Crew chief Steve Addington said it was incumbent on his team to find the cause of Sunday’s fuel-injection malfunction that fouled #14-Tony Stewart’s bid for a top-10 finish at Phoenix International Raceway. And with NASCAR teams getting accustomed to an electronic fuel-injection system after 63 years of using carburetors, the problems aren ‘t likely to be exclusive to the three-time Sprint Cup champion. Stewart, regarded as a master of fuel conservation, was attempting to save gas Sunday when a caution came out on lap 247 of 312. Running 13th and hoping to make it to the finish without another pit stop, Stewart went to one of his old gas-saving tricks – shutting off his engine. The problem: It wouldn ‘t come back on. ‘Turned it back on, and it never re-fired,’ Stewart said. ‘I honestly don ‘t know why. It’s not really my department.’ By the time Addington’s crew diagnosed the problem (a tripped breaker switch), Stewart returned to the track two laps down, on his way to a 22nd-place finish. Immediately after the race, Addington huddled with engine specialists at Hendrick Motorsports, which provides engines for Stewart-Haas Racing. ‘We ‘ll keep working with them to try to figure out what happened,’ Addington said. ‘We ‘ve got to dig into it and find out what happened, when it happened and what caused it.’(USA Today)(3-6-2012)
