Motorsports provides an interesting conundrum: How does a driver go all-out for the win while being efficient with some key components that propel his racecar forward, namely the engine, drivetrain and tires?
Overdrive the car and you’ll burn up the tires and burn through fuel. Underdrive the car and you’ll get passed. Where’s the balance?
The balance exists, it just happens to be on the edge of a razor blade. Thankfully for Tony Stewart and his Stewart-Haas Racing team, sponsor
Mobil 1 is also a technology partner, whose realm is to find efficiencies under the most extreme conditions, ultimately allowing Stewart to get the most out of his Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet. The on-track laboratory is why Mobil 1 is aligned with the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and why the world’s leading synthetic motor oil brand is the official motor oil of NASCAR.
Highlighting this partnership is Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy adorning the hood and rear bumper of Stewart’s No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet during this weekend’s Samsung Mobile 500 Sprint Cup event at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
The swath of green across the hood and rear bumper is more than skin deep. In promoting Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy, the scheme showcases the technology that’s transferred from a racecar’s 500 pulse-pounding miles between the high-banked corners connecting two main straightaways to a street car’s pounding of the pavement on Main Street.
In the case of Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy, the line of fully synthetic motor oils provide better fuel economy due to its lower viscosity, which means less energy is required to circulate the oil. This results in the engine being more efficient, which leaves more energy to drive the vehicle forward. For the everyday driver, Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy oils deliver up to 2 percent fuel economy improvement. That’s a savings of about six cents per gallon of fuel. (Note that $.06/gallon is based on $3/gallon gasoline. Today, the savings is more like $.08/gallon, given $4/gallon gasoline.)
Like the line of synthetic motor oils he is promoting, Stewart has proven to be incredibly efficient as well. The three-time and reigning Sprint Cup champion has won seven of the last 18 Sprint Cup races dating back to September 2011. And of those seven wins, five have come at intermediate-type ovals – Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. (September 2011), Texas Motor Speedway (November 2011), Homestead-Miami Speedway (November 2011), Las Vegas Motor Speedway (March 2012) and Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. (March 2012).
In fact, Stewart is two-for-two in the intermediate tracks visited thus far in 2012 – the 1.5-mile Las Vegas oval and the 2-mile Fontana oval.
Saturday night’s Samsung Mobile 500 marks the third intermediate track the Sprint Cup Series will visit this season, and Stewart has to be the favorite not only because of his 2012 track record, but because of the way he won in his last visit to Texas.
Stewart dominated the AAA Texas 500 in November by leading seven times for a race-high 173 laps. His average speed of 152.705 mph made for the fastest Sprint Cup race in Texas Motor Speedway history, and it moved Stewart to within three points of leader Carl Edwards in the championship standings with just two races remaining. Stewart went on to win the championship, adding to the titles he earned in 2002 and 2005.
The victory was Stewart’s second at Texas, with his first coming in similar fashion in November 2006 when he led eight times for a race-high 278 laps.
In addition to those wins, Stewart has a pole, five top-fives, 11 top-10s and has led a total of 727 laps in his 20 career Sprint Cup starts at Texas. And in the last 14 Sprint Cup races at Texas, Stewart has the best average running position (8.525), the most laps led (712), the best average green-flag speed (173.136 mph), the second-best driver rating (105.8) and has spent a series-high 3,895 laps in the top-15 (83.1 percent).
Augmenting his Sprint Cup success at Texas, Stewart has an IROC win (April 2006) and three IZOD IndyCar Series starts that saw him lead from the pole twice en route to racking up 208 of a possible 624 laps led (33.4 percent).
Now Stewart returns to Texas on the same hot streak he started seven months ago. And with Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy emblazoned on his Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevy, Stewart is blazing his way toward another Sprint Cup title.
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