History the past two years suggests Greg Biffle, who won the 2005 and 2006 Nextel Cup races at Darlington Raceway, will be in contention to capture his third consecutive race at the track known as the “Lady in Black.”
However, judging from more recent history – this year’s inaugural Car of Tomorrow (COT) races – Biffle and his Roush Racing team won’t have much of a chance.
Saturday’s event at Darlington, S.C., is the fifth of 16 races with the car, and Hendrick Motorsports won the previous five in dominating fashion. In last Sunday’s COT race at Richmond, Va., Hendrick drivers Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon finished first, second and fourth, respectively.
The 1-2 Hendrick finish was the team’s second in COT races.
“Everybody said that this car was going to level the playing field for everybody,” Biffle said in a national teleconference. “That’s the whole key to this COT car, is it’s going to level the playing field and put everybody on the same even keel. It hasn’t done that to this point.”
While the traditional chassis looks similar to the COT frame and body, “everything is different,” Biffle said.
“They’ve got to have two complete sets of tools in the shop,” he said. “They have to have splitters and all of these items and trinkets that go on this car, and they have to have all of that over here for the old car. There are just so many items that are different between the two cars. It’s very, very difficult on the teams.”
The Darlington race will be the first COT event at a track longer than 1 mile. But not by much. Darlington is 1.37 miles.
Previous COT races were at Bristol, Tenn. (0.533 miles), Martinsville, Va. (0.526 miles), Phoenix (1 mile) and Richmond (0.75 miles).
Penske resurgence
Penske Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman had top-10 finishes Sunday for the second consecutive week. Busch was fifth at Richmond and third the previous race at Talladega, Ala. Newman was sixth and ninth.
Busch is ninth in the standings, the first time he’s been in the top 10 since 2005. Newman is 19th, but gained a series-most five spots at Richmond.
Neither Penske driver made the Chase last season, finishing 16th (Busch) and 18th (Newman).
“We know we’ve got a good team,” Roger Penske told USA Today after Sunday’s race. “We’re working at it. We’ve got good drivers and good crews, and this was a validation of what we’re trying to do.”
Martin joins Hendrick
Mark Martin, the winningest driver in Busch Series history, will drive for Rick Hendrick this week for the first time in his 25-year NASCAR career.
Martin is pegged to drive the No. 5 Chevrolet in Friday’s Busch race at Darlington.
“The thrill for me is to be able to drive for Rick Hendrick, and to be able to say that I did that before my career ends as a driver is really special,” Martin said in a team release. Martin also signed a deal to drive for Hendrick in August at Michigan and November at Homestead, Fla.
Footnotes
Hendrick is tied with Junior Johnson for the most owner wins at Darlington. Both have 11. … Jeff Burton will make his 450th career start at Darlington. … Chevrolet continues to dominate NASCAR’s manufacturer standings, which focuses more on engines this year because all COT races feature the same bodies. A Chevy team has captured nine of 10 races. A Ford driver has won once. Dodge and first-year Toyota are winless.
SPOTLIGHT: MARK MARTIN
Impressive in limited action
Despite competing in just seven races for one of the lower-level, multiple- car teams, Martin is 14th in the standings – ahead of 20 drivers who have started all 10 races. And only championship contenders Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton have more top-five finishes than Martin’s four. That’s impressive from all angles. Some so-called experts called the gray-haired and wrinkle-faced Martin, 48, crazy for leaving the No. 6 Roush Racing Ford for the No. 01 Ginn Racing Chevrolet. Martin switched to Ginn Racing, formerly MB2 Motorsports, because he wanted to run a part-time schedule, an opportunity that wasn’t available with Roush. Going out with a relatively weak team hasn’t worked for other former stars such as Bobby Labonte and Dale Jarrett. But Martin, who finished second in the season-opening Daytona 500, is making the No. 01 a threat to win every time he chooses to race.
ON THE MOVE: KYLE BUSCH
Youngest Hendrick driver gains two spots in standings
Busch finished second Sunday at Richmond, Va., to cap another 1-2 finish for Hendrick Motorsports. The result also sent Busch from eighth to sixth in the standings, giving Hendrick three of the top six spots. Teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are first and second, respectively, in the standings.
THIS WEEK’S RACE: DODGE AVENGER 500
Biffle hoping for track hat trick
5 p.m. MDT, Saturday, Fox
Where: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, 1.366-mile oval.
Distance: 501.3 miles, 367 laps.
Track banking: 25 degrees, turns 1-2; 23 degrees, turns 3-4; 3 degrees, frontstretch; 2 degrees, backstretch.
Last year: Greg Biffle won for the second consecutive year. Kasey Kahne won the pole in 2005 and 2006.
Records: Qualifying, Ward Burton (173.797 mph), March 22, 1996; race, Dale Earnhardt (139.958 mph), March 28, 1993.
TEN DOWN, 26 TO GO
A recap of this season’s first 10 races in Nextel Cup:
(Location Pole winner Race winner Pts. leader)
Daytona David Gilliland Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick
Fontana Jeff Gordon Matt Kenseth Mark Martin
Las Vegas Kasey Kahne Jimmie Johnson Mark Martin
Atlanta Ryan Newman Jimmie Johnson Mark Martin
Bristol Jeff Gordon Kyle Busch Jeff Gordon
Martinsville Denny Hamlin Jimmie Johnson Jeff Gordon
Fort Worth None Jeff Burton Jeff Gordon
Phoenix Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon
Talladega Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon
Richmond Jeff Gordon Jimmie Johnson Jeff Gordon
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
