| | | | | | MAYBE NEXT TIME | Biffle burns up tires, settles for fourth behind JGR duo | |
| | By Lee Montgomery / SceneDaily.com HAMPTON, GA -- Greg Biffle figured he had enough speed to make a run at Kobalt Tools 500 winner Kyle Busch in the closing laps of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday.
But Biffle ran into one small problem: Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Tony Stewart.
“Tony did a great job of protecting Kyle Busch,” Biffle said. “They’re teammates, and Tony ran me pretty hard there, but he’s racing for position as well. Obviously, if I could have got by him right away I had a pretty good chance of catching Kyle, but I just burned my tires up racing Tony – really stabbing the gas coming off the corner sideways. I used it all up right there.”
Biffle said he “should have known better” than to race Stewart so hard. A fast pit stop by his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing crew moved Biffle from eighth to third with 37 laps to go, but he wanted more.
“I was running [Busch] down at the end,” said Biffle, who finished fourth. “I was three-tenths faster than the leader, but I just burned myself up trying to race Tony. Tony was holding me off, probably protecting Kyle a little bit, but that’s what teammates are for.”
Biffle had worried about his pit crew’s performance in recent races, but Sunday at Atlanta the team was solid. And when he needed it most, Biffle got a great stop.
“I love the pit crew,” Biffle said. “I’ve been beating those guys up, and they just did a stellar job. I picked up [five] spots on pit road and came out third [on] the last run, and that’s really what got us this top-five finish is picking those spots up and getting some clean air on this thing.”
The fourth-place finish was his second top-five and third top-10 of the season and moved Biffle to second in the points standings. His Greg Erwin-led team appears to have a handle on NASCAR’s new car, and Biffle is driving well.
“I’m really excited for all the fans watching the 16 team and cheering for us,” Biffle said. “We’ve got a great run going. We’re in the top five in points and moved up a little bit, but it’s just a good top-five run. Early in the race I didn’t think we were gonna be in the top 10, but the car came on at the end.”
| | Posted March 10, 2008 , 5:32 pm EST
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