Notes: Elliott has hard time with commitment in return

CONCORD, N.C. -- Bill Elliott drove the No. 21 Ford Fusion sponsored by the Air Force, and was hanging around on the lead lap when he got caught up in a three-car wreck involving Roush-Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards and David Ragan on Lap 220.

Elliott, a former Cup champion who was driving for the first time since the final race of last season at Homestead, blamed himself. Edwards, who was running third at the time and had a strong car, had slowed after having a tire go down and Elliott said he misjudged the best way to get by him and Ragan after Ragan rammed into Edwards.

Lap-by-Lap

Casey Mears used fuel to his advantage and stayed out while others came in to pit. The move worked as Mears holds on to win the Coca-Cola 600.

• Complete story, click here

"They came down and I shouldn't have hit him," Elliott admitted. "I just shouldn't have hit him. I just committed too late to go down. I tried to wait too long. ... I just kind of already committed to come down and I couldn't get my foot off the brake."

Elliott was credited with a 38th-place finish as a result.

Tough way to treat a teammate

Edwards appeared to be limping toward the pits uneventfully when he suddenly lost control of his No. 99 Ford and spun up the track, giving Ragan nowhere to go. But Ragan still thought he should have been able to get by his Roush-Fenway teammate, which would have spared both of them a great deal of pain.

"My spotter was doing a great job. He told me the 99 was having a problem and, of course, I could see that," Ragan said. "I really hated to get into Carl. I just thought he would come up the track a lot faster. ... I thought I could squeeze through the middle. I was just trying not to wreck myself and turned it down the hill and -- guess what? -- I wrecked myself."

Running on empty

Tony Stewart was leading Sunday's race when he pitted for a splash of fuel with nine laps to go, following Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin into the pits.

While others stayed out and gambled on fuel mileage, which enabled Casey Mears to win the race and J.J. Yeley, Kyle Petty, Reed Sorenson and Brian Vickers to round out the top five, Stewart's crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, said he had no choice but to call Stewart into the pits at the time.

"It was frustrating, because I felt like we had more to lose than we did to gain by staying out," Zipadelli said. "If we didn't make it and we ran out [of gas] with two to go, we would have ended up 18th or something. That wouldn't have been very good."

Stewart ended up finishing sixth -- a bitter pill to swallow after leading a total of 76 laps. (Continued)