Strategy has always been an important aspect of NASCAR racing, most recently with pit road calls. Extended lengths of races, improved tire wear, fuel saving techniques, and the emphasis on winning at all levels of the sport have forced teams to stretch their resources in hopes of earning the best possible finish. Drivers have learned to push fuel windows to their extreme and ask for two tires rather than four to improve their track position. Sometimes, these bold strategy moves work and put drivers in victory lane. However, most of the time, these calls lead to disappointment as a win slips away.
On March 9, 2014, two drivers familiar with each other experienced the highs and lows of strategy racing while battling for the win in the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his team decided to stay on track during the fourth and final caution on lap 221, hoping to run 56 laps on a tank of Sunoco gasoline after his lap 211 green flag pit stop. The #88 already had a win from the season opening Daytona 500, which meant the team could try some unique strategy to grab another victory since they were already locked in NASCAR’s brand-new “win and you’re in” Chase format.
Meanwhile, Brad Keselowski, who drove for Earnhardt Jr. in the NASCAR Nationwide Series from 2008 to 2009, and his team opted to pit during the final caution. Keselowski’s crew put two fresh tires on the #2 Ford Fusion and returned their driver to the race in seventh spot. He had three drivers with little fuel in their racecars in front of him, including the #88, and three drivers with a full tank of gas. His fresher rubber was a distinct advantage for the 42-lap green flag run to conclude the event.
In the end, the battle for the win came down to Earnhardt Jr.’s fuel mileage gamble and Keselowski’s two fresh tires. The two drivers participated in a thrilling battle for the win underneath the Las Vegas sun. However, the victory came down to a last lap slip up for Earnhardt Jr. and Keselowski’s ability to capitalize. One driver was left with a bad LVMS memory and the other experienced a happy moment at the 1.5-mile track.
Brad Keselowski started the 400-mile race in the second position while Dale Earnhardt Jr. started on the outside of Row 7 in the 14th spot. During the first half of the event, the two drivers maintained their spots in the Top 10 as they battled through a 106-lap green flag and three cautions in the first 160 laps of the event. On lap 196, though, Keselowski and Junior’s path towards victory in the race crossed for the first time.
Just four laps prior to lap 200, Keselowski started a round of green flag pit stops as the leader. His team gave him four fresh tires and returned him to the race track as other pit crews prepared for their own stops. As the next few laps passed, drivers like Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, and Paul Menard pitted for four tires to continue the cycle of stops. On lap 206, Earnhardt Jr. grabbed the lead for the second time in the race as his team pondered a potential strategy call much different from the rest of the field.
Due to the green flag character of the race, Steve Letarte, Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief, decided to keep his driver on track longer than the rest of the field during the round of stops. The team’s hope was that Junior could pit around lap 210 and have the race stay green to its conclusion. If that occurred, the reigning Daytona 500 champion would have a possibility of making it on fuel to the finish while his fellow competitors would definitely have to pit again.
The #88 led five laps before he came down pit road for his stop on lap 211. The stop was flawless from his crew and he returned to the track with only two drivers left to pit during the cycle: Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards. They pitted on lap 213, hoping to use the same strategy as Earnhardt Jr. in the late stages. After the cycle of stops, Keselowski returned to the lead knowing he would need to stop again and Junior cycled into the fifth position. However, after making all the strategy plans for green flag racing, the fourth and final caution waved on lap 221. Now, teams would have to work on another strategy decision to end the event.
Three drivers decided to stay on track during the caution while the rest of the field pitted. Earnhardt Jr., Edwards, and Hamlin, the three drivers who had pitted late during the green flag cycle, stayed out with enough fuel in their racecars according to the teams’ calculations to finish the 267-lap event. Behind them, three drivers prepared to restart in the fourth through sixth spots after adding just fuel to their racecars on pit road. In seventh for the restart was Keselowski. His crew chief, Paul Wolfe, had opted to give his driver two fresh tires, which cost the team some track position. Yet, they had fresher tires than everyone else in the race. For the next 42 laps, those pit road decisions would help determine the winner of the race.
On lap 226, the green flag waved for the final time and the mix of strategy calls caused a chaotic restart. As Earnhardt Jr. moved out to a five car length lead, drivers behind him battled two and three wide around LVMS. Keselowski ended up in second position on his two fresh tires at the completion of lap 226, but he was three-fourths of a second behind the leader. On lap 228, the #2 Ford dropped to third while Junior held the lead. The battle between the two drivers was far from over, though.
Despite losing the second spot, Keselowski maintained his momentum and returned to the runner-up position around lap 244 with just 23 laps left in the event. The next 10 laps proved to be crucial in deciding the race winner. While Earnhardt Jr. tried to save fuel at the front of the pack, the #2 Ford started chasing him down for the lead. On lap 253, the advantage moved underneath a second between the two drivers. Five laps later, the gap was only three tenths of a second and it appeared the two tire strategy call of Keselowski would prevail.
However, Earnhardt Jr. and his spotter, T.J. Majors, noticed Keselowski’s charge towards the lead and the #88 changed its racing line on track. For the next few laps, the North Carolina driver extended his lead by a few tenths as the end of the race neared. Finally, after saving fuel throughout the final run and monitoring his gap, Earnhardt Jr. took the white flag with Keselowski half a second behind him. The final lap ended up being very interesting for the two competitors.
Both drivers powered through turns 1 and 2 smoothly with the advantage between them remaining at half a second. On the backstretch, though, Earnhardt Jr. experienced a problem. The low amount of fuel in his racecar caused his engine to miss slightly exiting turn 2. The hiccup caused him to lose power and he moved towards the inside of the track, trying to slosh some fuel in the pickup. Meanwhile, Keselowski destroyed the half second between himself and the lead heading down the backstretch and cleared Junior entering turn 3. The power returned to Earnhardt Jr.’s car in the final turn, but it was too late.
Keselowski powered away from the #88 and crossed the finish line first while Earnhardt Jr. managed to finish in second spot over a second back. Wolfe’s two-tire decision paid off with a much-needed victory after a tough 2013 season. On the other hand, Letarte’s gamble to keep his driver on track during the final caution resulted in a disappointing second place finish after Junior led at the white flag. Earnhardt Jr. wasn’t discouraged after the race, though, due to his chance to win the race and his win in the Daytona 500 just two weeks prior.
“We took a gamble and we didn’t win the race, but it still worked in our favor to run second and gave us a chance to win," Earnhardt Jr. said after the race. Still, watching Keselowski celebrate on the frontstretch wasn’t what the #88 team had hoped for when making the late gamble. For the #2 team, the victory lane moment proved to be an early memory to carry throughout the rest of 2014.
Keselowski ended the 2014 season with six total victories. He captured wins at Kentucky, New Hampshire, Richmond, Chicagoland, and Talladega in addition to his Las Vegas triumph to lead the series in the category. However, a 31st place finish at Martinsville in October derailed his championship hopes and he missed the first Championship 4 battle at Homestead-Miami Speedway by just a couple of points. Over the next three seasons, he won eight total races and finished fourth in the points last year after making the Championship 4 for the first time.
In the two races this season, the 2012 Cup champion has shown speed and been a contender for the race win. A crash in the Daytona 500 left him with a disappointing 32nd place finish, but he returned to the track last week and captured a runner-up finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway. With a win to his credit at Las Vegas, the #2 Ford will be a car to watch for the 400-mile event tomorrow and it could be another excellent season for the Michigan native.
Despite missing out on the Las Vegas win, Earnhardt Jr.’s 2014 season ended as one of the best of his career. He added a season sweep of victories at Pocono and a Martinsville win to his Daytona 500 victory, giving him four total for the season. He ended up finishing eighth in the points after an excellent year compared to his previous seasons. A year later, he added three more victories to his career total including another Talladega win, a Daytona triumph, and a rainy victory at Phoenix. He finished 12th in the overall standings at the end of the year. Unfortunately, his win at Phoenix turned out to be the last of his career.
2016 started off inconsistent for the North Carolina driver and ended early for him. Crashes at Talladega and Michigan caused him to experience concussion-like symptoms, much like he experienced late in the 2012 season. After the Kentucky race in July of 2016, Earnhardt Jr. was forced out the car due to the severity of his medical issues. He missed the remainder of the season trying to heal from his head injuries. The two-time Daytona 500 champion returned for the 2017 Cup season, but he wasn’t in his usual form. He announced in April of last year that 2017 would be his final full-time season in the sport. He ended the disappointing year with only one Top 5 finish. He concluded his Cup career with a 25th at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the season finale.
For 2018, the 15-time Most Popular Driver award winner has stayed busy as he prepares for the future. He spent the week following the 60th Daytona 500 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, working the Winter Olympics for NBC Sports. When NBC begins broadcasting NASCAR races in a few months, he will be a prominent figure on TV talking about the sport. Also, he has plans for a DIY Network home renovation show and he will become a dad for the first time in May. Finally, he will be in the racecar for at least one more time this season. He will be piloting his own #88 at the fall Richmond race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for all his fans to see him back in a racecar.
Strategy gambles sometimes pay off for teams and sometimes they don’t. In 2008, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his first race at Michigan driving for Hendrick Motorsports with just a few drops of fuel left in the tank. His team’s strategy decision had paid off. In 2014, though, their late race fuel mileage gamble didn’t end in a victory at Las Vegas. For Brad Keselowski and his team, the decision to take on two fresh tires allowed them to move up the leaderboard in the last run and steal the victory from Earnhardt Jr. Their late race battle and exciting final lap duel created a memorable Las Vegas Motor Speedway memory, one that will be remembered for years to come.
(More Stats Down Below!)
Cautions: 4 for 18 laps
Lead Changes: 21
Margin of Victory: 1.530 seconds
Top 5 Finishers:
1st: Brad Keselowski
2nd: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
3rd: Paul Menard
4th: Joey Logano
5th: Carl Edwards
Notables Not in Top 5:
6th: Jimmie Johnson
7th: Ryan Newman
8th: Kasey Kahne
9th: Jeff Gordon
10th: Matt Kenseth
11th: Kyle Busch
12th: Denny Hamlin
14th: Martin Truex Jr.
16th: Austin Dillon
17th: Jeff Burton
19th: Kyle Larson
21st: Danica Patrick
26th: Kurt Busch
33rd: Tony Stewart
37th: Alex Bowman
41st: Kevin Harvick
Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
racing-reference.info/race/2014_Kobalt_400/W
-Image:
www.cbssports.com/general/story/24475310/keselowski-edges-junior-on-last-lap-in-las-vegas
-Quote:
www.sportingnews.com/nascar/news/las-vegas-results-finish-brad-keselowski-wins-dale-earnhardt-jr-second-out-of-fuel/cb7zkq48ajv61r22e30mi4i87
-Video of Finish:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bxYOEXv5fg&t=67s
-Full Race:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6_l6x26bJs&t=12s
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