Texas Speedzone - Greg Biffle Wins at Texas Motor Speedway in a Backup Car

Fort Worth, TX (April 17, 2005) - The Samsung RadioShack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway had all of the fanfare and fame that it has had in the past. The crowd of over 200,000 people saw a highly-competitive NASCAR Nextel Cup race.

Greg Biffle Wins at Texas Motor Speedway in a Backup Car Bobby Chaffee, TexasSpeedzone.com Bobby@digitalgrease.com Fort Worth, TX (April 17, 2005) - The Samsung RadioShack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway had all of the fanfare and fame that it has had in the past. The crowd of over 200,000 people saw a highly-competitive NASCAR Nextel Cup race. Greg Biffle in the #16 National Guard / Post-It Ford rebound from a crash in the final Nextel Cup practice on Saturday morning. The team brought out the backup car and start at the rear of the field. Brian Vickers moved to the back for changing an engine. Matt Kenseth also moved to the rear because of a transmission change. The national anthem was sung by Josh Gracin and the crowd was brought to its feet with a fly-by from a B-52 Bomber from Barksdale Air Force Base. The first-ever bilingual command to “Start your engines!” was given by former Dallas Cowboys championship-winning quarterback Troy Aikman and Mexican actor and comedian George Lopez. Ryan Newman started on the pole after posting the fastest speed during qualifying and led from the opening lap. Second-place starter Jeremy Mayfield took the lead coming out of turn three on lap two. The first caution flag flew rather early on lap four when Dave Blaney spun coming out of turn four and made contact with the #43 of Jeff Green. Another caution flew on lap nine for Scott Riggs after he got loose between turns three and four. On the restart Jeff Gordon took second place from Ryan Newman. Newman fell from third spot back to 12th place with a very loose car. Another caution came out on lap 24 when Robby Gordon make contact with Jason Leffler and sent the Fed Ex driver into the inside back-stretch wall. Corpus Christi, Texas native Terry Labonte also had contact with Leffler on pit road. Also during the caution period pits stops, the 01 Army team of Joe Nemechek lost a tire and have to go to the rear of the longest line. On the lap 27 (should be lap-27) restart the top five consisted of Sterling Marlin, Jeremy Mayfield, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman. Two laps later Mayfield took the lead from Marlin. The next big accident on the speedway came on lap 32. Mark Martin made contact with Jeff Green. As Green spun down the back-stretch he made hard contact with the inside wall. Other racers that were involved in the accident included the cars of Bobby Labonte, Bobby Hamilton, Jr, Brian Vickers, and Scott Wimmer. “I was loose on that run and I went to turn a switch off, coming off of turn two there, I hit the switch, I looked up and everybody…Somebody spun and spun and checked up and I run into the back of the five car”, stated Labonte after the accident. Labonte also added, “I have just have to say one thing. I’m not sure about the small spoiler right now. I don’t think that everyone is impressed with it.” On lap 39 Tony Stewart took the lead from Jeremy Mayfield. Sterling Marlin cut down a right front tire and had to pit. The race had a long green-flag run after the restart until a caution flag came out for debris on the front stretch on lap 80. Another long green flag run ended for another debris caution on lap 124. Michael Waltrip won the race off of pit road over Greg Biffle. On lap 127 Biffle retook the lead from Waltrip going into turn three. Texas crowd favorite Terry Labonte ended the race on lap 202. “Something in the rear end broke. The same thing happened when we ran out in California. I don’t know what it is or why”, Labonte commented after the problems. A third caution flag for debris waved on lap 212. The top five at lap 230 included Biffle, Mears, Busch, Kasey Kahne, and Jamie McMurray. The caution flag waved again when Robby Gordon got loose coming out of turn two and made contact with the wall. Dale Jarrett benefited from the Gordon spin. Elliott Sadler stayed on the track after the round of pit stops and gain five bonus points for leading a lap. Robby Gordon commented on his wreck. “It’s been a handful all day long, and it finally got away from me. I hit a bump on turn two, and that got me sideways and I hit the wall.” Pre-race favorite and O’Reilly 300 Busch race winner Kasey Kahne made contact with the turn four wall ending his day on lap 272. “Something broke. I don’t know if it was the bottom of the engine or rear end or what it was, but it broke. We wanted to win, but everybody here wants to win. (Needs “) One of the scariest moments of the day came on lap 298. 2002 Nextel Cup Champion Tony Stewart’s car caught fire coming out of turn two. The preliminary reports from the infield car center reported that Stewart had limited burns to his right leg and right arm. During the pit stops under caution Casey Mears took the lead from Greg Biffle after winning the race off pit road. The final caution of the day came out on lap 305 when Matt Kenseth bumped the back of Dave Blaney sending him into the turn two wall. Joe Nemechek gained a lap back from being the first car one lap down. After a lap 308 restart, Biffle took the lead on lap 310 and never looked back. The best battle at the end of the race was between teammates Jamie McMurray and Casey Mears. McMurray took over second place but could not catch Biffle in the end. Biffle and McMurray ended the race ahead of Nextel Cup point’s leader Jimmie Johnson, Mears, and Sterling Marlin. Chip Ganassi Racing teammates McMurray, Mears, and Marlin made it three cars in the top five for the team. “Everybody supports the Samsung/ RadioShack (race) obviously, or we wouldn’t get this awesome trophy. It’s an awesome place, and I can’t wait to come back here in the fall” (Missing punctuation mark) Race Winner Greg Biffle commented at the end of the race. Biffle moved to just 135 points away from series point-leader Jimmie Johnson. NASCAR veteran Rusty Wallace is now third in points, 237 points behind Johnson. Defending cup champion Kurt Busch is fourth. Four-time champion Jeff Gordon is fifth.