Speed is no longer an all-powerful asset for NASCAR drivers. At least on Superspeedways, as drivers have recently demonstrated. The season-opener Daytona 500 race witnessed drivers going overboard with the fuel-saving strategy. The same racers claimed that this is a sign of dropping racing quality, including Ryan Blaney.

Blaney, holding two wins in Daytona and three wins in Talladega, has a penchant for dominating drafting-style tracks. Despite that, he hung his face as he talked about an exacerbated gas stint in the upcoming Talladega race.

Ryan Blaney is not proud of his fuel tactic

Saving fuel translates to shorter time on pit road so that you do not lose out on track position. It also leads to dropped speed levels, as any rushed driver would run out of fuel quickly. When the Daytona 500 ended, the fuel-saving tactic received a volley of pointed arrows from fans as well as drivers. 

Ryan Blaney himself had engaged in this tactic, as he said, “That one run where me and Bill were leading the pack, it was really slow, slower than qualifying.” However, it went in vain as a wreck relegated him to 30th place. Now as another superspeedway approaches, Blaney answered Kelly Crandall’s question about the topic with remorse.

“It’s unfortunate that’s just kind of how it is now…You’re saving gas to take less gas than other people on the pit road. You’re gonna make more time up that way than you are sometimes on the race track. Especially if you have those green flag stops here. It’s pretty important.”

Blaney, the contending Talladega winner, expects the tactic will aggravate at this superspeedway. “I don’t know if you’ll see me that aggressive, because I think guys have like realized that now, and they’ll just push the pace, and just kind of go from back to the front…’I think everyone’s gotten used to it. I think people have figured out how to counter it. So you might see kind of an interesting deal there. We’re in a weird spot, but a lot of guys are going to be saving gas.”

Ryan Blaney even suggested a solution for this head-scratcher. And as it turns out, NASCAR officials are also looking into it.

The fuel tank might be the savior

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In the heat of the competition, drivers engage in the best tactic to get ahead of others. And on superspeedways with long stages, fuel-saving is the common way out. But this drops racing quality in general, as Ryan Blaney said, “I don’t necessarily enjoy it, I know people don’t enjoy watching fuel saving.” But he also offered a solution, “I don’t know how to fix it, put five-gallon fuel tanks in them or something like that”.

And NASCAR is focusing on a similar solution. Increasing the fuel cell size or shortening race stages are not on the cards. However, making fuel flow faster from the can to the car might help.

Elton Sawyer, Senior VP of competition, spoke along similar lines. “Ultimately, we want to drop the green flag on the race and they’re racing as hard as they can until they drop the checkered flag. There’s some strategy in between there, and we will definitely take a much deeper dive into this particular situation and the strategy that goes into it.”

We can only wait and see how much fuel dominates drivers’ minds at Talladega Superspeedway.