Kasey Kahne (9) and Greg Biffle drive through the grass after colliding on the track during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' Pepsi 500 auto race, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009, in Fontana, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Greg Biffle caught a few breaks this weekend in California; unfortunately the biggest break of the weekend came Sunday when his hopes for a shot at the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship all but evaporated.
Biffle’s first break came after qualifying on Friday when he qualified third. David Reutimann had grabbed the second spot behind pole winner Denny Hamlin but in post qualifying inspection, a problem was found on Reutimann’s Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota and he was relegated to the rear of the field moving Biffle up to second and a front row starting spot.
As is turned out the front row was bad luck for both Hamlin and Biffle.
Sunday after the green flag dropped, Biffle began to slip back but was able to hang on inside the top ten. The crew made adjustments to the No. 16 Ford Fusion and combined with a lightening fast 12.5-second pit stop on lap 120, Biffle found himself in third.
But just as its been seemingly the entire season, the handling on the car started to fade and Biffle began to drop back, although he managed to run inside the top 12 and top ten as the laps wound down. Polesitter and fellow Chase contender Hamlin saw his day end prematurely on lap 190 of the 250 lap affair when he spun and crashed while leading on a restart.
Biffle’s turn came on lap 240 during another restart. Kurt Busch was pushed into the wall, he in turn slipped down and tapped the Dodge of Kasey Kahne. Kahne turned in front of Biffle and sent both sliding through the infield.
Though damaged Biffle was able to dig in, avoid a multi-car melee that caused a nearly 22 minute red flag, and finish 20th.
We were going to be decent, but we were just off today,” Biffle said. “We couldn't get that set-up to work that we used last week, and we kept working on it. We decided to go to the spring set-up, and that's about as good as we were going to be -- probably sixth or eighth, but that still would've been a lot better than 20th."
The aftermath was a good news bad news scenario for Biffle. He was able to move up on spot in the standings to seventh. But he’s now 188 points behind race winner and new points leader Jimmie Johnson.
"It's pretty disappointing, you know,” Biffle said. “It probably took us out of the hunt. You know, it's not over 'til it's over, but that really hurt us."
Click here for our extensive Chase coverage with reports on all 12 drivers in this years Chase!
Comments