Greg Biffle Completes the Roush-Fenway Sweep, Wins Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway
Well after a weekend off, the Cup Series returns to action at the Texas Motor Speedway! Rick Hendrick is still looking for win #200 as an owner, and came close last week until some misfortunes took that away. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is sitting second in the points after the most successful start to any season of his career, will the success continue and will he win? Kasey Kahne has had the worst season so far of any driver, but looks to turn things around tonight at a track he has had success at!
Martin Truex Jr. won the Pole and led the field along side Matt Kenseth to the green flag. It was a clean and quiet first lap that Truex Jr. led. It was a pretty uneventful race early on. On lap 34, Greg Biffle caught Truex Jr. and passed him for the lead.
Lap 46 Kyle Busch along with many others began a green flag cycle of pit stops. Kasey Kahne had a few issues in the pits, losing 6 positions. Greg Biffle remained the leader after the cyle, but Harvick benefitted the most moving up to less than a second behind the leader in second place.
We finally had our first caution and for debris on lap 67. A hat was up high on the racetrack. It was a break for Matt Kenseth who was having a loose wheel issue. Martin Truex Jr. would win the race off of pit road to regain the lead followed by Biffle, Kenseth, and Mark Martin.
Restart on lap 72 with Biffle and Truex drag racing for the lead with Kenseth not far behind. On lap 87 Jeff Gordon made it to the top 10 after starting 34th.
Caution would come out again on lap 95 again for caution. Trevor Bayne left some debris on the track after sliding into the wall! This is a huge break for Dale Jr. who had been having some huge handling issues. Out of the pits in order are: Truex, Biffle, Johnson, Kenseth, and Marcos Ambrose. The field would restart on lap 101!
On lap 114 after a quiet start, Jimmie Johnson took the lead. Nothing to report until green flag stops where Truex Jr. took the lead again after the cyle completed.
On lap 154 Keselowski reported a lost cylander so the bad luck woes from last night continued tonight for Brad.
Jimmie Johnson would regain the lead on lap 180 from Martin Truex Jr. Other than that, everyone else is rather quiet on the track. Lap 185 Juan Pablo Montoya began yet another green flag cycle of pit stops. Jimmie Johnson maintains the lead.
There’s nothing new to report again. On lap 229 Kevin Harvick begins another round of green flag pit stops. He hoped to make up track position by pitting earlier than scheduled by a few laps. Johnson remains the leader; Biffle made up time and passed Mark Martin during the cycle. However Harvick only gained on position by short pitting, but no time on the leaders.
A very boring race would again go uneventful until green flag pit stops this round again would be started with Kevin Harvick and Regan Smith. Johnson keeps the lead, Harvick and Earnhardt lose a spot, however Jeff Burton coming out of the pits who has been having a rough night, smoked coming back on the track. It was just debris spinning the tires.
With 31 laps to go Greg Biffle found Jimmie Johnson and passed him for the lead. With 15 laps to go Jimmie Johnson hit the wall in turn four pretty much eliminating any chance he had of winning. Not a single caution would come out again, sending Biffle coasting to his first one in nearly two years! Congrats to the Biff on a well deserved win.
Rick Hendrick came so close yet again to his 200th win and came short again. However all four of his cars did finish in the Top 10! And hey, Kasey Kahne finished the race and to add sugar on top, he got a great finish out of it.I truly believe while they haven’t won yet, Hendrick is the most consistant team in NASCAR this season.
He did finish a lap down but it was another solid finish for Kurt Busch and James Finch at Phoenix Racing. That worth noting, especially if you’re a fan.
And lastly, poor Marcos Ambrose ran out of gas on the last lap and would finish outside of the top 10 after staying there all race long.