Power Rankings: Fuel gambit pays off for more than just J.J.

Updated April 14

Jimmie Johnson was the biggest winner Saturday at Phoenix, but he wasn't the only successful gambler.

Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Casey Mears and Bobby Labonte all greatly enhanced their finishing positions by choosing to gamble on fuel mileage.

A gutsy move late in Saturday night's race helped Clint Bowyer finish second in Phoenix. (Getty Images)

Bowyer was a top 10 car much of the evening, but he was able to pull out second, his best finish of the year, with the team's decision to stay out.

"It was a good call by (crew chief) Gil (Martin)," Bowyer said. "He told me from the get-go we were only three laps from making it all the way. I just sort of started saving it and saving my brakes more than anything. And then in turn, it was saving fuel too. So it just worked out for us today."

Bowyer's Richard Childress Racing teammate Burton also benefited from the fuel mileage gambit, though he wasn't particularly pleased with his performance.

"We were going to run 11th, 12th or something like that, but (crew chief) Scott (Miller) made a great call and got us a sixth," Burton said. "We will certainly take it. I am disappointed in how we ran. I am disappointed in myself.

"It was a good finish for us, but we are missing something at this track, I am missing something at this track. It has been a thorn in our side."

Mears, a teammate of Johnson's at Hendrick Motorsports, had an average running position of 20th for the race but snuck away with 11th after the No. 25 team chose to forgo a final stop for fuel.

"It was a gamble worth taking, we needed the points," said Mears, who is 25th in the standings. "Once we committed to it, we just went ahead and let some of those guys go ahead and go. I'm excited about where we ended up. I'm not really excited about our performance, but the guys did a great job and it was a good team effort."

Labonte spent but 13 laps in the top 15 and had just four "quality passes" -- defined as the number of times passing a car running in the top 15 while under a green flag -- yet finished just one spot behind Mears in 12th.

"We really fought all night," Labonte said. "I don't want to say that these cars don't drive good because they can drive better. We just didn't do the best job that we could do. We came here and tested and were awful. We had a lot of things going against us tonight, but I'll take it."

The biggest gambler of all was Johnson, but the funny thing is, it wasn't necessarily a risk the 48 team needed to make in order to take the victory. The 48 car was strong all night and crew chief Chad Knaus noted that the win wasn't simply something they lucked into.

"We didn't win it on fuel mileage," Knaus said. "You know, we could have pitted right there with everybody. Say if everybody came down pit road and took two tires, everybody came down pit road and took four tires, I think we would have been in position to race for the win."

Power Rankings after Phoenix: