NASCAR Nextel; Biffle Charges to Texas Victory

Unofficial Race Results

FORT WORTH, Texas April 17, 2005; Mike Harris writing for the AP reported that Greg Biffle made the best of a difficult situation Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, charging from the rear of the field for a convincing victory.

The Roush Racing driver was overpowering in the Samsung/Radio Shack 500, leading 219 of 334 laps on the 1 1/2-mile oval to grab his second Nextel Cup victory of the season and the fifth of his career.

"The car was really loose out there with that short (rear) spoiler that NASCAR has us using, but I like having a loose race," Biffle said. "It works in my favor."

Things didn't start out very well at the Texas track for the former NASCAR Busch Series and truck champion, who crashed Friday in practice and was forced to switch to a backup car. That meant he had to start Sunday's race from the rear of the field.

But his backup No. 16 Ford was the same car in which he won earlier this season in California and finished third last month in Atlanta, so Biffle wasn't too concerned.

He picked off cars two and three at a time early in the race, moving all the way to 15th by lap 26, slipping into the top a few laps later. He took the lead for the first time on lap 87.

Biffle kept pulling away from the rest of the pack, but the race was slowed by 11 caution flags, keeping him from turning it into a rout.

The leaders made their final pit stops on lap 298 after Tony Stewart's engine blew, setting his Chevrolet on fire and bringing out the yellow flag. Casey Mears, who had been running a distant second to Biffle, took only two tires and beat him out of the pits to grab the lead.

There was an aborted restart on lap 304 when Dave Blaney spun between the first and second turns, but the green flag was displayed for the final time on lap 309. It took Biffle just three laps to work to the inside of Mears' Dodge and regain the lead.

After that, it was no contest, with Biffle pulling away to win by 3.244-seconds -- about 20 car lengths ahead of runner-up Jamie McMurray, Mear's teammate. Biffle is the ninth winner in as many Cup races at Texas. He had not finished better than 28th in two previous Cup races here.

Series points leader Jimmie Johnson was third, with Mears fading to fourth -- matching his career best -- after losing the lead.

He was followed by Sterling Marlin, another Ganassi entry, and Michael Waltrip.

Kurt Busch, the defending series champion, ended a string of crashes in three straight Cup races by finishing seventh, while former Texas winner and fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. was ninth.

Jeff Gordon, who was coming off a victory the previous week at Martinsville and was trying to win for the first time at Texas, was never a factor, finishing 15th.