| | | | | |  | | CIA Stock Photo | September 30, 2007: Greg Biffle won the LifeLock 400 under caution, ending a race that had more than its share of electricity -- both from Mother Nature and the competitors on the track. | | | | QUESTIONS ASKED | The last time at Kansas: Biffle wins amid controversy | |
| | Reid Spencer / SportingNews.com September 30, 2007: Greg Biffle won the LifeLock 400 under caution, ending a race that had more than its share of electricity -- both from Mother Nature and the competitors on the track.
With championship contenders running into each other right and left, the race at Kansas Speedway scrambled the Chase standings and left third-place finisher Jimmie Johnson in the points lead by six over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon.
Race runner-up Clint Bowyer is third in points, 14 back of Johnson. So many of the Chase competitors experienced trouble that that nine of the 12 drivers in the Chase are more than 100 points behind the leader.
Tony Stewart, the race leader when a rainstorm delayed the proceedings for the second time, was perhaps the most significant casualty. The left front of his No. 20 Chevrolet was damaged during a multicar wreck on Lap 156 that also crippled the cars of Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr.
A resulting tire rub on Stewart's car eventually caused the left front to go flat, and when Stewart slowed on the backstretch, Kurt Busch nosed underneath the rear bumper of the No. 20 car, turning it into the path of the No. 99 of Carl Edwards, who finished 37th. Stewart came home 39th to drop from second place in the standings to fourth.
Even though the race ended under caution, it also finished with a controversy. Biffle's No. 16 Ford, which apparently was short on fuel at the end of the race, didn't maintain pace-car speed as the cars rolled toward the checkered flag. Bowyer actually crossed the finish line first with Johnson in tow, but NASCAR affirmed Biffle's victory.
Stewart held the lead and made an appeal for continued rain after a violent storm slowed the field on Lap 147 and brought the second stoppage of the race on Lap 148. Because the storm hit during a cycle of green-flag put stops, the Chase competitors were spread through the field, with only Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Bowyer and Edwards remaining on the lead lap.
Stewart had taken the point on Lap 142 when Busch came to the pits for his green-flag stop. Busch had led a race-high 76 laps to that point but was running 24th, the first car one lap down, when the race resumed after a red-flag period of 2 hours, 13 minutes.
| | Posted September 24, 2008 , 7:07 pm EST
Last Updated September 25, 2008 , 7:43 pm EST | | | | | | | | | | |
