Just one week after celebrating his 100 th Cup victory, Roush Fenway team owner Jack Roush found himself in Victory Lane again after Greg Biffle won a wild NASCAR Nextel Cup race in Kansas City.
Biffle followed up his strong second-place finish last week with his first victory of the season in a race NASCAR shortened by 85 miles because of impending darkness caused by two rain delays that totaled almost three hours.
“It was obviously a good day when we ended up in Victory Lane,” said Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Fusion, who took the checkered flag under caution and with a car that was low on fuel.
“I moved to the top, and my car was pretty good up there, but the first 10, 15 laps of the run I was just way too loose to run at the top. But after I got 15 laps in, I started running those guys down like mad. That was our deal and Greg [Erwin; crew chief] came up with some changes on the car during that rain delay, and it really, really helped the car, and then I was able to run the bottom. After that I was pretty successful.”
Unfortunately for Roush and Ford, it wasn’t all good news as Chase drivers Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards finished 35th and 37th respectively, after both drivers were collected in wrecks.
“It’s just disappointing,” said Kenseth, whose Fusion ran in the lead part of the race. “But we ran real well, and my team did a good job, so that’s about all I can ask for. I couldn’t do anything about that wreck, we just got caught up in someone else’s mess.”
Kenseth fared better earlier in the weekend when he finished second in the NASCAR Busch Series race. Kenseth led the race before eventual winner, Kyle Busch, passed him for first place with just 17 laps to go. Kenseth stayed close all the way to the end and made a move on the inside of Busch at the finish line, but his Fusion was just 0.085 seconds short of victory.
“I sure hate getting beat, but, gosh, we did the best we could today,” said Kenseth. “The Arby’s Fusion was pretty fast. We were good in the long run, and I think Kyle was just a little bit tighter than I was, and when we got going on the re-start, I just kind of chose the middle to the top, because I was kind of loose to run the bottom, and he just got a good run and cleared me on that one re-start, so I just didn’t have quite enough time to get him. I think a couple of more laps we would’ve passed him back.”
Two of Kenseth’s Roush Fenway Racing teammates joined him in the top-10 as Jamie McMurray finished fifth and Biffle finished 10th.
In GT4 European Cup, Eric de Doncker was the top Ford driver of the weekend, finishing third in both races with his No. 98 Mustang FR500C in Nogaro, France.
Next weekend the NASCAR Nextel Cup and NASCAR Craftsman Truck competitors head to Talladega, the first superspeedway race for the Car of Tomorrow. The NHRA will compete in Richmond and drivers in the KONI Challenge Series will conclude their season at Virginia International Raceway. -Ford
Comment and add to the story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.
