 | | Credit: Autostock |
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM August 9, 2005 08:53 AM EDT (12:53 GMT)
There wasn't much strategy in Sunday's race, as 10 cautions gave everyone plenty of time to get tires and fuel for the final run. Tony Stewart made six pit stops over the 160 laps, and his crew gave him a 15-second stop or better on each one. Stewart was able to beat everyone out on the final stop, and that was critical because he was able to slow Kasey Kahne's momentum. Sadler, Vickers have the best stops Elliott Sadler and Brian Vickers had the fastest stops on pit road on Sunday. Sadler had the best pit stall on pit road, but he didn't really need it. His crew gave him sub-14-second stops each time. Vickers gained spots on pit road every time he hit his box, and his 14-second stop during the final round was the reason he finished third. "This team's pit stops have been awesome and that's important at these tracks," said Vickers. Mayfield's crew got better as race wore on Jeremy Mayfield's crew improved by a half-second on each stop as the laps counted down. He didn't have a good pit stop during the first round, but he came out second during the final stop. Mayfield's fourth-place finish matched his best run of the year. "To come out of Indy with a top five is great. We had a great day and the guys did a great job in the pits, too," Mayfield said. Biffle a victim of Indy's tight pit road  |  | | Greg Biffle Credit: Autostock |
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The Brickyard doesn't the difficulty on pit road that Dover and Martinsville can command, but its narrow exit can create some problems. Greg Biffle found trouble during two separate stops. During the round of pit stops on Lap 93, Biffle rubbed fenders with Bobby Labonte. Had been running in the top 10 at the time, but after that mishap, Biffle never found the top 10 again. It would get worse. During the next round of stops, Biffle collided with Ken Schrader, and Biffle had to come back in to get the damage fixed. "He didn't do it intentionally," Biffle said. "He's pulling out of his pit box, but you have to be aware of the cars on the outside that are coming and are up to speed already running 55 miles an hour." Biffle says he is already planning on how to avoid such mishaps during the Chase for the Nextel Cup. "It's the second time we've gotten wrecked on pit road this year, so we're just going to have to make sure the last 10 races somehow or another that we make sure we don't get wrecked down pit road," Biffle said. Petty gets a top-15 due to pit strategy It went virtually unnoticed, but Kyle Petty finished 13th after he stayed on the track during the last caution. A lot of the cars near Petty dove on pit road, but Petty stayed on the track and was able to hang on during the final laps. Petty got as high as 11th with just 10 laps to go. He had also gotten five bonus points when he stayed in the track to lead Lap 93. The finish was just Petty's second top-15 of the year, and it got him into the top 30 in points for the first time in two months. "Paul Andrews [crew chief] made a great call to not pit at the end of the race. That gave us the track position we needed," Petty said. "It ended up being a great call and we got a great finish." Quotable "No, I don't really remember coming from Turn 4 to the pits. I just remember kind of waking up on pit road and the guys were pulling me out of the car." -- Jimmie Johnson, who crashed on Lap 143 but somehow got the car back to pit road |