Carl Edwards and his No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing team had seemingly played the perfect strategy in Sunday's AdvoCare 500k at Phoenix International Raceway. The team got was running up front and when it came time for a final round of green-flag pit stops, Edwards short-pitted and was among the first to fill up with gas.
When the green-flag stops had cycled through, Edwards was the leader and it appeared he had a victory in the bag. He did - but was a little over a lap short, as he ran out of fuel as just as he was about to take the white flag which signals the start of the final lap.
After the race, Edwards was asked about the race's conclusion and if he had any indication he was close on fuel.
Here was his answer:
"I did not think we were that close. I saved just a little bit, but Kevin (Harvick) was catching me just a little bit too much and I thought I better just keep going. In hindsight, I definitely should have tried to save more, but we thought we were a lap to the good," he said.
"It's gonna take me a little while to get over this one. We did everything right, we just didn’t calculate the fuel correctly and I’m as big a part of that as anyone. We’re all in this together, so we’ll just go to Homestead and win it.
"Jimmy (Fennig, crew chief) talked to me about saving a little bit to have some extra, and I did that a couple of laps, but Kevin closed in and was obviously not saving fuel. There at the end we were a lap-and-a-half short or so and that’s tough, but we had an awesome car. We did everything right, we just miscalculated that one part and that’s NASCAR. You’ve got to be perfect."
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