How many crew chiefs can make the same mistake?

May 4, 10:31 PMDetroit NASCAR ExaminerJosh Lobdell

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Gordon finshes 8th on some bad pit strategy Getty Images/Chris Trotman

Did everyone see Carl Edwards sinking in the running order much like a rock Saturday night at Richmond? Did anyone wonder why Jeff Gordon, who had the best car all night long, sank to finish of 8th? Does anyone out there know why?

Well it is pretty easy it is all related to tires. At Rockingham, unlike many other short tracks, one must come in and get four tires at every opportunity, when a team doesn’t you see what we all saw Saturday night cars sinking fact in the running order.

Now I counted at least four or five cars who tried to stretch the tires over the last 100 laps or so, and to be truthful I was pretty amazed. Amazed at how many crew chiefs were opting for a strategy that was doomed to fail. At Richmond the cars need tires every time the car has the chance to get them, I am really sorry here but it truly is that simple.

This is not a track like Bristol, where inventive pit strategy can net your team a win. Way back in 2001 Elliot Sadler, then driving the famed #21 for the Wood Brothers, stretched the final pit stop forgoing tires and gas to net him a win. However the speeds at Richmond are far greater and it surface is far more abrasive which all points to the need for tires.

Edwards may have had a top five car, but this failed strategy left him 26th, and Gordon had the best car and he wound up 8th. For Edwards, a driver who still is hunting his first win for the 2009 season that is a loss of nearly 100 points. For a team without a win and looking to make the chase they can simply not afford giving away 100 points for a bad pit strategy.

This is not the first time I have seen a Roush Racing crew chief make a real bone head call on pit road. Way back in 1997 driver Ted Musgrave was on his way to winning his first cup race. However on the final pit stop his crew chief called for a two tire stop even though the car needed two cans of gas to finish the race. While Musgrave was changing two tires, Gordon pitted and got four tires and eventually won that race. Now we are left to wonder what that win cold have done for Musgrave’s cup career?

The point here is this, at some tracks two tires stops can work, if there are only a handful of laps left two tire stops can work, but stretching a pit run over 100 laps at Richmond is a bad bet. There is almost always a caution with 20-30 laps to go and crew chiefs should be setting up their strategy to make that final pit stop the money stop. That is the stop where strategy can come into play.