Reed Sorenson coasted home. Credit: Autostock

Sorenson goes for win, literally comes up empty

Bowyer gambles, comes away with third career top-five finish

FONTANA, Calif. -- Chip Ganassi, whose teams have gone winless in the Nextel Cup Series since 2002, provided the best answer as to why his team would ask a rookie to run the final 108 miles on only one tank of fuel.

"It was a risk worth taking," Ganassi said. "Nothing to lose."

Victory LaneKasey Kahne celebrates his Sony HD 500 win at Fontana Final lapsKasey Kahne takes the lead on the last lap Top finishersDale Jr., Gordon and Edwards talk about their night at Fontana Tire outBrian Vickers blows his left-front tire, damaging fender of car Early cautionRobby Gordon's spin on Lap 10 brings out the first caution Race Rewind - FontanaWatch a condensed version of the Sony HD 500 from Fontana Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836 SONY HD 500 •   Official Results, click here •   Official Standings, click here

Rookie Reed Sorenson came within two laps of stealing the Sony HD 500 from Kasey Kahne on Sunday night, as his Dodge led eight laps before running out of fuel on Lap 249.

Fontana was a tale of three rookies -- Sorenson, Clint Bowyer and J.J. Yeley -- who all tried to run the final 54 laps on one tank of fuel.

Bowyer, who finished third, was the only one of the three to make it. Sorenson ran out with two laps to go, and Yeley finally yielded and pitted under green in the closing laps.

Sorenson, who wound up 21st, didn't think his Dodge would make it, and he said he was merely trying to finish and score his second top-five of the year.

"I knew there was an 80 percent chance we were not going to make it," Sorenson said. "I couldn't go any harder. That was as hard as we could go. If we got passed by the 9 and made it on fuel, it would have been worth it.

His showing was enough to put a scare into race winner Kasey Kahne and crew chief Kenny Francis, who were starting to think that Sorenson just might pull it off.

"I could tell he was saving fuel, but he just didn't get quite enough good mileage," Kahne said.

Bowyer made two pit stops during the Lap 191 debris caution, and crew chief Gil Martin topped off Bowyer's Chevrolet just before the green flag. Martin made sure that gasman Ron Liddell packed the fuel cell as tightly as possible.

"We stayed on and stayed on the cell all we could," Martin said. "We ran out on the checkered flag lap. We knew he was going to run out right there. It started sputtering right there coming off two at the checkered flag."

Clint Bowyer finished a career best. Credit: Autostock

Martin wasn't intending to run the final 54 laps on one tank of gas because he was certain that the race would not go green from there. But when the green-flag laps ticked off without a caution, he knew his hand was forced.

"I really didn't think they would run [without a caution], but they did," Martin said. "We were working on it the last 20 laps to draft all we could, that is all you can do. We followed [Yeley] until he pitted at the end."

The third-place finish was a career-high for Bowyer, who had a car good enough to stay in the top 10 for the majority of the night.

"It is nice to have something finally go your way," Bowyer said. "Finally, a bit of luck paid off there."