How did Jimmie manage to take a 20+ second advantage over Mark Martin when Mark’s pit stop was only a 7 second pit stop? Especially when Mark was leading the race when he made his stop with 9 laps to go.
Heres where the fun begins. Marks stop may have been 7 seconds in the pit box. Because that is all that Fox showed us. But what Chad did was time how long it to Mark to come down pit lane. He also timed him how long it took him to leave pit lane. Which is about another 14 to 15 seconds. Most of knows that it takes 1 minute to travel 1 mile if we are going 60 miles per hour. Phoenix is a 1 mile track. So if the drivers are doing 35 to 40 second laps. They are traveling anywhere from 115 miles per hour to 126. Give or take a few miles per hour.
Remeber they slow down to make the turns. So if Mark took about 21 to 25 seconds to make his pit stop. Jimmie is still at full speed putting Mark even more seconds behind him. Because Mark has to follow pit road speed which is about 55 miles per hour. Alot slower then the 120 miles per hour or so that Jimmie is running. That means that now Jimmie has extended his lead by however many seconds it took Mark to get back up to speed. So when Mark pitted with 9 laps to go. That meant that Jimmie could slow down about 4 or 5 miles per hour give or take a few and conserve gas. Mark at this time is no longer a threat.
The only one that Jimmie had to worry about was Clint Bowyer. But with 6 laps to go. Clint was 10 seconds behind Jimmie. So which meant that now Jimmie could continue to slow down and save gas. Now had Mark stayed out and called Chads bluff. Jimmie would have definetly run out of gas along with Mark. But Im sure that Chad was probably waiting until 3 or 4 to go and he would have brought Jimmie in for a splash.
Its kind of interesting when you sit back and do the math. Im sure that Chad was also listening to the radio to see what the other drivers were gonna do. It would be cool if Fox or whoever is covering the races would start the clock right when the drivers get to the comittment line. This way we would have a better idea of how long they really do spend on pit road.
Johnson was lucky this time on the gas mileage. Compare Dale Jr. and Johnson for a minute.
Both cars had pretty close the same set up. Johnson stayed back in the pack and slowly made his way to the front. I would imagine that move saved him some gas and tires.
Dale Jr. was flying on the track holding onto the front lead. His results was he used up his tires too quick and could have run out of gas thus having to pit and loose the lead.
You had two strategies here. Which one was the smartest?
Had Jimmie come in with 3-4 laps to go, he'd have lost the race. Bowyer would have been in Victory Lane (which would have NOT been a problem with me!).
Me thinks the next time they play a gas mileage gamble, they're going to get bit in the ####. They'll go from leading to finishing somewhere in the upper 20's.
When Johnson had to pit awhile back when the others had many laps back, He had done a few laps under yellow not using much fuel up. When he stop he was alot lower on fuel. That pit stop probaly gave him just alittle more then the others.
Another yellow and they all came in and did pit stops, this should have gave him more fuel then the others in tank I think, Now the end with 10 laps to go is a splash and go, NO TIRES. Carl was in maybe 3 seconds in box for gas and he made it.
I don't think Chad would have brought him with 3 or 4 to go cause if the yellow came out he would be stuck way behind and no laps to recover from.
Great job on doing the math stuff on this, and again the best car didn't win the race. I wanted Mark to win even when it look like it was Mark vs Dale Jr.
3fan- Thats a lot of math for a shrink but what I heard was Jimmie over-rode Chad on the call. Chad called him in for splash and go and Jimmie said no way...so maybe JJ is the math genius of the team? I was almost peeing my pants when Jr looked to win...maybe next time!! At least it was exciting at the end. Great post 3fan!
Yep looks like a problem for Forensics 2 to chase down. Maybe he can also explain how a 500 lap race becomes a 312 lap race and why so damn many mystery cautions flew once again.
Last edited by BeaverNut on April 14th at 1:56 PM.
Yep I did see it F2...Krap on the track and no cautions, no Krap on the track and it is called debris...and the infamous 360 spin...with no contact and still a caution. Sounds like the back markers can have some fun with spinning just for the hell of it if they want a pit call.
Maybe they have a make-up call like all referees?
Last edited by BeaverNut on April 15th at 2:02 PM.
Noahspop- Actually I heard that he was using some sort of octane booster. LOL
ion- Yeah you can only go to the well so many times.
Forensic- See what a few cups of coffee can do? I was sitting here watching the end of the race and started thinking. How in the heck did Jimmie go from 2nd place to leading by 20+ seconds. So thats when the caffein kicked in.
Kristen- After I fifnshed all of that math. I almost called for an appointment.
I am a hard core Nascar fan from Cali . I also love football, baseball, golf and basketball. I try to attend as many races a year as I can. Ive been to Kansas,Infine on,Phoenix,Ve gas,Californi a just to name a few. Ive been a fan going on about 20+ years. There is nothing like short track racing at Irwindale on saturday nights. Also love to watch and attend drag races. Of course John Force is my favorite driver. Im also a fan of Tony Schumacher. Maybe someday to be able to write about Nascar.
