Late caution sees strategy shakeup at Chicagoland

The caution on Lap 153, the fifth of the day, saw every possible scenario unfold. Three cars (Brian Scott, Chris Buescher and Aric Almirola) stayed out, some cars pitted for fuel only (including Ty Dillon and Brendan Gaughan), some took two tires (including Harvick) and some took four (Busch, Trevor Bayne).
 
The yellow that fell on Lap 166 scrambled those strategies even further, as those who saved tires had to pit frenetically to put them on, and those that considered a long green-flag run were left disappointed.
 
"We thought it was better to save a set and try to do something with them later," said Regan Smith, who pitted for four tires and came out 16th. He finished eighth. "The problem is that next caution came too early and didn't really allow us to utilize them."
 
Still, it was a somewhat satisfying ending for Smith, whose No. 7 Chevrolet only ran in the top-10 after gaining significant ground on pit road. What made the finish even more palatable is seeing JR Motorsports teammate and series points leader Chase Elliott finishing two spots behind him in 10th.

Elliott's day was the exact opposite of Smith's. His car ran up front all day and led two laps, but misfired on pit road late. There was a miscommunication on the Lap 153 pit stop, and the No. 9 team put on four tires when the call was for two.
 
"We struggled all day. We'd have a good run, bad run, good run, bad run," Smith said. "(Crew chief) Ryan (Pemberton) made the right call and bailed us out today. I messed up at the end (by losing a spot), and I cost us points. Kind of frustrated about that, but we fought hard and what looked like was going to be a big points loss turned into us gaining a few."
 
Bayne made four tires work well, but he was one of the few to do so. Harvick won the race after taking two tires, and Bayne lost ground early and nearly couldn't catch back up after the final caution lasted eight laps while crews cleaned the track.
 
In fact, the driver of the No. 6 didn't climb into the top five until the final few laps to finish fifth, his best effort since a third-place showing on Aug. 2 at Iowa Speedway.
 
"I was glad to be on four tires," Bayne said. "We did lose a lot of track position, so I was hoping it would pay off. The hardest part was watching all those laps go by as they put the SpeedyDry down, and you're watching valuable laps click away that you need to get that position."
 
Not everyone who took four tires was as pleased as Bayne, though. Busch went from running in the lead to restarting 16th on Lap 159.
 
The following short green-flag run slowed his run, and although he would finish third, it wasn't a happy top-five effort.
 
"We knew we needed to come down and get tires, and obviously four was the wrong call," Busch said. "It put us behind and I fought my butt out there and could only get to third. … I don't know."

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