After sitting on the pole for the third straight time at Michigan and coming up just short in the Nationwide Series race on Saturday, Brian Vickers was able save enough in the gas tank to take his first win in eighty-seven races. Going fifty-one laps on a fuel load, Vickers captured the top-spot when Jimmie Johnson sputtered and hit pit road with three laps to go. With Johnson out of his way and confident in the amount of fuel in his tank, the Team Red Bull driver set his sights on the checkers and gave Toyota its first victory at the Michigan International Speedway.

In typical MIS fashion, the race once again came down to fuel mileage and just like June’s race Johnson and Chad Knaus came up just short. Searching for his first victory at the 2-mile D-shaped oval, Johnson dominated Sunday’s Carfax 400 leading 165 of the 200 laps. Yet, when the smoke settled from Vickers’ burnout, the No. 48 was 33rd on the leaderboard.

When the sixth caution of the day was thrown for rain on the speedway, Johnson led the field down pit road with fifty-one laps to go. Using a bit of strategy and utilizing the last stall on pit road, Vickers was able to win the race off. At this point a number of teams, including Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Joey Logano, stayed on the track to put themselves in a different fuel window than the leaders. Running around before the race went back to green, Vickers, Johnson, Jeff Gordon and others began conserving gas after learning they would not be back to pit road.

A caution for David Stremme’s spin on Lap 159 gave Earnhardt Jr. and Logano the break they were looking for. Hitting pit road just over ten laps after the leaders, they were able to throw on four tires and fill the tank with Sunoco race fuel, ensuring them enough to make it to the end.

Racing hard after the restart, Johnson and Vickers battled for the top-spot as others began backing off to save fuel. With the leaders cautiously racing, Earnhardt Jr. took to the top of the track and let it all hang out. Picking off cars lap after lap, the No. 88 was in the top-5 by Lap 181.

With the laps winding down, even Chad Knaus was uncertain if the No. 48 had enough fuel in the tank to make it last. Knowing his car was about two and a half laps short of the finish, the champion crew chief urged his driver to conserve, but at the same time hold off the No. 83 of Vickers. Coming to two laps to go, Johnson wiggled then shot down the track and onto pit road, giving Vickers the lead.

Maintaining a comfortable lead over Gordon in second and Earnhardt Jr. in third, Vickers was able to power it across the finish line and score the win – he even had enough fuel left in the tank to do a burnout.

Celebrating in Victory Lane, Vickers explained he was confident in his ability to save fuel, but was a bit worried once the No. 48 fell out. However, when the gamble paid off crew chief Ryan Pemberton knew his driver had what it took to get the job done.

“We went through this several times, he’s asked for two [laps] and I’ve given him five,” Vickers said in Victory Lane. “So he said go get it, just do what you did here last time…..It feels so good to be in Victory Lane.”

The win is the first for Team Red Bull and the first for Toyota in the backyard of the Big Three auto manufacturers. With just three races remaining before the field for the Chase is set, Vickers moved himself closer to the top-12 with this win, putting him just twelve points behind Mark Martin who fell to twelfth after running out of gas on the last lap.

Also making it last, Gordon was able to come home with a second-place finish and move up one spot to second in the standings. The second-place finish was Gordon’s eighth top-10 in the last ten races and second runner-up finish at Michigan this year.

“I really felt confident we were going to make it, even though Steve [Letarte] told me we were four short when we left pit road that last pit stop,” the runner-up said following Sunday’s race. “I shut the engine off so much.  I felt like I got us six laps.  At least with the caution, I felt like I did.  Felt pretty confident I didn't have to conserve a whole lot. Junior was pressuring me a lot at the end.  I was waiting, to see if the 43 and 83 ran out.  One did, one didn't.”

In his most impressive run in months, Earnhardt Jr. could not reel in the leaders at the end, but was happy with his third-place finish. Since changing crew chief mid-Summer in Dover, Earnhardt Jr. has yet to show any strength, but in Sunday’s fuel mileage race the advice of crew chief Lance McGrew finally paid off.

“Well, I don't want to get too excited,” Earnhardt Jr. said of his second top-5 run this season.  “You want to be up front every week like this.  You want to be there the whole race.  You don't want to just come up there through the last 50 laps and surprise everybody.

“You know, we're getting better as a team,” Earnhardt Jr. added. “It's just really, really hard to be patient, be mindful and respectful of everybody, you know, just hold your tongue every once in a while. But we're working really hard.  Never worked so hard to run third.  I've won races working a whole lot easier than this.”

Sunday’s Carfax 400 was slowed by seven cautions for thirty-six laps and saw twenty-five lead changes amongst fourteen different drivers. Next week the Race to the Chase heats up in the summer night when the series heads to the World’s Fastest Short Track, Bristol Motor Speedway. With the points tightening up and time running out, not to mention double-file restarts, next Saturday night’s race will not be one any Hardcore Race Fan would want to miss.

                 CARFAX 400 RESULTS

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