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Prep Roundup
Columnists Brian Meadows Brad NormanMembersLocal Connection› Iredell County Young Athletes Association› South Iredell Athletics Association › SHS athletics › WIHS athletics › NIHS athletics › SIHS athletics › LNHS athletics Syndicate RSSAP NASCAR NASCAR Features A look at this year's schedule A look at this year's drivers Differences between stock car and open-wheel racing NASCAR Research & Development Petty Enterprises splitter testing Aerodynamic testing in Concord's wind tunnel Top 10 moments in Daytona history Site StatisticsThis page has been viewed 800763 timesPage rendered in 0.9507 seconds Total Stories: 2136 Total Comments: 34 Most Recent Entry: 08/15/2008 01:53 pm Most Recent Comment on: 04/17/2008 11:54 pm Most Recent Visitor on: 05/22/2012 09:45 am |
• Racing
2007 Oct-05
Biffle baffles with winBy Larry Sullivan Mooresville’s Greg Biffle may not be in this season’s Chase for the Championship on the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series circuit, but he finally prevailed in yet another ongoing major race last weekend. Surviving a pair of rain delays extending into pending darkness that shortened matters considerably, Biffle finally joined his Roush Fenway Racing garage’s list of winners by placing first in the running of the Lifelock 400 at Kansas Speedway. Biffle, piloting his multi-team organization’s No. 16 ford, registered his first victory of the season despite running low on fuel at the end, crossing the start/finish line in near darkness to cap a long day that served to throw the 12-driver Chase for the Championship field is near total disarray. For Biffle, the timing of the win couldn’t have been better. Though barely on the outside of the fence looking in among those just missing the cut to the Chase, the outcome allowed him to maintain his current 14th-place standing in the points. While only the top 12 drivers are eligible for this year’s championship, Biffle was able to use the win to make a late-season run at making the best out of his season as possible. Rain forced a pair of extended delays, and the race wound up finishing under caution with the eventual winner’s car sputtering at the end due to lack of fuel. It even appeared to some as though other drivers actually beat the official first-place winner back to the race-over stripe. Biffle bagged the win to complete a tiring day in which he started seventh and spent the final 36 laps taking his only turn as a race leader. For the most part, it was a day to forget for most area-based drivers very much in the hunt for this year’s Chase to the Championship. Only a few in contention managed to steer their way safely around the 1.5-mile overall track without enduring a setback or two. Seven of the 12 drivers in this year’s Chase field posted finishes of 30th place or worse. Most notable among the survivors was Mooresville’s Jimmie Johnson, with Hendrick Motorsports. The reigning series champion and one who owns the most number of wins this season in the filed parlayed his overall third-place finish into the re-securing of the first-place spot in the updated points. Johnson appeared to have all his ducks well in a row by snaring his second straight pole position, but late reworking of the car forced the No. 48 Chevrolet to start near the rear of the field. He was able to overcome traffic, though, to take a lone turn as a race leader in order to bag valuable bonus points for that feat, and his placement in third accounted for the second-best finish of any other Chase pilot in the field. As a result, he was able to vault back into first-place in the points following the third of the final 10 races used to crown this year’s champ. Among area pilots also taking at least one turn as a race leader, they included Mooresville’s Matt Kenseth also with Roush Fenway Racing, Mooresville’s Kurt Busch with local-based Penske Racing, and Martin Truex Jr. with Mooresville’s Dale Earnhardt Inc. Kenseth and Truex are also among those drivers in the mix for this year’s Chase to the Championship. Mooresville’s Dale Earnhardt Jr., also with DEI, wound up as the only other area-based driver able to clock in with a top-10 finish, doing so by winding up 10th. Starting sixth, Earnhardt Jr. used the effort to help maintain his current 13th-place rank in points, a spot that may also be rewarded with a trip to the champion’s banquet following the year of the season’s schedule. In the second 10; Kurt Busch wound up 11th after starting 12th and stayed put in ninth place in the updated points; and Mark Martin with DEI checked in 12th following a 39th-place starting spot. Elsewhere: Mooresville’s Jeremy Mayfield with Bill Davis Racing wound up 22nd after starting 26th; Mooresville’s Joe Nemechek landed 25th after starting 24th; Paul Menard with DEI logged in 27th after starting 23rd; David Gilliland with Mooresville’s Yates/Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing placed 34th after starting 22nd; Kenseth racked up a 35th-place finish following a second-place start and slipped to 11th in points. Truex Jr. settled for 38th after starting ninth and sits eighth in points; Mooresville’s Kyle Busch with Hendrick Motorsports limped in 41st after starting eighth and remains sixth in points; and Lake Norman’s Ryan Newman with Penske Racing placed 43rd after starting 42nd. Area teams and drivers, especially those involved in the Chase, now steer their attentions towards this weekend’s race, the UAW-Ford 500, set for Talladega Superspeedway Sunday afternoon. Bookmarkz |
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