Fuel strategy is nothing new in NASCAR, but what RFK Racing did in the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was unprecedented.

Recently in the Next Gen era of NASCAR, races have been turned into track-position games. Drivers would save fuel to spend less time on pit road so that they could pass other drivers there instead of in the draft. But during Stage 1, the drivers took it to an extreme.

Ryan Preece was the first RFK driver to test how fast he could get to the front, going from being mid-pack to taking the lead on lap 7.

On lap 13, Brad Keselowski was running back in 28th, saving fuel in the pack, but decided to make his move to the front; by the next time through turn 3, he was leading. Chris Buescher, who started 5th, was already near the front of the field when the RFK cars got lined up in the draft.

Chase Elliott turned the fastest lap of the race at 47.546 seconds on lap 73 after everyone pitted during the stage. Before pit stops, drivers were cruising around Talladega at lap times as slow as 60 seconds.

RFK teammates Preece, Keselowski and Buescher decided to run full throttle and not save fuel. Their lap times were seconds faster than the field as the three cars motored away from the pack.

“Great game of poker where we just called the field,” Keselowski said on the radio. “I love it.”

Before RFK Racing pitted on lap 52, its gap over the field was over 45 seconds as the three RFK cars were catching the back of the pack. The leaders had such a big advantage that they were getting drafting help from the back of the pack. The lead did not last long because after pit stops, the other drivers sped up to catch up to the RFK trio.

Buescher won Stage 1, Preece finished 2nd and Keselowski finished 3rd. At the highest level of stock car racing, RFK Racing was able to outsmart the entire field for stage points.

“A little birdie told me that you are smiling in there,” Keselowski’s crew said on the radio after the finish of Stage 1. “You wanted it to do that for a while.”

“Long time, really long time,” Keselowski said. “Glad that you had the balls to call it.”

The race results did not reflect the Stage 1 results. Buescher finished 32nd after being involved in the big wreck that saw Joey Logano flip. Keselowski was also involved in the wreck but was still running at the finish and placed 24th. Preece ended up with a 13th-place finish.

Having such a huge advantage in NASCAR is rare these days, and what RFK Racing did might never happen again at Talladega.

Photo Credit: Ford Racing