Chase field implodes as Biffle wins
The craziness of the day began when severe storms drenched the Speedway on Lap 15, triggering the first of 12 cautions and the first of two red flag periods. From there, the race was slowed by seven additional cautions before coming to a grinding halt on Lap 148 when a second thunderstorm cell blanketed the track in the middle of green flag pit stops, leaving many of the Chase for the Nextel Cup contestants worrying about whether the race would even restart. Kurt Busch had led 76 laps, but relinquished the point to Tony Stewart after pitting four laps before the race stoppage.
A two-hour, 13 minute and 14 second delay came about as a result of the second red flag on Lap 148. Once the race restarted, however, it continued to crawl as the ninth caution was displayed following a six-car wreck triggered by Michael Waltrip and Ken Schrader two laps later. At this point, NASCAR opted to shorten the 267-lap event to 227 circuits.
Stewart, who looked to be the race winner when the rain showers came on Lap 148, developed a tire rub that ultimately sunk his No. 20 Chevrolet from seventh to 29th over the course of 11 laps shortly after the restart of the race. Things appeared to stabilize for the two-time Nextel Cup Series champion until he slowed suddenly between Turns 3 and 4 and was nailed by Kurt Busch, who had nowhere to go to avoid him. As Stewart slid up the banking, he collected Carl Edwards and both cars ended up in the garage for repairs.
The two-car incident prompted another change of course as NASCAR radioed to competitors that the race would be trimmed to 210 laps.
The wreckfest would not end there however. Jamie McMurray slid into Paul Menard on the backstretch and swept Denny Hamlin into a three-car melee. That set up a 22-lap dash for the finish with Biffle in the lead followed by Kevin Harvick, Bowyer, Mears and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Bowyer passed Harvick two laps later and attempted to reel Biffle in. He cut the No. 16 Ford's advantage to 1.074-seconds before Juan Pablo Montoya slid into the wall between Turns 1 and 2 to ignite the 12th and final caution for debris as night fell on Kansas City with four laps to go.
"I can't see anything," Bowyer called to his crew. "I don't know what they want me to do. I can't see the debris."
NASCAR attempted to stop the madness by freezing the field and allowing the LifeLock 315 to finish under yellow flag conditions, but were unsuccessful as both Bowyer and Johnson passed Biffle, who was experiencing fuel pick-up issues on the final lap, under caution. However, NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said "there is no passing under caution," and the driver of the No. 16 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing was credited with the victory despite not crossing the finish line first.
"In the opinion of the tower, the 16 maintained reasonable speed and won the race," Poston added.
Biffle, who avoided trouble throughout the race and was the dominant car over the final 37 laps, was quick to defend his turf — and his 12th career victory — in the postrace aftermath.
"I wanted to save enough fuel to do a burnout and drive to Victory Lane," Biffle said. "How was I going to get my car back over (to the garage)? One other thing that they don't know is that NASCAR came to my car out in the grass and said, 'will it run?' And I said yes. And they said, 'don't touch it. We want six guys to push it back'. So, (my competitors are) probably thinking, 'oh, it ran out of gas, it won't run', I coasted across the line, everybody went by me, I turned off in the grass, and then we pushed it to Victory Lane.
"That's not the case. The car runs right now. The car, you can go and start it. They told me not to start it — get away from the car, six guys, don't touch the quarter panels. So, they need to understand that the car still runs. It still has gas in it. I was unbuckling and coasting to save my gas because I knew the race was over, the field was frozen, the caution's out. And I didn't know they were going to go by me.
"Should I have bumped the clutch again and give it a little more juice so they wouldn't have rolled past me coming to the stripe? I wasn't even thinking of that. I don't know what else to say. I don't know how bad you want Clint to win. I don't care."
Still, Bowyer and Johnson both questioned the race outcome. Bowyer qualified 10th and ran with the leaders until NASCAR penalized the No. 07 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet for speeding on pit road on Lap 92 and forced him to restart 35th. Bowyer avoided much of the craziness in the second half of the race that eliminated seven Chasers from contention, and elevated his team from fifth to third in the point standings.
"I don't know where we finished," Bowyer said. "I thought you had to finish under your own power across the finish line. We maintained the pace car speed. I don't know what the deal is. The bottom line is the Jack Daniel's Chevrolet was good and we had a lot of fun today."
Johnson regained the points lead after charging back from 24th on Lap 157 to score his 15th top five of the season. Although he would have preferred to win, he assumed Bowyer was the victor.
"I feel bad for the 16," Johnson said. "But in my opinion that's your winner right there (pointing to Bowyer)."
However, it was four-time champion and fifth-place finisher Jeff Gordon who protested the loudest and offered advice to Chase newcomer, Bowyer.
"I want the No. 16 to win for points reasons, I don't want the No. 07 to win because of that but, let me tell you what, he didn't win the race," Gordon said. "You have to maintain speed, we know that, he slowed down, we don't know he was out of gas. Clint Bowyer is the winner of this race in my opinion, no offense to Greg Biffle. He drove the car to the win, but you have to cross the start/finish line at pace car speed at least.
"If I were Clint, I wouldn't put too much fight up, I would let NASCAR make the decision. I definitely would argue it and give them my point. And see where they went with it from there."
Following the race, Mike Dillon, GM of Richard Childress Racing, said the company would not protest the win.
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