Biffle wins Busch race at Phoenix

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It seems that Biffle is one of the hottest drivers in both Nextel AND Busch


Biffle wins wild Busch race at Phoenix

First night race brings out the yellow -- and red -- flags

Greg Biffle survived an early spinout and grabbed another dominating victory Friday night, this time overpowering the field in the NASCAR Busch Series race at Phoenix International Raceway.

The former Busch Series champion and current Nextel Cup star won the Cup race last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway and followed it with the win in the Bashas' Supermarket 200 on the mile oval at Phoenix, leading 112 of the 200 laps.

"I just had the car a little too loose at the start of the race," said Biffle, whose best previous Busch finish this season was last Saturday at Texas. "It's been a long time since I spun by myself like that. I was just trying to pass somebody and made a mistake."

It didn't matter, though, as Biffle's Brewco Racing Ford took control in the second half of the race.

Biffle became the latest in a long line of Cup stars -- known as Buschwhackers -- to beat the Busch Series regulars. It was his 17th Busch victory, but his first since last September at California Speedway. He previously won in Phoenix in 2001.

The race was marred by crashes and spins that resulted in 14 caution periods for 67 laps and two red-flag stoppages. That easily broke the Busch track record of nine yellows.

But Biffle's car was strong when it had to be, pulling away to big leads on just about every restart. He led the final 71 laps, beating runner-up Elliott Sadler, another Cup regular, to the finish line by 2.074 seconds -- about 20 car-lengths.

"I seemed to have a better car on the long runs and Elliott Sadler had a really, really good car on the short runs," Biffle said. "He fell off after a few laps, thank goodness."

Sadler said Biffle is "definitely the guy to beat right now," whatever the series.

"I would have had a shot at him if we had had a yellow flag there in the last 10 laps, but it stayed green and there was no way I was going to catch him," Sadler said.

All the Cup drivers will run on the same track Saturday night in the Subway Fresh 500.

"I learned a lot about the racetrack tonight," Biffle said. "It changed more than I thought it would."

Busch Series regular David Stremme was third, followed by five more Cup stars -- Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Joe Nemechek, Michael Waltrip and Carl Edwards, who is running both series full-time and is leading the Busch points.

Edwards came into the race leading fellow Busch rookie Reed Sorenson by 76 points. With Sorenson finishing 32nd Friday, Edwards extended his lead to 156.