Kansas City, Kan. – Sunday’s Nextel Cup race, pegged for 267 laps at Kansas Speedway, was downsized twice and still required more than six hours to find a winner.
But you had to look hard for Greg Biffle, who celebrated his controversial victory in near darkness and in front of half of the 110,000 fans that stayed to see the unsightly end.
For drivers, crews, fans and everyone else, it was triple overtime at the rain-soaked and wind-blown 1.5-mile oval. The sun settled long before the scheduled completion of the race was in sight, and when it finally ended under caution at lap 210, seven of the 12 Chase playoff drivers were eliminated or were limping around with damaged cars.
Biffle, not among those in the playoff field, used patience to win his first race of the season in the third of 10 playoff events. He only led once but stayed in front for the final 36 laps.
Because of darkness and lack of lighting, NASCAR skipped a green-white-checkered overtime finish after Juan Pablo Montoya crashed on lap 208.
“It was so dark, three laps before the caution I opened my visor,” said Biffle, who appeared to run out of gas on the final lap. “It was so dark … This was a wild day.”
It was undoubtedly the most unconventional race in four years of NASCAR playoffs.
The race was red-flagged for nearly three hours because of two rain delays, and shortened from 225 to 210 laps after a handful of crashes developed after the second red flag.
Chase drivers Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson were second and third, respectively, and fellow playoff participants Jeff Gordon (fifth), Kevin Harvick (sixth) and Kurt Busch (11th) also fared well.
The other six Chase drivers finished outside the top 28, including Kyle Busch (41st), Tony Stewart (39th), Martin Truex Jr. (38th), Carl Edwards (37th) and Denny Hamlin (29th), who each crashed out.
Johnson took over the playoff standings from Gordon, who is second, six points behind. Bowyer climbed to third, and Stewart fell from second to fourth, from two to 117 points back.
The final lap will be talked about all week. Biffle wasn’t the first driver to take the checkered flag. He slowed on the last lap, was passed by a handful of drivers, and appeared to run out of gas after crossing the finish line. His car was pushed to Victory Lane.
If Biffle was unable to keep up adequate speed under caution, Johnson and Gordon said the passes should count. NASCAR rules require drivers to keep up with the pace car under caution.
“The car still runs,” Biffle said. “It still has gas in it.”
He said NASCAR officials told him they would push the car to Victory Lane, perhaps to expedite postrace ceremonies.
But, Gordon said: “You have to maintain 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, so we all just started going by him. In my opinion, he didn’t win that race. Clint Bowyer won the race.”
Early on, Dale Earnhardt Jr. bumped Kyle Busch from behind and sent him spinning into the wall, severely damaging Busch’s championship hopes. The irony is that Earnhardt will drive for Busch’s team next season.
“I want to apologize to his fans and their team and Kyle,” Earnhardt said. “I just ran into the back of him. I was screaming as I was going by for him to save it, but he couldn’t gather it up.”
Johnson takes Chase lead in shortened race
A rain-shortened race at Kansas City jumbled the Chase as seven of 12 drivers finished 30th or worse. But defending champ Jimmie Johnson reclaimed the lead.
(Driver Pts back Change)
1. Jimmie Johnson – +2
2. Jeff Gordon -6 -1
3. Clint Bowyer -9 +2
4. Tony Stewart -117 -2
5. Kevin Harvick -126 +4
6. Kyle Busch -136 -2
7. Carl Edwards -142 -1
8. M. Truex Jr. -158 -1
9. Kurt Busch -177 +2
10. Jeff Burton -186 -2
11. Matt Kenseth -219 -1
12. Denny Hamlin -248 –
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
