Biffle Wins Wet, Wild Race At Kansas Speedway
Published: Oct 1, 2007
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KANSAS - CITY, Kan. - Sunday's LifeLock 400 at Kansas Speedway was supposed to be the calm before next week's storm at wreck-prone Talladega. There was nothing calm about it.
The third race in the Chase for the Nextel Cup had two rain delays totaling three hours, a wicked thunderstorm, wrecks and other problems that left seven of the 12 championship contenders with a finish of 29th or worse and a controversial finish.
When it was done - NASCAR called the race after 210 of the scheduled 267 laps because of impending darkness - Greg Biffle had his first victory of 2007 and defending Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson was back atop the points standings.
"Man, what a crazy race it was," said Jeff Gordon, who finished fifth and sits only six points behind Johnson.
The race ended under caution because Juan Pablo Montoya blew a tire on Lap 206 and NASCAR officials didn't think there was enough daylight to resume the race or try a green-white-checkered finish.
But as Biffle approached the checkered flag, his car appeared to run out of gas, and Clint Bowyer and Johnson passed him as he slowed. Biffle steered his car onto the infield grass after crossing the line.
Bowyer, a Kansas native and crowd favorite, wanted to know why he didn't win the race, arguing that under caution, although passing is not allowed, a driver has to be able to maintain the caution speed to hold his position.
"I thought the rule was, you had to cross the finish line under your own power," Bowyer said.
Johnson and Gordon agreed with Bowyer.
"The biggest question right now is what happens with the 16 [Biffle]," Johnson said. "He clearly ran out of gas, and I feel terrible for those guys. But if you can't maintain pace car speed, the guys who can finish ahead of you."
"You have to maintain a reasonable pace," Gordon said. "And it's NASCAR's judgment if it was a reasonable pace. Everybody was slowing down trying to figure out what he was doing. We were almost at a stop to run his pace, and the pace car was driving away."
Biffle said he didn't run out of gas. He said he knew he was low because the engine sputtered on the banking and he wanted to conserve enough to do a burnout and drive to Victory Lane.
"What they [Bowyer, Johnson and Gordon] don't know is NASCAR came to my car out in the grass and said, 'Will it run?'" Biffle said. "I said 'Yes.' They said, 'Don't touch it; we want six guys to push it back.' … The car runs right now. You can go and start it."
NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said a determination on whether a driver has maintained a reasonable speed is a judgment call, and in NASCAR's judgment, he did.
Bowyer wasn't the only driver who left Kansas feeling robbed. Tony Stewart went from having a second consecutive victory on the 1 1/2 -mile track to wrecking and finishing 39th.
Stewart was leading when the race was stopped for rain after 148 laps. A torrent drenched the track and cloud cover made it appear questionable whether the track could be dried to resume the race.
But the storm cell passed through, and speedway officials were able to get the track dried. The race was restarted under caution, and just after the green was thrown on Lap 156, Ken Schrader spun in front of the leaders to trigger a seven-car wreck.
Chasers Stewart, Martin Truex Jr. and Matt Kenseth all sustained damage. Stewart continued with a tire that was smoking badly from a fender rub. On Lap 174, the tire blew, and when Stewart slowed, Chaser Carl Edwards ran into him.
Stewart, instead of winning and taking the points lead, finished 39th and fell to fourth, 117 points behind Johnson.
Edwards and Kenseth also wound up with poor finishes and fell to 142 and 219 points back, respectively. Jeff Burton, who had mechanical problems, and Denny Hamlin, who crashed, fell 186 and 248 points off the pace.
"Man it's just hard to keep a smile on your face after something like this," said Edwards, who won a week earlier at Dover and is trying to become the first driver to win the Nextel Cup and Busch titles in the same year. "I guess we've got seven races left, but we're here to win this championship."
The top three drivers - Johnson, Gordon and Bowyer - head to Talladega separated by only 14 points. Johnson and Gordon were pre-Chase favorites, along with Stewart, but Bowyer started as the only driver without a win and was considered the longest long shot. Three races into the Chase, he has a win and a second and everybody's attention.
"I just told the guys before that last caution it was getting hard to see," Bowyer said about finishing second. "It was getting dark. I think we had something for the 16 on a restart. I know the 48 [Johnson] and the 24 [Gordon] were behind us on new tires and were catching us, but I think I at least had something for the 16."
