USA TODAY International Edition
Biffle’s big win
Greg Biffle had many reasons to celebrate his Sprint Cup victory in Michigan on Sunday,
BROOKLYN, MICH. The only mistake Greg Biffle made in besting Jimmie Johnson was how he exulted about a reversal of fortune that could signal a shifting balance of power in Sprint Cup.
“I love it when the 48 crashes trying to catch us,” Biffle exclaimed on his radio Sunday after outdueling Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet at Michigan International Speedway. Wait, check that. “I don’t want to see anybody wreck,” Biffle said. “I should have said, ‘ Make a mistake.’ We got him to falter, and it makes you feel good when you push the guy over the edge and beat him at his game.”
Not many in NASCAR’s premier series can make such a claim of breaking Johnson, a five- time series champion, so forgive Biffle for his exuberance after his statement victory Sunday in the Quicken Loans 400.
“I was really worried about the 48,” said Biffle, who dedicated the Father’s Day victory to Charlie Dean, the 5- year- old son of Jason Leffler, who was killed in a sprint- car wreck Wednesday. “He’d been really fast, but when this thing got in clean air it was all over.”
There were myriad reasons for the Roush Fenway Racing driver to be wrapped up in emotions after delivering owner Jack Roush his 13th win at the track down the road from his business empire in Livonia:
The win was the 1,000th across NASCAR’s national series for Ford Motor Co., which won the first NASCAR- sanctioned race 64 years ago.
Biffle’s 19th career win was his first since a triumph last August at Michigan, ending a 27- race drought.
It came on the heels of a runnerup finish at Pocono Raceway, marking consecutive top- fives for the first time this season after a slump of six consecutive finishes outside the top 10 that had Biffle grumbling about systemic problems at Roush keeping his No. 16 Fusion from being title caliber.
But perhaps most important, Biffle reversed last week’s Pocono outcome by outdueling Johnson, whose No. 48 Chevrolet made a furious charge after restarting in 10th with 27 laps remaining.
“He was quite a bit faster than we were,” Biffle said. “We’re not to that level yet, but we’re certainly a lot closer than we have been.”
When Johnson moved into second with nine laps left, Biffle, who led the final 32 laps, picked up his pace to match the points leader’s speed. The pursuit ended when Johnson slammed the wall with four laps remaining after cutting a right front tire, which he speculated might have been the result of overdriving.
“It makes you feel good when you push the guy over the edge and beat him at his game.”
Greg Biffle, on getting the best of Jimmie Johnson at Michigan International Speedway
“The big thing that happened is Greg Biffle stood up in the seat ( and) stood on the gas so hard when it counted,” Roush said.
Johnson, whose SS seemed the class of the field but who was caught off the race’s dominant pit sequence after starting 17th and pitting during a lap seven caution, limped home in 28th place — the top result of a dismal showing by Hendrick Motorsports. Though Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr. each led more than 10 laps, there were signs other teams were catching the NASCAR powerhouse.
Runner- up Kevin Harvick quietly continued his climb up the standings, moving to fourth in points with his sixth top- 10 in seven races. Tony Stewart ( fifth) notched his third consecutive top- five, a stretch in which he has catapulted from 20th to 10th in points.
“We definitely got a lot of luck, but we’ll definitely take it because we haven’t had much,” Stewart said. “We had some breaks go our way.”
For the second consecutive race, engine breaks weren’t an issue for Toyota, whose drivers seemed to regain some power while maintaining their reliability.
After failing to record a topfive or lead a lap for the first time this season at Pocono, Toyota claimed four of the top seven spots.
“It was definitely better than ( Pocono),” third- place finisher Martin Truex Jr. said of the horsepower in his No. 56 Camry. “It wasn’t quite back to what we had, but they’re working on that. Today we were very competitive.”
The Michael Waltrip Racing driver moved up four spots in the standings to 13th, putting him squarely in the hunt for the Chase for the Sprint Cup wild- card race ( Kahne is the only driver ranked in the 11th- 20th range of eligibility with a victory).
It once seemed Biffle would need a wild card to make the Chase, but he has jumped five spots to eighth in points over the last two races.
Biffle said his team had made about half the improvements in speed that were needed to compete with Johnson. But at Michigan he proved that might be enough in some cases.
“Two weeks ago, I’d have said, ‘ No, we don’t stand a chance ( to) make the Chase,’ ” Biffle said. “Now I believe we’ve gained on the setup. If we work hard over ( the) next 10 weeks, we’ll be pretty competitive when it comes time for the Chase. Years past, we’ve been kind of at the top when the Chase came.”