Nascar Blog

Greg Biffle came on at the end of the race to win his first race of the year, also his first win since November of last year. Lots of things happened to Chase contenders tonight, from being wrecked by non Chase drivers, to being wrecked by Chase drivers, to broken parts, about everything you could think, and that’s not counting the two long rain delays that caused this race to be shortened by 57 laps. Gordon, Johnson and Harvick were the only ones who finished the race with minimal problems or none at all.

Here are how the 12 Chase for the Cup drivers stand after the race in Kansas:

1. +2 Jimmie Johnson 5506 Leader
2. -1 Jeff Gordon 5500 -6
3. +2 Clint Bowyer 5497 -9
4. -2 Tony Stewart 5389 -117
5. +4 Kevin Harvick 5380 -126
6. -2 Kyle Busch 5370 -136
7. -1 Carl Edwards 5364 -142
8. -1 Martin Truex Jr. 5348 -158
9. +2 Kurt Busch 5329 -177
10. -2 Jeff Burton 5320 -186
11. -1 Matt Kenseth 5287 -219
12. — Denny Hamlin 5258 -248

Stewart was behind in second by 2 points to start, Gordon was down 110 points at one point with Stewart in the lead, but was definitely an up and down day for everyone, especially Tony Stewart, who looked like they had made a great call by staying out and not pitting when the rain started falling, but it was not to be, as the clouds cleared, and they were able to dry the track to get about 60 or so more laps in. I figured it would be Tony, Jeff and Jimmie charging to the front, so, 2 out of 3 aint bad, especially when my driver is one of them. But, there are plenty of things that can still happen and all 12 drivers are still capable of winning this thing, so it’s too early to be bragging, but it’s not too early to be happy about how it is going so far. Funniest thing I heard was my Uncle who said Tony’s car looked like a Gremlin after his tire went down and Kurt Busch ran into him.

Darkness finally ended the disaster at Kansas Speedway, where the Chase for the Nextel Cup field imploded and the finish of Sunday’s event was in question long after winner Greg Biffle crossed the finish line.

Biffle scored his first victory of the season by winning a race that was stopped twice for rain delays, was shortened 85 miles because of darkness, ended under caution and saw six Chase drivers finish 29th or worse.

And when Biffle’s sputtering car slowed before the finish line, title contenders Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson passed him and both believed they finished ahead of him.

“I don’t know what happened, [he] didn’t cross it the way I thought you were supposed to,” said Kansas native Bowyer, who had to settle for second place on his home state track.

“I know they’re not going to pull him out of Victory Lane.”

Johnson, who finished third to reclaim the points lead, said Biffle wasn’t the winner.

“The biggest question mark right now is what goes on with [Biffle],” he said. “He clearly ran out of gas and I feel terrible for those guys. But if you can’t maintain pace-car speed, then the guys that can finished ahead of you.” Source: Biffle wins at Kansas amid controversy and implosion

Nascar said the field was frozen because of the caution and no one is allowed to pass anyway, Biffle said he didn’t run out of gas, he said you could go start the car right now, he was unbuckling and coasting into the grass and saving gas, and Nascar told him not to fire it up again, so they pushed it to victory lane. Had Nascar not shortened the race a second time from 225 to 210, Biffle and Harvick would’ve had to pit for more fuel, and Johnson and Gordon would’ve been fighting it out for the lead, I’m sure, had the rain not stopped, Stewart would’ve been the points leader, had he pitted when he thought about it, he may have had a better day than he did. Anything can happen and while lots of it depends on what Nascar decides, even more depend on the actions or bad re-actions of the drivers.

Here is how they finished:

1 7 16 Greg Biffle Ford Aflac 190/5 210 Running
2 10 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel’s 175/5 210 Running
3 1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s 170/5 210 Running
4 16 25 Casey Mears Chevrolet National Guard / GMAC 160/0 210 Running
5 4 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 160/5 210 Running
6 17 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 155/5 210 Running
7 14 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target / Lysol 146/0 210 Running
8 15 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Dodge Dealers / UAW 142/0 210 Running
9 29 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dodge Dealers / UAW 138/0 210 Running
10 6 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Budweiser 134/0 210 Running
11 12 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 140/10 210 Running
12 39 01 Mark Martin Chevrolet U.S. Army 127/0 210 Running
13 3 10 Scott Riggs Dodge Valvoline / Stanley Tools 124/0 209 Running
14 31 18 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet Interstate Batteries 121/0 209 Running
15 43 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 123/5 209 Running
16 18 6 David Ragan * Ford AAA Insurance 115/0 209 Running
17 36 40 David Stremme Dodge Energizer e2 Lithium 112/0 209 Running
18 40 96 Tony Raines Chevrolet DLP HDTV 109/0 209 Running
19 41 7 Robby Gordon Ford Camping World / Winegard 106/0 209 Running
20 37 66 Jeff Green Chevrolet Garmin / Best Buy 103/0 209 Running
21 33 45 Kyle Petty Dodge Wells Fargo 105/5 209 Running
22 26 36 Jeremy Mayfield Toyota 360 OTC 97/0 209 Running
23 30 70 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet Yellow Trans. 94/0 209 Running
24 20 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal 91/0 209 Running
25 24 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row Racing 88/0 209 Running
26 13 44 Dale Jarrett Toyota UPS 85/0 209 Running
27 23 15 Paul Menard * Chevrolet Johns Manville / Menards 82/0 209 Running
28 21 42 Juan Montoya * Dodge Texaco / Havoline 79/0 209 Running
29 5 11 Denny Hamlin Chevrolet FedEx Freight 76/0 208 Running
30 11 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA Auto Parts 73/0 208 Running
31 25 00 David Reutimann * Toyota Dominos.com 70/0 208 Running
32 35 21 Ken Schrader Ford Little Debbie 67/0 208 Running
33 28 49 John Andretti Dodge LifeLock 64/0 208 Running
34 22 38 David Gilliland Ford M&M’s 61/0 206 Running
35 2 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT 63/5 206 Running
36 34 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Mobility 55/0 198 Running
37 27 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 52/0 181 Running
38 9 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 54/5 175 Running
39 19 20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Ryobi Lithium / Home Depot 51/5 174 Out of Race
40 38 88 Kenny Wallace Ford Snickers 43/0 170 Running
41 8 5 Kyle Busch Chevrolet CARQUEST / Kellogg’s 40/0 163 Running
42 32 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios / Betty Crocker 37/0 155 Out of Race
43 42 12 Ryan Newman Dodge ALLTEL 34/0 108 Out of Race