The gamble Ryan Newman and crew chief Matt Borland made at Darlington on Saturday didn't pay dividends. Credit: Autostock

Sunoco Pit Move: Darlington

Pit Story of the Race

For the third time this year, a car stayed out on old tires when the caution flew late in the race.

Those cars are now 0-for-3, with Ryan Newman becoming the latest victim.

It's pretty easy to draw and quarter Ryan Newman and Matt Borland for their decision to stay out for the final two-lap shootout, but like Casey Mears (Texas) and Greg Biffle (Bristol), they were gambling that more cars would stay out.

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It didn't happen. The only other car to stay out was Ken Schrader, and Biffle easily passed both cars on the way to the victory.

"That's the way it works sometimes. Sometimes you're the dealer and sometimes you're not," said Newman, who got just his second top-five of the year. "We were sitting in the wrong position. The lapped cars were there. We were just too late to come down.

"We figured some of the guys would stay out with a three-lap dash. You'd think the guys running 20th and 21st on the tail end of the lead lap would stay out and try to get a top-10, but they weren't bright enough to do that, so they suckered us into finishing fifth."

Biffle's car was so good that he knew he could make the passes needed to win the race, even with just two to go.

"There was no question in my mind we were coming for tires no matter what because for three laps you can pass probably 10 cars if 10 cars stayed out," Biffle said.

Richert's been there before

Crew chief Doug Richert has been on both sides of a final-pit decision. Credit: CIA Stock Photo

Winning crew chief Doug Richert caught some static at Bristol when he didn't pit Biffle on the final caution. Biffle was leading at the time, but Kevin Harvick swept around him on new tires. Biffle wound up ninth.

Darlington's pit road requires an especially sharp commitment off Turn 4, and Richert wasn't surprised that Newman was left hanging.

"I know exactly what (Newman) feels like because we did that to ourselves," Richert said. "Leading here is hard because when you're out front, you can think all you want, but the whole field can drop in behind you when it's too late to come to pit road.

"You're doomed."

Biffle's stops solid at Darlington

Biffle's crew gave him consistent 15-second stops all night. Not spectacular, but Biffle usually calls for various adjustments during each stop, which adds a second or two.

"We pulled a spring rubber in the left-rear spring, which takes time on pit road, and we decided we were going to do that now in the middle of the race and lose some spots on pit road," Biffle said.

More bad luck for Burton

Darlington simply capped a horrible week for Jeff Burton.

Burton lost veteran jackman Josh Yost for the year after Yost was injured at Talladega, and on Saturday, Burton lost a top-five finish when his crew left lug nuts loose on Lap 319.

Burton tried driving with the severe vibration, but when he didn't get a caution in the first 20 laps of the run, he was forced to come in. He finished 21st, his third-worst finish of the year.

The mistake was especially frustrating for Burton because his team has been one of the best on pit road all year, and they had performed flawlessly until the late mistake at Darlington.

Fast stop keeps Johnson from falling two laps down

One of the untold stories on pit lane Saturday night was the job performed by Chad Knaus' crew, who kept Jimmie Johnson on the lead lap and helped him avoid a damning finish.

Solid pit work kept Jimmie Johnson in the hunt for a top-10 finish Saturday at Darlington. Credit: Autostock

Johnson had to come in for an unscheduled stop with just over 100 laps to go. At Darlington, an ordinary pit stop can cause a driver to fall two laps down, assuring a finish of 25th or worse.

Instead, Johnson got a great stop, keeping him just one lap down. Johnson easily drove up to become the first car a lap down, and when the 10th caution of the night flew on Lap 283, Johnson got back on the lead lap.

Johnson went on to finish seventh, breaking a two-race skid without a top-10.

"We had a wheel come loose in the later stage of the race but we rebounded and came back," Johnson said. "I felt a vibration and had to come in. That set us back. We had enough good pit stops in time to still get us a solid finish."

Quotable

"I don't think it was a bad decision (to stay out). I think three or four guys if they were bright enough they would have stayed out and tried to get a top 10 out of it instead of finishing 20th, but that didn't happen." -- Ryan Newman, who was one of only two cars not to pit when the final caution flew