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Sprint Cup
CUP: Biffle Baffles Rest Of Field At Kansas
Greg Biffle won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway...
Greg Biffle celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
The Chase is close. Sunday’s race was not.
Chase contender Greg Biffle left the rest of the field in his exhaust fumes Sunday afternoon in breezing to a 7.63-second victory in the Price Chopper 400 Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway.
The win renewed Biffle’s hopes of challenging for the championship. He entered Sunday’s race in ninth place but jumped to eighth, trimming his deficit from 140 points to 85. Sunday’s victory was only Ford’s second of the season.
“It’s a big win for us,” said Biffle. “Ford has been trying to help us so much to get these cars running again. The car ran flawless. It kept getting better and better and better. It was too loose for three-quarters of the race, but it finally tightened up, and off it went.”
The day’s other big mover – surprise, surprise – was Jimmie Johnson, who moved briskly through the field in the closing laps to finish second. That run, combined with point leader Denny Hamlin's 12th-place finish, lifted Johnson, who has won the past four championships, into the point lead. Hamlin, now in second, trails by eight points going into next week’s race at Auto Club Speedway in California.
Sunday’s race finish left eight drivers within 85 points of first place.
The race generally was a showcase for Chase contenders. For much of the middle part of the 267-lap run, the first nine positions in the field were held by Chase drivers.
At the race’s halfway point, 108 of the 134 laps had been led by Chasers. By race end, only 29 of 267 laps were led by non-Chase drivers, and Chase participants finished in the first seven positions.
Hamlin was not one of the nine Chase drivers racing up front near the halfway point. In fact, he was a few laps from going a lap down when the third caution of the race saved him.
That yellow was the result of some well-placed payback.
On lap 51, David Reutimann was sent into a spin after contact from Kyle Busch. A hundred laps later, Reutimann got his revenge, banging into the left rear of Busch’s car and causing enough damage to bump Busch into the 20s.
The second incident irritated Busch, who suggested NASCAR officials should penalize Reutimann.
Busch, who made several trips to the pits in attempts to correct the damage caused by the Reutimann bump, fell to a 21st-place finish and dropped from third to seventh in points. His Sunday finish was the worst of the 12-driver Chase group.
The biggest positive move in points was made by Jeff Gordon, who finished fifth Sunday and jumped from eighth to fifth in points.
On most other fronts, however, the day belonged to Biffle, who led a total of 60 laps – second only to Tony Stewart’s 76 – and wasn’t challenged while leading the final 29.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
Chase contender Greg Biffle left the rest of the field in his exhaust fumes Sunday afternoon in breezing to a 7.63-second victory in the Price Chopper 400 Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway.
The win renewed Biffle’s hopes of challenging for the championship. He entered Sunday’s race in ninth place but jumped to eighth, trimming his deficit from 140 points to 85. Sunday’s victory was only Ford’s second of the season.
“It’s a big win for us,” said Biffle. “Ford has been trying to help us so much to get these cars running again. The car ran flawless. It kept getting better and better and better. It was too loose for three-quarters of the race, but it finally tightened up, and off it went.”
The day’s other big mover – surprise, surprise – was Jimmie Johnson, who moved briskly through the field in the closing laps to finish second. That run, combined with point leader Denny Hamlin's 12th-place finish, lifted Johnson, who has won the past four championships, into the point lead. Hamlin, now in second, trails by eight points going into next week’s race at Auto Club Speedway in California.
Sunday’s race finish left eight drivers within 85 points of first place.
The race generally was a showcase for Chase contenders. For much of the middle part of the 267-lap run, the first nine positions in the field were held by Chase drivers.
At the race’s halfway point, 108 of the 134 laps had been led by Chasers. By race end, only 29 of 267 laps were led by non-Chase drivers, and Chase participants finished in the first seven positions.
Hamlin was not one of the nine Chase drivers racing up front near the halfway point. In fact, he was a few laps from going a lap down when the third caution of the race saved him.
That yellow was the result of some well-placed payback.
On lap 51, David Reutimann was sent into a spin after contact from Kyle Busch. A hundred laps later, Reutimann got his revenge, banging into the left rear of Busch’s car and causing enough damage to bump Busch into the 20s.
The second incident irritated Busch, who suggested NASCAR officials should penalize Reutimann.
Busch, who made several trips to the pits in attempts to correct the damage caused by the Reutimann bump, fell to a 21st-place finish and dropped from third to seventh in points. His Sunday finish was the worst of the 12-driver Chase group.
The biggest positive move in points was made by Jeff Gordon, who finished fifth Sunday and jumped from eighth to fifth in points.
On most other fronts, however, the day belonged to Biffle, who led a total of 60 laps – second only to Tony Stewart’s 76 – and wasn’t challenged while leading the final 29.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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