Rookie holds off four-time NASCAR champ by hypermiling

Some nice publicity for hypermiling:

Joey Logano, a 19-year-old rookie on the NASCAR circuit, won a major race. In a sport defined by gas-guzzling speed, rain fell leading to a yellow flag and slow driving. Mr. Logano, with four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon closing in on him, needed to hold on to his lead until the race was called after 273 laps due to bad weather. And that meant conserving as much fuel as possible to avoid a pit stop.

Yup, he took a page out of extreme hypermilers – the folks who try to stretch their fuel mileage as far as possible. Here’s how he described it on NPR’s All Things Considered: “I was just trying to save as much fuel as I can by cutting the motor off and coasting as long as I can,” he said. He was about five laps from running out of gas when the race was called.