Cars don’t run without gasoline.
Yes, it’s the obvious statement of the century, but it seems like fuel has never been more important to success in the Sprint Cup Series than it has been so far in 2011.
While the result of Heluva Good! 400 at Michigan didn’t depend on which driver had the most gas in the tank, fuel was once again a major topic thanks to the team’s ongoing issues with the self-venting gas can introduced before the start of the 2011 season.
Fuel issues robbed a potential top-10 finish from Kasey Kahne, who ran out of gas with 45 laps remaining after the team failed to refuel during the previous pit stop and that Kahne did not arrive at pit road in time. .
Second-place finisher Matt Kenseth’s team was unable to refuel twice, and without a timely caution on lap 163, Kenseth would have been forced to stop again before the end of the race while the rest of the field could have stayed away.
Kenseth had the same problem at Charlotte, and the problem also plagued Greg Biffle, notably at Las Vegas when Biffle had one of the fastest cars on the track. Tony Stewart looked like he could have taken victory at Kansas two weeks ago, but his team failed to refuel and he was forced to pit with less than 10 laps remaining.
The new fuel can eliminates the need to retrieve the can from the back of the car. However, the canister nozzle is more difficult to engage and the fuel takes longer to enter the car. If it is not fully engaged, not all fuel will enter the car.
If you’re tired of fuel being a storyline, well, that’s not going away anytime soon. Sonoma is next and fuel is traditionally an issue as teams begin reducing fuel consumption early in the race to minimize their time spent on pit road. Plus, Kentucky, a 1.5-mile track, is two weeks away, and we’ve already seen races decide fuel at Charlotte and Kansas.
