CUE THE DUCK! FIRST NEXTEL CUP VICTORY OF '07 FOR BIFFLE AND AFLAC
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (September 30, 2007) - Greg Biffle waited a long time for his first win of the 2007 NEXTEL Cup season, so waiting out a two-hour rain delay was well worth it. Biffle survived several cautions, two rain delays and nearly the dark of night to take his No. 16 Aflac Ford Fusion to Victory Lane at Kansas Speedway on Sunday.
Biffle started the LifeLock 400 from seventh place on Sunday under the threat of rain. The competitors only ran 15 laps before the first rain delay red-flagged the field for 45 minutes. Biffle had pitted for right-side tires just before the rain, which put him in fifth place when the race resumed on lap 19.
After only 10 laps Biffle told his team the car was tight through the center of the corners and free exiting. Another caution slowed the race on lap 29 which gave Biffle the opportunity to pit for four tires and an air pressure adjustment. He restarted the race sixth, but he was the first driver who took four tires rather than just two, or fuel only. The team felt this was an advantage if they could get a long green-flag run.
The team knew that another storm was brewing nearby and they adjusted their pit strategy accordingly. Biffle pitted for new tires and a wedge adjustment on lap 90 which put him in his fuel window to make it to the halfway point of the race. The sky continued to get darker and Biffle's car began to get better. It was loose early in the run, but got tighter the longer he ran. The field began to cycle through green-flag stops just past halfway, but the rain was moving in fast. Crew chief Greg Erwin kept Biffle out as long as he could hoping for the rain. His strategy worked as heavy rain, wind and lightening halted the race with Biffle in second place on lap 148.
Biffle and the Aflac crew would have been content to head home with a second-place finish, but after a two hour and 13 minute delay, NASCAR ordered the drivers to their cars. Since the race was so far behind schedule, NASCAR also decided to shorten the race to 225 laps rather than the advertised 267 laps.
Biffle came down pit road on lap 149 for what turned out to be his last stop of the day. The crew gave him four tires and a wedge adjustment and returned him to the track in third place for the restart on lap 155.
Once the race went green, Biffle's car took off. He began to close in on the leader Kevin Harvick and assumed the lead on lap 174. Another caution came a few laps later and NASCAR informed the teams the race would be shortened to 210 laps, which was exactly what Biffle wanted to hear.
Biffle pulled away from the field until the final caution with two laps to go. It was getting very dark out and NASCAR decided to end the race under caution. Biffle led the final 37 laps of the race for his 12th career NEXTEL Cup victory.
"It was obviously a good day when we ended up in Victory Lane," Biffle said. "We qualified well, and the car was pretty decent off the start of the race, but I was just a little loose into the corner, tight in the center, and really couldn't get a handle on that. And I was too loose, and then too tight at the beginning of a run on tires to be able to keep up with the field. I moved to the top groove, 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) 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. Just a little bit too loose out front, but we were just saving that right-rear tire, you know, just as much as I had to to get to the end of the race. It was just maintaining the 07's (Bowyer) position back there. I knew, five to go, that I was probably going to be all right, but I wasn't looking for that caution, that's for sure. What made me nervous, I didn't know how good the No. 07 was on the re-start, but we'll never know."
