Johnson Has Just Enough Juice For Victory

Kent Horner/Getty Images for NASCAR

Apr 14, 2008

After leading 120 of 312 laps, Jimmie Johnson had just enough fuel to give Hendrick Motorsports its first win of the season in this weekend’s Subway Fresh Fit 500. It was a gamble for the finish, with Johnson and second-place Clint Bowyer opting not to pit for fuel in the final laps when other top contenders did. 

Saturday’s race in Phoenix had only four leaders, the fewest total since 2004 at New Hampshire. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin, and Ryan Newman each had the lead at some point, but with ten laps to go, Martin’s crew determined that he did not have enough fuel to finish and pulled him into pit row for gas and two tires. The lead was surrendered to Johnson, and the No. 48 car never let go of the advantage.

It was a hard loss for Martin, who thought he had conserved enough gas to make it to the checkered flag. However, when his crew couldn’t match that prediction with any certainty, they opted for a certain top-ten finish over a possible mid-twenties finish. It was a safe, defensive move and a heartbreaking decision for the well-respected driver who has given NASCAR a week over 27 years and come up short more than a few times. Although Martin felt he could make it, he conceded the decision to his chief and it cost him the lead and the race. Whether he would have made it or not will never be known—Kevin Harvick’s No. 29 car ran out of fuel with eight laps to go, barely making it to pit row. 

Martin’s crew chief, Tony Gibson, commented, “You don’t know. The 29 saved and he ran out. How slow do you run? If everybody makes it, and you slow down and you still lose, it, you’re mad because you didn’t [stop]. We didn’t do a very good job tonight, figuring that, and we’ve got to get better at it. We failed him. Good driver, good car, we just didn’t do the strategy right.”

Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knaus, called it differently and it paid off for their car. Knaus pushed Johnson to conserve fuel in the final laps at Phoenix International Raceway, even going as far as to exaggerate Johnson’s lead time as the two discussed their strategy on the radio. Knaus told Johnson he had a 20-second lead over Bowyer in order to keep his speed down and get them to the finish. “I knew 10 [seconds] wasn’t enough for him to do what I said,” Knaus stated. Their gamble strategy worked, giving Johnson the win and taking him to fourth in the 2008 Sprint Cup standings.