOW WHAT LOOMS AT MICHIGAN
-Miller Lite Team Penske Crew Chief Wilburn Cites Different Kind Of "Fuel
Mileage Racing"-
BROOKLYN, Mich. (August 13, 2002) -- Okay, what's happened to all the "fuel mileage races" that once seemed to be the norm on tracks like Michigan International Speedway?
According to Bill Wilburn, crew chief for Rusty Wallace's Miller Lite Team Penske, they are still commonplace, but are not distinguished as such due to other contributing factors. He believes this weekend's Pepsi 400 at Michigan International Speedway could offer a prime example of the new breed of "fuel mileage races."
"Oh yeah, there are still fuel mileage races, but they're not like they were a couple of years ago," said Wilburn. "When you talk about fuel mileage races, you automatically think about races ending with a long stretch of green flag racing. You think of a guy winning by stretching it to where there's only a few drops in the tank at the end or he runs out of fuel just as he takes the checkered flag. Well, that's the way the fuel mileage races used to be.
"Now they're coming sort of in disguise," Wilburn continued. "Instead of the long greens being the case where the fuel mileage is much more visible, you'll see guys planning their pit strategy early, regardless of the cautions that may fall later on in the race. In other words, they'll look at the very earliest that they can pit and then go the distance on fuel. They'll get within the fuel window and gamble for the track position late in the race. It's all because of the hard tires we're running and the importance of track position.
"I'm already looking at the fuel mileage end of the deal really early on in the race," said Wilburn. "You have to. It seems like the formula for winning these things these days is to go as far on fuel as you can, stay out for the track position and don't put that much significance on tires. At Indy a couple of weeks ago, I was already on the radio talking about the fuel mileage on lap 60.and that was with 100 laps to go on a 2.5-mile race track.
"Sunday at Watkins Glen was a fuel mileage deal in a way. We stayed out under the yellow for a couple of laps after the guys in front of us pitted in order to get into our fuel window. If the thing had gone green from then on, everybody else would have had to pit for more fuel and we'd have won the thing. It's just impossible to predict that there'd be four more cautions and 10 or so more yellow-flag laps. Nobody pitted the rest of the race and the caution laps gave 'em the fuel mileage they needed to make the distance."
Some more examples please, Mr. Wilburn?
"Look at the wins the 48 car (rookie Jimmie Johnson) has this season," said Wilburn. "The wins at California and Dover. I'm not slamming them at all because they definitely had the car to beat.leading a ton of laps and all. But the bottom line was that the strategy of having just enough fuel and using fuel-only, no-tire stops or just plain staying out under cautions won them both of those races.
"I know that at Dover, Chad (Knaus, crew chief) was already looking at trying to stretch the fuel when the yellow fell with about 110 laps to go (on lap 292). He knew they couldn't go that far without pitting for fuel again. (Ricky) Rudd was going to try to
go all the rest of the way on fuel. As it turned out, there was another caution with about 90 laps to go (on lap 307). The 48 pitted then and they knew they could go the distance on fuel. We had that final yellow with about 25 laps to go (on lap 373) and those guys said to heck with tires, stayed out, and had the fuel to get to the end and won the race.
So, let's hear it from a tire specialist's point of view.
"The harder tires have certainly put a new factor into race strategy and we're always trying to stay on top of it," said Toby Mellott, tire specialist for Wallace's team, who is fast becoming known as among the best in the Winston Cup garage area. "This weekend at Michigan, the tire strategy will definitely come into play. (Matt) Kenseth won there back in June and he ran the same set of tires for at least 60 laps. During the final green flag stops, he pitted (on lap 189) for just enough fuel to go the distance.no tires at all. Then we had that caution and red flag with about six to go. The 17 car (Kenseth) stayed out, while everybody else pitted for tires before we went back to green. They had the fuel they needed to make it to the end and won the race, didn't they?
"The bottom line is that the tire wear is such that you could probably go two full fuel stops on the same set of tires at Michigan with the way it is right now," surmised Mellott. "And it wouldn't surprise me at all if some of them try doing just that this weekend."
"The strategy in these races just comes down to one big crap-shoot," concluded Wilburn. "You look at having the fuel to go the distance first. Then you have to figure out the rest of the puzzle.stay out, two tires, four tires. It's really a game of chance and as challenging as anything out there, I'll guarantee you that. I've done a lot of nail-biting and hair-pulling this season, that's for sure."
Wallace started 25th and finished seventh in the June race at M.I.S. His team took advantage of two two-tire stops in the late stages of the event to post Wallace's 20th career top-10 finish on the 2.0-mile track.
"My car was just a little on the tight side all day long," Wallace recalled. "We kept on adjusting it with air pressures and all, but it was still a little too tight there at the end. We stopped on the next-to-last stop -- the one under green -- and took on right side tires. When a bunch of them pitted there before the restart after the red-flag period, I called for lefts. That kind of balanced us out and helped the handling and probably got us a few spots further up at the finish."
Wallace started 14th and showed winning potential in last year's Pepsi 400 before a souring engine relegated him to a 17th-place finish.
"We felt like that was a win that slipped away," Wallace recollected. "We worked our way up through the field and led a ton of laps (three times for 25 laps). We had 'em covered for a while.had a four-second lead on the entire field.before the motor started going away."
Wallace's career record at Michigan sports five wins, 15 top-five finishes and 20 top-10 finishes in 37 races. He has one pole position at the track, which came in the June 1987 race. It was his first-ever pole in NASCAR Winston Cup competition.
Friday's 3:05 p.m. single round of two-lap qualifying will establish the 43-car starting field for Sunday's race. Saturday's final "happy hour" practice session is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. till 12:30 noon. Sunday's Pepsi 400 features live broadcasts by TNT-TV and MRN radio beginning at 1:30 p.m. EDT.
Rusty celebrated his 46th birthday Wednesday (8/14).
Car 54, where are you? At Bristol.where Rusty & crew are testing their
brand new PC-54 in preparation for the race two weekends from now.
Mad Max, the Michigan winner on 8/20/00 back in action this weekend at M.I.S. "It's my very favorite car, right now." says Rusty.
Rusty & team running the Miller Lite/Harley-Davidson color scheme for the final time of the 2002 season this weekend at Michigan.certainly was good luck at Daytona in the last race it was used (finished second)