Vickers gives Red Bull maiden Cup win

Vickers started the race from pole position for the sixth time this year and ran for most of the afternoon as one of the top contenders for victory, although Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin looked to be the fastest cars of the day, leading more than three quarters of the distance between them.

However, once again at Michigan fuel mileage became a factor in the closing stages of the race and suddenly the fastest cars of the day were forced to get on fuel-saving mode following their last stop. Johnson led the group of drivers who were short on gas when the green flag waved for the final restart with 38 laps to go.

The Red Bull Toyota of Vickers briefly took the lead from Johnson, but then the Hendrick driver regained the lead and both of them started to pull away from third-placed Mark Martin. From behind, Dale Earnhardt Jr started to quickly move up the field after taking advantage of the last caution to pit for the final time and therefore had enough to make it to the end.

Vickers tried to get in Johnson's draft as much as he could to try to save more fuel than the Hendrick driver, who eventually ran out of gas with three laps to go.

As it were, those laps behind Johnson and some fuel-saving during the last two cautions, allowed Vickers to stretch his fuel mileage enough to be able to cross the finish line first only for the second time in his career in the Sprint Cup series, and for the first time for his team in a points-paying race in NASCAR's top series.

"It was tough, there was a part of me that was terrified because I knew there was a chance that we would run out [of fuel], but there was a part of me that was kind of excited," said Vickers about the penultimate lap when he inherited the lead after Johnson ran out of gas.

"I knew what we needed to save. We went through the exact same thing here last time. I was told to save three laps and I saved four. I did the same thing all over again, so I really felt we had the fuel to get to the end - but you just never know, and the last thing I wanted to do, trying to get in the Chase, was running out of fuel. We were lucky today."

Vickers' victory allowed him to move up in the drivers standing to 13th place, only 12 points off from Mark Martin's 12th position with just three races to go before the Chase starts.

Jeff Gordon also saved enough fuel to make it to the end and finish second, also taking second in the championship from Johnson. His last stop - as that of Vickers and Johnson - was on lap 149 with 51 still remaining. In normal conditions the maximum fuel mileage was 45 laps, and since they pitted for the last time, only 8 laps were run under caution.

"I really felt confident we were going to make it, even though [crew chief] Steve [Letarte] told me we were four short when we left pit road that last pitstop," Gordon said.

"I shut the engine off so much. I felt like I got us six laps. At least with the caution, I felt like I did. Felt pretty confident I didn't have to conserve a whole lot. [Dale Earnhardt] Junior was pressuring me a lot at the end. I was waiting, to see if the 48 [Johnson] and 83 [Vickers] ran out. One did, one didn't."

Earnhardt Jr finished third as he didn't have enough speed to be able to make the most of not having to worry about fuel mileage in the end. He led the race for 6 laps after staying out when the leaders pitted for the last time during the penultimate caution. His third place comes as his best result with his new crew chief Lance McGrew.

"I was trying to catch them," said Earnhardt. "I think I was there. We were the fastest car up until we got to within about 15 car-lengths of Jeff. I got real tight. I'm sure by that time, they have to race for the win eventually.

"Somebody is going to start to try to chance it first. It looked like Vickers was the one that did that. He pushed the 48 much harder than probably Jimmie was wanting to go."

Carl Edwards, regarded as one of the best fuel-savers in the field, was also in the same window as the leaders and succeeded at finishing fourth without an additional stop. Behind him Sam Hornish Jr finished fifth in the same strategy, scoring his second career top five in the Sprint Cup Series.

Casey Mears was sixth, scoring his best result of the year while rookie Joey Logano impressed on his second Cup race at Michigan with seventh.

Mark Martin, winner at Michigan in June also on fuel mileage, was running 11th in the final laps but he also ran out of gas and crossed the finish line in 31st place, dropping down in the drivers standing.

It wasn't a good day either for points' leader Tony Stewart, who ran out of sequence at one point to try to gain track position but could only manage a 17th place in the end. Kurt Busch also had a rough day, crashing into David Ragan after making contact with him on lap 120, dropping two spots in the championship as a consequence.

Juan Pablo Montoya was involved in an incident as well, when Kasey Kahne punctured his left rear tyre, causing him to lose a lap, as he had to pit under green. The Colombian managed to get back on the lead lap and finish 19th, which was enough for him to keep seventh place in the points, although with less of a cushion to a menacing Vickers.

Pos  Driver              Make        Laps
 1.  Brian Vickers       Toyota      200
 2.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet   200
 3.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet   200
 4.  Carl Edwards        Ford        200
 5.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge       200
 6.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet   200
 7.  Joey Logano         Toyota      200
 8.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet   200
 9.  David Reutimann     Toyota      200
10.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota      200
11.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge       200
12.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   200
13.  David Stremme       Dodge       200
14.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        200
15.  Ryan Newman         Chevrolet   200
16.  Bill Elliott        Ford        200
17.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet   200
18.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet   200
19.  Juan Montoya        Chevrolet   200
20.  Greg Biffle         Ford        200
21.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet   200
22.  AJ Allmendinger     Dodge       200
23.  Kyle Busch          Toyota      200
24.  Brad Keselowski     Chevrolet   200
25.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge       200
26.  Paul Menard         Ford        200
27.  Michael Waltrip     Toyota      200
28.  John Andretti       Chevrolet   200
29.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge       200
30.  David Ragan         Ford        200
31.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet   200
32.  Jamie McMurray      Ford        200
33.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet   199
34.  Scott Speed         Toyota      199
35.  Marcos Ambrose      Toyota      199
36.  Kurt Busch          Dodge       146
37.  Robby Gordon        Toyota       97
38.  Mike Bliss          Dodge        62
39.  Joe Nemechek        Toyota       40
40.  David Gilliland     Chevrolet    39
41.  Mike Skinner        Toyota       33
42.  Dave Blaney         Toyota       18
43.  Bobby Labonte        Ford        18