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FONTANA, Calif. -- Ford will delay the debut of its new Sprint Cup engine, said Doug Hervey, who oversees Ford's North American racing operations, on Saturday at Auto Club Speedway.

The engine was scheduled to have debuted next week at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Instead, Ford will debut the restrictor-plate version of the engine at Talladega in three weeks.

As for the non-restrictor-plate engine, it likely will debut at Texas or Homestead.

"There's still development items that we're working on,'' Hervey said. "We think we just need a little bit more time to refine it.''

LOGANO WINS NATIONWIDE: Joey Logano avoided a late-race collision and held off Brian Vickers to win the NASCAR Nationwide Copart 300 for his fifth series victory of the season and second in two weeks.

After the race, officials pulled Logano's father's credential for an altercation with Greg Biffle. A spokesman said Tom Logano walked up to Biffle's car on pit road and had a verbal altercation with the driver.

Biffle and Joey Logano tangled earlier in the race, with Biffle putting Logano into the wall, a move Biffle hinted at over the radio beforehand.

TICKET REDUCTION: International Speedway Corp., which owns several tracks that host Cup races, will continue to reduce prices on tickets.

Company officials said this week on a call with investor analysts that they plans to reprice one-third of the available ticket units for their Cup events. Company officials said that they continue to see advanced ticket sales down 25 to 30 percent with more people waiting until closer to an event to purchase tickets. Among the tracks ISC owns are Daytona, Talladega, Darlington, Richmond and Martinsville.

PIT STOPS: Mark Martin was the fastest in the final practice session with a lap of 180.293 mph. He was followed by Casey Mears (179.897 mph), Denny Hamlin (179.252), Kevin Harvick (179.131) and Ryan Newman (178.434). &ellipses; Roush Fenway Racing has signed Chris Buescher to a driver development contract. He competed part-time this season in ARCA and plans are for him to do the same next year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com

FONTANA, Calif. -- They're simple questions, really. Pit or don't pit? Two tires or four?

What goes into those decisions are a multitude of factors, calculated in seconds where a brilliant move can prove to be the wrong one when circumstances change.

With competition tight, passing tough and points close, what happens on pit road can determine who wins the Sprint Cup title. Pit calls have played key roles in who won two of the first three Chase races and it could happen again today at Auto Club Speedway, where track position is critical.

The top six are within 100 points entering today. Gaining ground has been difficult. Nine of the top 10 last weekend were Chase drivers. At least seven Chase drivers have placed in the top 10 in each of the first three Chase races.

Just gaining a couple of spots (and points) can prove critical. Drivers say that it's more important to be at or near the front because the cars don't handle as well in traffic. Years ago, the term used to explain why it was so tough in the pack was aero push. Today, there is no term, at least nothing printable.

"It's more difficult now than it was 11 years ago when I started,'' Tony Stewart says of racing through the pack.

That makes pit calls more pivotal.

Crew chief Alan Gustafson decided not to pit Mark Martin with about 105 laps left at New Hampshire while most of the field pitted, putting Martin at the front. The gamble worked, Martin won the race and remains the points leader.

Last weekend, Darian Grubb called for two tires on the final pit stop, giving Stewart the lead late. He held on to win. Stewart had entered the pits second to Greg Biffle, who debated with his crew chief on how many tires to take before saying he wanted four tires. The slower stop dropped Biffle out of the lead and he only got back to third.

Pit calls could again be key here. There has not been a caution in the last 25 laps -- a bit more than halfway through a fuel run -- the past three fall races at this track. Only twice in the last six races overall at this track has there been a caution in the last 25 laps. That tells crew chiefs that if they want to be in position to win a race, they'll have to make their decisions sooner.

Making such decisions earlier in the race, though, can box a crew chief into what they can do later.

"I look at the race as like a funnel,'' Gustafson says. "You want to be able to have as many options until a certain point. If you're halfway through the race and you have no options, you're leaving your finish up to circumstances, where if you have a lot of options, as the race changes you can adjust.''

Last weekend at Kansas, Jimmie Johnson had the strongest car, but during a mid-race pit stop his crew changed four tires while many took two. That dropped Johnson out of the lead and deeper in a field where he had difficulty moving forward. So, on the final pit stop, crew chief Chad Knaus called for a two-tire stop to help gain the track position lost on the earlier pit stop.

Johnson exited pit road third but the car didn't run as well with only two new tires and fell to ninth at the finish.

Knaus' call to try to reclaim lost track position is just part of what goes into a decision.

Crew chiefs also factor if two tires will provide enough grip, the track's history with late-race cautions, if there are enough grooves or only one to race, who they're racing and even the crew chiefs they're racing against and how daring they are with their pit calls.

It's not just the race they're watching. Knaus radioed Johnson during practice Saturday to watch Juan Pablo Montoya's line around the track to discuss afterward. It's all about having as much information to make the key call.

"If you're leading (the points), you're probably not apt to take as big a chance,'' former championship crew chief Greg Zipadelli says. "If you're fifth, sixth or seventh, the way to get back into is to strike gold by making somewhat of a risky call.''

And then hope it works.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@new-record.com