The Final Lap – NASCAR News, Radio, Podcast

PHOTO CREDIT: NASCARMEDIA (USED WITH PERMISSION)

RACE RESULTS

1. (3) Greg Biffle, Ford, 334, $540,850.
2. (10) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 334, $361,501.
3. (4) Mark Martin, Toyota, 334, $232,690.
4. (34) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 334, $250,401.
5. (2) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 334, $212,901.
6. (1) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 334, $190,904.
7. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 334, $148,565.
8. (20) Carl Edwards, Ford, 334, $176,156.
9. (15) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 334, $175,651.
10. (16) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Chevrolet, 334, $135,940.
11. (17) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 334, $171,863.
12. (13) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 334, $166,221.
13. (27) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 333, $148,638.
14. (9) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 333, $151,513.
15. (12) AJ Allmendinger, Dodge, 333, $159,805.
16. (25) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 333, $148,546.
17. (18) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 333, $142,794.
18. (11) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 333, $121,980.
19. (14) Joey Logano, Toyota, 333, $120,380.
20. (7) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 333, $139,863.

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April 14, 2012

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

FORT WORTH, Texas — Saving his equipment for the final green-flag run, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader Greg Biffle finally put a win on the board, cruising to a 3.235-second victory over Jimmie Johnson in Saturday night’s Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Biffle took the lead on Lap 304 of 334 and pulled away to win his first race since Oct. 3, 2010 (at Kansas), his second at Texas and the 17th of his career. Johnson, who led a race-high 156 laps, scraped the wall trying to run down Biffle in the late going.

“I just dug deep,” Biffle said. “I knew I had to do it and kept trying and trying and trying. I knew the team would forgive me if I wrecked it trying to beat him, so I gave it all I had.”

Mark Martin came home third, followed by Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth. With Kasey Kahne finishing seventh and Dale Earnhardt Jr. 10th, all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers ran in the top 10, but Biffle denied them their most coveted prize, a 200th Cup victory for team owner Rick Hendrick.

The victory was the first in the Cup series for Biffle’s crew chief, Matt Puccia.

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PHOTO CREDIT: NASCARMEDIA (USED WITH PERMISSION)

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. flies past the checkered flag to collect his fourth-career Nationwide Series victory. Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR

By: Toby Christie – Follow on Twitter @Tobalical

Has anyone come further in this sport in the past three years than Ricky Stenhouse Jr.? Early in his rookie season (2010) his stock was so low, that many were wondering when – not if – Jack Roush would send him packing back home to Mississippi.

Roush insisted that he believed in Stenhouse, and this confidence is all Stenhouse seemingly needed to turn things around. In the second half of his rookie season he did a 180-degree turn. Friday night in Texas he continued to write the 2012 chapter of what looks to be a promising NASCAR career.

Nearly all night long in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had the car to beat. There was a 100 lap stretch in the middle of the event where Paul Menard had the race in his grasp, but by the end of the 300-mile race Stenhouse would put the rest of the field in a headlock, and he wouldn’t let go. Stenhouse led a total of three times for 68 laps during the 200 lap race, and he held off a late charge by Denny Hamlin to win the race. In victory lane Stenhouse talked about holding off Hamlin.

“Yeah, Denny is a great race car driver and I know when I am up there racing with those guys that I have my work cut out for me. They raced me clean and Paul Menard raced me clean all night long and it was a lot of fun up there racing with those guys. You can learn a lot from them. Whew! We finally got a cowboy hat at Texas. I love coming here. We finally finished off a race.”

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Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

1 33 Paul Menard(i) Menards/Rheem Chevrolet 29.717 181.714
2 18 Denny Hamlin(i) SportClips Toyota 29.886 180.687
3 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Pure Michigan Ford 29.934 180.397
4 3 Austin Dillon # American Ethanol Chevrolet 29.974 180.156
5 2 Elliott Sadler OneMain Financial Chevrolet 29.979 180.126
6 54 Kurt Busch(i) Monster Energy Toyota 30.085 179.491
7 88 Cole Whitt # TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet 30.103 179.384
8 38 Kasey Kahne(i) Great Clips Chevrolet 30.224 178.666
9 30 Steve Arpin Mike’s On The Rocks Chevrolet 30.232 178.619
10 44 Mike Bliss TriStar Motorsports Toyota 30.264 178.430
11 11 Brian Scott Dollar General Toyota 30.299 178.224
12 20 Joey Logano(i) GameStop/Batman2DCSuperHeroes Toyota 30.357 177.883
13 22 Brad Keselowski(i) Discount Tire Dodge 30.382 177.737
14 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Wurth Dodge 30.383 177.731
15 70 Johanna Long # Foretravel Chevrolet 30.383 177.731
16 31 Justin Allgaier Brandt Chevrolet 30.392 177.678
17 7 Danica Patrick GoDaddy.com Chevrolet 30.394 177.667
18 43 Michael Annett Pilot/Flying J Ford 30.530 176.875
19 09 Ryan Truex Grime Boss Toyota 30.587 176.546
20 5 Dale Earnhardt Jr.(i) Degree Chevrolet 30.675 176.039
21 08 Kyle Fowler Randy Hill Racing Ford 30.757 175.570
22 10 Jeff Green TriStar Motorsports Toyota 30.826 175.177

LISTEN – THE FINAL LAP WEEKLY – TEXAS PREVIEW SHOW (GUEST SCOTT ZIPADELLI)
23 81 Jason Bowles # American Majority Toyota 30.839 175.103
24 01 Mike Wallace G&K Services Chevrolet 30.857 175.001
25 4 Danny Efland Danny Efland Racing Chevrolet 30.903 174.740

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Smoke was all smiles during the first practice session of the weekend on Thursday, but in final practice he was forced to a backup car. Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR

By: Toby Christie - Follow on Twitter @Tobalical

The final practice session of the week is in the books for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Trevor Bayne – who’s hopes of taking home the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship were dashed when sponsorship couldn’t be found this weekend – paced the session with a lap of 184.641 mph in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team Ford.

Bayne has a lot to prove, and he has plenty of incentive to want to do well this weekend – outside of the fact that he is a racecar driver.

Greg Biffle was second-quick in this session, and he was followed by Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, and A.J. Allmendinger rounded out the top-five fastest.

One of the shockers of the session was Kurt Busch who wheeled his No. 51 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet to the eighth-fastest time in the session, and Casey Mears also displayed some speed in his No. 13 GEICO Ford with the 12th fastest lap time.

The only incident of the practice session came when Tony Stewart – who won at Texas last November – slammed into the wall early in the session. The contact was severe enough to force “Smoke” – who posted the 35th-fastest time before the crash – to go to a backup car for Saturday’s race. It’ll be interesting to see how finely Steve Addington can tune Stewart’s backup car before Sprint Cup Series qualifying starts at 5:40 pm local time.

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Greg Biffle hasn't won since 2010, but he has entered 2012 with a new focus and fire. Photo Credit: Robert Laberge/Getty Images for NASCAR

By: Toby Christie – Follow on Twitter @Tobalical

Greg Biffle hasn’t won in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series since Kansas in the fall of 2010 (49 races ago), but Friday Biffle mentioned that he likes his chances at finding victory lane in the coming weeks.

“Any time is a good time to win a race. These are some good opportunities for us in Texas and Kansas which are two great tracks for us,” Biffle said during his weekly press conference. “We ran, in our standards, fairly well at Martinsville being top-10 most of the day. Unfortunately there at the end with the 10 car and the way the cautions fell and the lucky dog we ended up 13th. This is a race track and we have a great lineup all the way through Darlington and Dover, all these race tracks, that we think we can win at. It is important for us to win. We are trying and we were off a little bit at Vegas. Hopefully we will be on the money here.”

Biffle has come on like gang-busters since the 2012 season began, and it caught most of us by surprise after his lackluster 2011 effort. Through six races in 2012 he has an average finish of 6.8 — his average finish in 2011? 16.8. Matt Puccia has become an unsung hero at crew chief, and he is seemingly the only change on the No. 16 team since last season. Biffle has no worries just yet of reaching victory lane, but how much longer can he go before he starts to get nervous about not finding victory lane?

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