NASCAR: Fuel Gamble Puts Dale Earnhardt Junior in Victory Circle

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Tony Eury Jr. who has taken a beating from fans for his overly conservative pit strategies, rolled the fuel mileage dice on Sunday and beat the odds.

The Mountain Dew Chevy went further than any car had a right to go on a tank of fuel to allow fans of Dale Earnhardt Jr. to cheer their hero.

Just because he stretched NASCAR’s rule book by passing the pace car during the last caution and thus raising the ire of at least Matt Kenseth; it didn”t keep Junior’s fans from reveling in his first points paying victory at Hendrick Motorsports.

Junior talked about his conversation with Eury toward the end of the race:

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…he told me with 20 to go, he told me that scenario. He said: “There are guys behind us that are going to make it and you’re going to get beat by them if you pit. And if we go for it, and if we run out, we’re going to finish 25th. If we pit, we’re going to finish 25th, so go for it.”

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Kenseth was the most outspoken of the drivers who took umbrage with Junior’s efforts to save fuel by speeding past the pace car to gain enough momentum to shut the engine down and coast half way around the track.

This brings us to this week’s BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

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Was Junior’s win at Michigan tainted, because it was a fuel mileage race that ended under caution?

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Let us know what you think and we could use your answer on this week’s ON PIT ROW radio show. Listen live from 5-7 p.m. Eastern Time to ON PIT ROW, followed by Inside ARCA at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.