There was a large woman standing in the pit area of Roush-Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle at Martinsville Sunday.
She began singing just after the halfway point of the Tums Fast Relief 500, signaling the end of the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup for Biffle and the No. 16 team.
Not that it ever really got off the ground.
After two poor finishes in the opening races of the Chase, the only highlight for Biffle came at Kansas when he finished third.
Then came California and a 20th followed by a 17th at Lowe’s. Those two strikes didn’t bode well for Biffle as he headed to Martinsville. The third strike came Sunday and now Biffle is officially out of the game.
Biffle’s stats heading into Martinsville weren’t exactly promising. He had one pole and a top-five finish at NASCAR’s shortest track, but those came in the Camping World Truck Series. Prior to Sunday his best finish in a Cup car was seventh.
But just like the spring race here, rain put a damper on the weekend.
Rolling off 20th, Biffle did have some highlights Sunday. After being lapped by Jimmie Johnson on lap 84 he was able to fight his way back onto the lead lap. Unfortunately he was lapped again on lap 122, but was able to catch a break on lap 157 when he got the free pass.
Then during caution number six, crew chief Greg Erwin elected to keep Biffle out while most of the leaders pitted and he found himself in the lead as the field took the green on lap 259. His moment in the sun didn’t last for long however and soon Biffle was slipping back as those with fresh tires shot by. By lap 271, Biffle was 15th.
When the checkered flag fell Biffle found himself 25th ahead of only ahead of fellow Chaser Kasey Kahne who finished 32nd after crashing.
In the spring race, rain washed out practice and Biffle and the team were never able to find the right setup for the car. In the spring race Biffle finished 28th.
This past weekend rain again washed out the Saturday practice session leaving the team without a chance to find the setup they needed. Biffle finished 25th Sunday but unlike the spring race, this time the fat lady was singing.
Biffle lost one spot in the standings and is now eighth, and an insurmountable 350 points out of the lead.
“We couldn’t really do anything with our car,” an obviously dejected Biffle said. “With practice getting rained out yesterday it really hurt us. That happened in the spring, so that makes it tough. Someday when we get to test or practice here we’ll be all right.”
As Denny Hamlin proved Sunday, there are still races left to win. But like Hamlin who is behind him in points 352 back, Biffle will not win a championship in 2009.
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