Please correct me if I'm wrong, but following twitter, I thought I saw there was a red flag for fuel stop with only a few laps left. I also thought there was a red for Bell, just a few laps earlier. Why wouldn't they fuel when stopped for Bells red? Only seems logical to me, pretty sure it was past half way. Thanks in advance for the answer.
That is not correct, yellow came out for Saldana on lap 38 and they stopped everyone for a red for fuel. I agree they should have had the open red with Bell's flip.
From TJslideways.com write up -
Shortly after Stewart took away the second spot Bell had a right rear tire let go, sending him into the wall and helicoptering down the track to bring out the red flag. Bell got out under his own power.
For the second night in a row this setup a final double-file restart with six laps to go before all restarts would be single file. Schatz was up for the challenge and pulled away again during the restart. The caution appeared again when Joey Saldana had a mechanical issue that nearly sent him into the wall in turn one.
This setup a single file restart where Stewart was able to hang on Schatz’s back bumper. Stewart worked the bottom while Schatz was on the cushion. Stewart pulled alongside Schatz on the bottom, but could not quite get ahead. Schatz went to the bottom in turn three while Stewart crossed up to the cushion. Stewart used the momentum at the top to take the lead. Just as Stewart took the lead, Schatz’s car began to sputter and slow down the front stretch. Schatz dropped back through the field and eventually Brent Marks got stacked up and made contact with the inside wall to bring out the caution flag on the final lap. This brought out a red flag for fuel. Schatz dropped back to seventh for the restart.
Stewart led the field to the green, white, checkered finish. Johnson tried to keep up with Stewart during the restart, but found himself under pressure by Abreu for the second spot. That was enough to allow Steawart to motor on to the victory. Johnson held on for the runner up spot with Abreu taking the final podium position. Sammy Swindell and Pittman rounded out the top five.
That's my point. Bell's red was with 6 laps remaining, they had to know at that point if another caution came out it would get dicey on fuel. They had everyone stopped, why not let them fuel. Bad decision that probably cost Schatz a lot of money!
Either way you slice it Shane Stewart won! WoO makes the decisions on when to do the refueling not us. We can second guess all the decisions they make on our armchair that's easy to do!
Great for Stewart and his team. Who is not my issue. Fuel stops are my beef, especially when you had a red 4 laps earlier. I'm sure there's some rule that applies, and that's what dictated the situation, but to me I think it should be done on a case by case basis. Or if there's a red past half way, you can fuel so there's no need for a fuel stop thereafter. Just had to vent about fuel stops, my pet peeve
