Biffle wins
Points leader ends 49-race drought
Cup race in Texas features 2 cautions, 1 key late pass,
FORT WORTH — Greg Biffle wasn’t too worried about ending his 49race winless streak. After all, he entered Saturday’s Samsung Mobile 500 atop the Sprint Cup standings.
But he was worried about his chances of catching Jimmie Johnson in the wind-whipped race at Texas Motor Speedway.
“I was foaming at the mouth,” said Biffle, who stalked Johnson for much of the race’s caution-free second half. “When you haven’t won in a long time and you’ve got a guy (you’re chasing), it doesn’t even matter if it was the five-time champion. I was driving my heart out.”
Biffle, who hadn’t won since Oct. 3, 2010, at Kansas Speedway, caught Johnson with 31 laps remaining and led the rest of the way.
The win opened Biffle’s points lead to 19 on Matt Kenseth (fifth on Saturday) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (10th) and strengthened his chances of making the Chase for the Sprint Cup field, which the Roush Fenway Racing driver missed last year for the first time since 2007.
“To win like this and put a bunch of ground on the guys behind us certainly makes a statement for all the people that were wondering if it was kind of a fluke that were still leading in points this far in,” Biffle said. “We knew it was a matter of time and we were going to win one of these things.”
Biffle had built his early-season points lead on the strength of backto-back-to-back third-place finishes to start the season, but winning for the first time in 50 races was a relief.
“It will take years off your life,” said Biffle, 42. “But I’ve been doing this a long time. What kept me going or what keeps your spirit up is when you run good.”
Biffle put the victory in his sights by passing Johnson near the end of a record green-flag run. The race’s final 234 laps were run without a caution, leading to track marks for highest average speed (160.577 mph) and fewest yellows (two) and caution laps (10).
Saturday’s clean race was particularly unexpected because winds gusting well in excess of 30 mph made handling treacherous.
“I’ve got a hole wore in my hand from holding on to the steering wheel. It was tough,” Biffle said. “That could be a factor in why there was no accidents. You would think (the wind) would cause one. Well, it made it so you couldn’t really race side by side with a guy. I’d leave more room because I wasn’t sure when the wind was going to blow my car one way or another.”
Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Kenseth followed Johnson to the finish line. Pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr. led 69 laps and finished sixth.
Carl Edwards needed an extra pit stop for loose lug nuts but rallied to take eighth for Roush Fenway, which recorded its ninth Cup win (most of any team) at Texas. Defending series champion Tony Stewart, in a backup car after scraping the wall in practice, was 24th and fell to seventh in points, 39 behind Biffle.