No. 42 driver ran out of gas from lead minutes before race called
BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Crew chief Chris Heroy's impromptu rain dance may have been a solid one on artistic merit, but the technical scores were fittingly low on the basis of timing alone.
Had the Chip Ganassi Racing crew chief been able to coax the drain-clogging rain storm to hit Michigan International Speedway just three laps earlier Sunday, Kyle Larson might've been sitting pretty in Victory Lane for the first time in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career.
With severe weather bearing down on the 2-mile track ahead of what wound up being the final restart, Heroy elected to leave Larson on the race track with precious little fuel sloshing in the tank of the No. 42 Chevrolet. The move propelled Larson from 10th place into the lead and within grasp of a Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoff spot.
When the car ran dry on Lap 133, just three laps before precipitation brought out another weather-related caution period, Heroy could only shrug and smile. While Larson lamented what might've been, he also lauded his crew chief's plucky late-race decision.
"I was extremely happy that he made that call," Larson said after settling for 17th in the Quicken Loans 400. "That was our only shot of getting a win and really about our only shot at making the Chase at this point. I was happy with it, just wish the rain would've come a little bit sooner. I could see it coming off (Turn) Four, just only a matter of time before it got here. I just ran out of fuel there and had to come and pit. Man, so close."
Heroy wasn't doing any second-guessing, either. After the yellow flag flew for debris in the 125th lap, the veteran crew chief opted for track position, hoping that the lively activity and red splotches looming on the weather radar would be his best friends. The gamble was mistimed by just a matter of minutes.
"I mean, we were running 10th and we knew the rain was coming and we knew it was intense," Heroy said. "I'll give up 10th to have a chance to win any day. So, no question on my end."
With results of third and eighth in his previous two Sprint Cup races, Larson and Co. seemed poised to gain momentum at Michigan after a season marked by uneven finishes. But the on-again, off-again rain that forced four red flags over the course of 138 laps made for an especially quirky and abbreviated event.
"It was super-frustrating to get in your cars, go out there, run a lap, come in, sit for half an hour, go back out, knowing the rain's coming," Larson said. "We did that a few times, so I know we were all antsy getting ready to go racing, but NASCAR, you've got to applaud them for trying and we did actually get a lot of racing in there, too."
The scattershot nature of the race, run in fits and starts, could've made it a difficult one for Heroy to call from atop the No. 42 pit box. Instead, he welcomed the challenge -- one that would've worked out perfectly if not for a faster-moving storm and another gallon of gas.
"Yeah, but it's also one of those things where we really like that," Heroy said of the sporadic periods of green-flag racing. "We're really on each other about focusing and staying on top of what's going on around us. We knew it was going to be a rain-shortened race, so we started going for it right away.
"It was fun, something different. Better than watching us run in circles for four hours. It was cool. Too bad we didn't win it, but we'll get the next one."