Stenhouse: Fuel strategy is now the “only thing that matters” at Talladega

When NASCAR comes to Talladega, the fans expect to see three and four-wide action. And in recent years, that’s exactly what they’ve gotten, but looks can be deceiving. While the field races around the track four-wide, ten rows deep, everything seems suspiciously under control. And that’s because it is. No one is actually going flat-out in those situations. 

In modern-day NASCAR with the current generation of car, fuel-saving has become the key to winning at superspeedways — or at least getting your car near the front. Drivers will spend the majority of the race without even running full throttle, allowing for these spectacular images of four-wide racing, but they’re not really racing. They are effectively flying in formation in order to hit a fuel number.

In recent years, the pack is sometimes moving so slowly, cars racing by themselves without the draft have been lapping faster than the entire field. And no matter the length of the stages or natural cautions that appear along the way, this is always the case. But why?

Save fuel above all else

“Because tires don’t mean anything, for the most part, especially here at Talladega,” explained Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who is the sport’s most recent Cup Series winner at Talladega. “The only thing that matters is how much fuel you have in your car.  So I guess, no matter what, if you shorten the stages and you can make it all the way on fuel, you are still trying to save so that your stop between the stages is shorter. Because you can put four tires on it faster than you can fill it full of fuel.  So, no matter what, people are still going to save fuel and try and make it through your pit stops as fast as possible.”

For those stated reasons, Stenhouse said, “I don’t see a way that you can drastically change it to not ride around and save fuel.” It’s just the way things are now.

Of course, fuel-saving is not a new concept in superspeedway racing. Everyone remembers the single-file trains along the top that fans loathed in the past. But saving fuel has become even more important in recent years, especially with how difficult it is to move back-and-forth through the pack with the current car. Track position is key and a shorter pit stop is the easiest way to gain that advantage. But doing it in a four-wide pack is more visually appealing, and disguises what’s really going on.

“I guess for the fans, at least we are three and four wide here,” said Stenhouse, reflecting on how the way fuel-save races have changed in recent years. “Then you will have guys that want to make a run to the front and when you are three wide, it is more difficult to make that run to the front because you are gridlocked and nowhere to go. When we were single wide around the top, and you had a few guys that were impatient and wanted to go to the front, they could just drop down and really just drive to the front because we were all part throttle around the top. 

“So yeah, I don’t mind the side-by-side and three wide, it puts on a show. Then you always get the top lane that if they want to go to the front, they can, and they generally do. Then they will drop down and start saving fuel on the bottom and kind of stack the bottom line up. So, there are ways to get to the front, and I do find that nice.”

BJ McLeod, Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: David J. Griffin – Icon Sportswire – Getty Images

A change in mindset also to blame

But Stenhouse doesn’t entirely blame the car. He also believes the mindset around this style of racing has evolved since he first started competing at this level. He has four wins as a Cup Series driver, all at superspeedways and spanning across the last eight years.

“If the teams had learned quicker that we needed to save more fuel and have a quicker pit stop, then I think we would have been doing this a long time ago,” explained Stenhouse. “I think everybody just has the same information now and all the same people are working on it at the shop so yeah, I think the mindset is different than back in the day when I first started speedway racing when you just tried to stay up front. 

“Now it’s like if you are somewhere in the top 15 or 15th to 20th, you can leapfrog a lot of people and put yourself in a position to win. So for me, my guys are continually giving me updates of where I am at and saving fuel relative to everybody else in the field on every run that we have. I am taking that information and trying to position myself as far forward as I can without using fuel. And so that is a totally different mindset now in my opinion. I don’t really think its car related, but it’s a strategy. And it’s different plays and sometimes its not the most fun.”

Race winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr., JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

And the best place to save fuel is deep in the pack as it provides a driver with more off-throttle time, allowing them to jump more cars during the cycle of pit stops. Stenhouse qualified outside the top-30 for Sunday’s race, but that’s exactly where he started the previous two times he visited Victory Lane — including in the 2023 Daytona 500.

“Once you get to about 20th or 25th, it’s the best place to save fuel and be most efficient,” commented Stenhouse. “So, we don’t feel like we have to qualify on the pole to win for sure.”

In fact, the pole-sitter has never won a Cup race at Talladega since the beginning of the Next Gen era in 2022. Ryan Blaney won from tenth two years ago, which the highest any winner has started in the last eight Cup races here.