Even though drivers who chose not to pit on Lap 137 — including race winner Logano — gambled and won, eighth-place finisher Dale Earnhardt Jr. said crew chief Steve Letarte’s call to refuel under caution on that lap was the right one.
Earnhardt had one of the strongest cars at Pocono. He led 36 laps, second only to Logano’s 49. But neither the driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet nor his crew chief was willing to gamble their position in the Sprint Cup standings by risking an empty fuel cell.
Earnhardt is second in points, 10 behind leader Matt Kenseth, and there are 12 races left before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field is set at Richmond.
“I back his call that he made today,” Earnhardt said of Letarte. “I don’t like running out of gas. I ran out of gas here one year, and that pisses me off so bad that it’s hard to recover from it the next couple of weeks. I’m not going to give up 30 points or 20 points in a race — not just yet. I like the call we made today.
“We raced back up to eighth. Didn’t win the race. Might not have won the race. Might have run third — I don’t know. It was the right call for us at this time. We had a really, really good car. That was fun. That was the funnest car I’ve had all year and the best car I’ve had at Pocono in a long, long time. I’m trying not to be too upset about it, because we did a lot of good things today, and we’ve got a lot to look forward to.”
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