Fuelish gamble pays off for Earnhardt Jr. at Michigan

BROOKLYN, Mich.

It had been so long since Dale Earnhardt Jr. won, he forget how special it is.

Then he saw his protégé, Brad Keselowski, win a Nationwide series race earlier this month. The excitement and joy it brought to the team Earnhardt owns motivated him.

"I miss that so bad," Earnhardt said to himself while his winless streak climbed to 76 races.

On Sunday, winning was better than Earnhardt imagined.

A nerve-racking fuel mileage gamble - one crew chief Tony Eury Jr. admits he rarely makes - gave Earnhardt his first Sprint Cup victory in a points race since May 2006 at Richmond. Kasey Kahne, who had won two of the past three races, placed second in the LifeLock 400. Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers and Tony Stewart completed the top five.

As Earnhardt drove toward Victory Lane to reunite with his team after his 406-mile drive and share their joy, his car stopped.

Out of gas.

Then something better. His crew ran to the car and pushed it to Victory Lane.

"When's the last time you've seen a race team pushing the car to Victory Lane?" a giddy Earnhardt said. "We'll have some great pictures to look at."

Just as memorable for Earnhardt was seeing car owner Rick Hendrick standing near the car, smile wide as he celebrated his organization's second win of the season. When Earnhardt climbed from his car, his thrilled crew showered him with drinks and screams.

Soaked, he went to each crew member to congratulate them, shaking a hand, patting a back. He returned to his car and kissed it above the door.

Getting to this moment, though, tested Earnhardt and his team.

Earnhardt and the rest of the field pitted 53 laps from the finish. Shortly after the restart, Robby Gordon hit the wall to bring out the caution for four laps.

Suddenly, there was a chance some drivers could make it without stopping for fuel.

Eury and his team recalculated fuel mileage every lap. If Earnhardt saved enough, he could have half a gallon of fuel left by lap 200. Of course, that was a guess. The crew didn't know how much fuel Earnhardt was saving.

As others pitted for a splash of fuel, Earnhardt assumed the lead on lap 194. Jamie McMurray passed him the next lap.

"Am I supposed to let him go and save fuel?" Earnhardt radioed Eury.

"I don't know," Eury said.

Then silence. Seconds passed with no further comment.

"Run hard?" Earnhardt said.

"Six to go," spotter T.J. Majors said.

"What? Go?" Earnhardt replied.

Still nothing from Eury.

Finally, he responded.

"It's going to be close," said Eury, who had not made such an all-in gamble since 2005 and it failed.

Eury then added an expletive that told Earnhardt to go for it and then added: "We lose, we lose. We win, we win."

Earnhardt passed McMurray, although Earnhardt described their race as "comical."

McMurray also was trying to save fuel. Both drivers were going half throttle or less as they circled the 2-mile oval.

Then Sam Hornish Jr. spun two laps from the end, sending the race into overtime. McMurray pitted. He recovered to finish 10th.

Earnhardt would run out of fuel. So it seemed. "I was pretty sick," Eury said.

Earnhardt continued to save fuel. He gassed the engine, then shut it off and coasted, going past the pace car a few times before NASCAR told him not to do that again.

He maintained the lead when the race resumed. After Earnhardt took the white flag to begin the final lap, Patrick Carpentier

and Michael Waltrip crashed, ending the race. All Earnhardt had to do was finish the lap and earn his 18th career series victory.

That this happened on Father's Day and at Michigan International Speedway, where Earnhardt lost a memorable duel with his father in an IROC race in 1999, made this among his top wins ever.

Earnhardt has the YouTube clip of that race bookmarked on his computer so "I can watch it about any time I want," he said of the race he lost to his father by a few feet.

Now, he'll have this moment.

As he shared it with his sister on his cell phone, she cried. Later,

he smiled when asked about winning on this day.

"It means a lot to me to do well on Father's Day," he said. "It's a special day for my family."

And for him.