Monticello — Brian Vickers handed Toyota their first win at Michigan. It was Vicker's
second career Cup win.
"He (crew chief Ryan Pemberton) made the call, and it was the right
one," said Vickers. "He asked me to give him two laps of fuel, and I gave
him five.
"Man, it feels good to be in victory lane. We've been in so many down
times that it was hard to believe we'd ever make it."
Vickers, whose only other Cup victory came at Talladega in the fall of
2006, moved within 12 points of the Chase For The Sprint Cup.
Vickers, who started on the pole, was running a close second when Jimmie
Johnson's car sputtered on lap 198 of the 200-lap race. He took the lead and
coasted home ahead of Jeff Gordon.
"I knew I had saved a lot on the last pit stop leaving pit road. I knew
I had saved us a lap, maybe two laps on fuel," said Gordon. "Then when the
last caution came out, I shut the engine off, and figured I got another lap
or two there. I wasn't as good as Jimmie or Brian, but I felt like if I
coasted, I could make it."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third.
"It was a good run," he said. "We made some changes today that made the
car run a lot better, and I was able to get back up to the front."
Jimmie Johnson dominated the race, but finished 33rd.
"I'm extremely frustrated, but we've only won one race of fuel mileage
and that was at Phoenix," said Johnson. "We just don't do too well on fuel
mileage. It's not what we're good at and I think it's too risky for us to
try it."
Carl Edwards, Sam Hornish Jr., Casey Mears, Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer,
David Reutimann, and Denny Hamlin were the remaining top-10 finishers.
Top-15 Chase contenders with three races left before the 10-race Chase
begins: 1. Stewart-3500, 2. J. Gordon-3216, 3. Johnson-3197, 4.
Edwards-2995, 5. Hamlin-2986, 6. Kurt Busch-2957, 7. Montoya-2887, 8.
Kahne-2884, 9. Newman-2845, 10. Biffle-2821, 11. Kenseth-2811, 12.
Martin-2791, 13. Vickers-2779, 14. Bowyer-2733, 15. Kyle Busch-2721 Note:
Only 12 drivers will be included in the Chase.