April 17, 2005
- Biffle wins at Texas: #16-Greg Biffle won the Samsung/RadioShack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway by leading 219 of 334 laps. #41-Casey Mears made a late run after a caution and only took 2 tires and Biffle stalked Mears down within a few laps and won the race by just over 4 seconds over #42-Jamie McMurray. #48-Jimmie Johnson, #41-Casey Mears and #40-Sterling Marlin. The rest of the top 10 were #15-Waltrip, #97-Busch, #21-Rudd, #8-Earnhardt Jr. and #2-Wallace. It is Biffle’s 5th career win and 2nd of 2005. #48-Johnson maintains the points lead over Biffle by 135. Biffle officially started 5th, but was in a backup car after crashing in practice on Saturday and had to fall to the rear of the field before the drop of the green flag on Sunday.
For race results and links to other site for results, see:
Jayski’s Texas Race Results Page.(4-17-2005) - Sad News: Gene Granger, 70, of 126 Highridge Drive, died Friday, April 15, 2005, at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. He was the husband of Ann S. Granger. The J. F. Floyd Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.(GoUpstate.com)
Granger, who has been away from the sport for a few years, was a racing statistician and well known NASCAR Historian, mainly in the 1960’s thru 1990’s. I remeber reading columns by Granger on the old Speedvision [now Speed Channel site] in the late 1990’s when I started this site [Aug 1996]. He and David Green [not the driver] put out the ‘On This Day in NASCAR’ Daily Planners. Condolences to family and friends.(4-16-2005)
AND Gene Granger, 70, of 126 Highridge Drive, died Friday, April 15, 2005, at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. Born April 2, 1935, in Baltimore, MD, he was the son of the late Charles Edward and Anne Culp Granger. He was a sportswriter, a NASCAR historian, and a U.S. Air Force Veteran. He was of the Baptist faith.
Survivors include his wife of 46 years, Ann S. Granger; two daughters, Gina G. Chapman and her husband, Bruce, of Spartanburg, and Gia G. Ellenburg and her husband, Scott, of Travelers Rest; two granddaughters, Ashley Wilkerson of Spartanburg, and Kristen Ellenburg of Travelers Rest; and three brothers, the Rev. Charles Granger, of Deland, FL, Marion Granger of Winter Haven, FL, and Richard Granger of Peachtree City, GA.
Graveside services will be at 11:00 a.m., Monday, April 18, 2005 at Greenlawn Memorial Gardens, conducted by the Rev. Thomas P. Groome, III and the Rev. Charles Granger. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Covenant Presbyterian Church, 880 W. O. Ezell Blvd., Spartanburg, SC 29301. An online guest register is available at www.floydmortuary.com.(4-17-2005) - Leffler out of the #11? Ward in? UPDATES – DENIED Motorsport.com reports it has learned that the #11 Fedex Joe Gibbs Racing Chevy team may be planning on replacing Jason Leffler with Ward Burton as soon as Darlington. While denied by team officials, insiders say Burton would fill the seat for the remainder of the season before a permanent driver [Yeley?] would be named to take over the ride. Burton stated that he has not been spoken to in regards to the #11 car but currently had several other offers in play.(Motorsport.com)(4-16-2005)
UPDATE – more on Ward, Indy 500?: With rumblings that the Nextel Cup Series “Silly Season” of driver hirings and firings could be ready to kick into gear, Ward Burton made an appearance at Texas Motor Speedway yesterday. The South Boston, Va., native was announcing a new marketing partnership between his wildlife foundation and Beretta that will promote firearm safety for kids, but he also spent several minutes answering questions about his NASCAR future. An Internet report yesterday linked the 43-year-old with possibly replacing Jason Leffler in the #11 Chevrolet of Joe Gibbs Racing. With the impending retirements of Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin, and the expected departure of veterans such as Sterling Marlin from established teams, several other quality rides could be open by the end of the year. Burton, who has stayed busy managing his Halifax County preserve, doing charity work and developing an outdoors show for TV, said he wasn’t in serious discussions with any team. He reportedly has been offered rides in the Cup, Busch and Truck series. “I won’t come back if the right situation isn’t there,” he said. “I won’t say Cup is my only choice, but it’s the only one I’m considering.” Burton said he also had been contacted about attempting the Indianapolis 500.(Richmond Times Dispatch)(4-17-2005)
UPDATE 2 DENIED: Joe Gibbs Racing President J.D. Gibbs on Sunday denied published reports that Jason Leffler is on the way out of the #11 Chevrolet and Ward Burton is on the way in. Gibbs called Leffler on Saturday night at Texas to give a vote of confidence. “I called Jason and kind of laughed,” Gibbs said. “We have a multi-year deal with Jason and with FedEx, so there is no truth to that. “I said, ‘You don’t have to worry about that,’ and he said, ‘I know.’” Joe Gibbs Racing has never released a driver on the Nextel Cup Series level in its history, and Gibbs said that Leffler has a three-year deal to drive the car. “We like long-term relationships with sponsors and team drivers,” Gibbs said. “He’s has been great, everything off the track. We have got to finish first and show improvement, which we have been doing.” A source close to Burton also denied the rumor.(NASCAR.com)(4-17-2005) - Texas Race News and Notes:
* Greg Biffle won the Samsung/RadioShack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, scoring his fifth NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory in his 85th career start. His last victory came in California Speedway, five races ago.
* Biffle became the second repeat-race winner in seven races in 2005. He joins Jeff Gordon who scored victories at Daytona and Martinsville this season.
* Biffle remained second in the NASCAR NEXTEL CUP point standings, his highest career points ranking and has ranked among the top five for the six straight races.
* Biffle’s first victory in three races at Texas is his first finish here better than 28th.
* Biffle begins the 2005 season with five top-10 finishes, second only to Jimmie Johnson with seven.
* Biffle won from the rear of the field after moving to the rear under penalty from his fifth-place starting position for use of a back up car. Kevin Harvick came from the rear to win at Bristol just two races ago. Harvick went to the rear in that race for adjustments made while under impound.
* Biffle scored the fourth victory for car owner Jack Roush at Texas Motor Speedway. All of Roush’s victories came here with four different drivers. This was Roush’s 77th victory as a car owner and third this season.
Notebook Items
* Jamie McMurray (second) posted his third straight top-10 finish in three races at Texas Motor Speedway. It is his best finish at Texas. His other two Texas finishes were a pair of 10th-place finishes. McMurray has scored two top-10 finishes in seven races this season. He climbed from 15th to 14th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings.
* Jimmie Johnson (third) scored his fourth top-10 finish in four races at Texas Motor Speedway. Johnson has scored top-10 finishes in 13 straight races, since Charlotte last fall. Johnson failed to lead a lap for the second race in 2005. He remained first in the point standings with a 135-point lead over second-place Biffle.
* Casey Mears (fourth) posted his second top-10 finish in three races at Texas Motor Speedway. This ties his career-best finish set at Watkins Glen in August 2004. Mears has scored two top-10 finishes in seven races this season. Mears climbed from 23rd to 17th in the point standings.
* Sterling Marlin (fifth) scored his fourth top-10 finish in nine races at Texas Motor Speedway. Marlin scored his third top-10 finish in 2005 and climbed from 12th to sixth in the point standings. This is his highest points ranking since he was fifth after Kansas in September 2002.
* Michael Waltrip (sixth) posted his third top-10 finish nine races at Texas. Waltrip scored his second top-10 finish in 2005. Waltrip moved from 30th to 24th in the point standings.
* Rusty Wallace (10th) posted his fourth top-10 finish in nine races at Texas Motor Speedway. It marked his fourth top-10 finish in 2005. Wallace moved from seventh to third in the point standings. This is his highest points ranking since he was third after Talladega in April 2002.
* For the first time ever, three Chip Ganassi-owned cars finished in the top five: McMurray (second), Mears (fourth) and Marlin (fifth).
* Mark Martin (20th) has been running at the finish in 29 consecutive races , the longest current streak.
* Kyle Busch (21st) was the highest finishing Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year contender for the fourth time 2005.
* After finishing 23rd in the at Texas, Ken Schrader has now gone 450 races since his last victory which came at Dover in June 1991.
* Leading 219 laps in the Samsung/RadioShack 500, Biffle took the lead in laps led in 2005. He has led 559 laps in the first seven races of the season.
* Seven of the top-10 positions in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings changed at Texas.
* Looking ahead to the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup…. only 17 drivers remain within 400 points of current point leader Jimmie Johnson.(NASCAR Statistical Services)(4-17-2005) - StockCarFans Rumbleings – Texas:
#16-Greg Biffle was about as close to total domination as you can get today at Texas Motor Speedway as he led 7 times for 219 laps on the way to victory in the Samsung/Radio Shack 500. And, when you figure he had to drop to the back at the start, impressive is the first word that comes to mind. Using a backup car after wrecking in practice yesterday, Biffle picked up his second win of the season (he becomes our second two-timer this year) and the 5th win of his Nextel Cup career (he’s in a seven-way tie for 60th on the all-time list). Win #77 for Roush Racing was worth $522,250 (yikes!!) from the over $6.8M in posted awards.
#42-Jamie McMurray (2nd) had his best finish since he was runner-up at Martinsville last October.
#41-Casey Mears (4th, and also in a backup car) tied his career-best finish today. He was 4th at Watkins Glen last August.
#40-Sterling Marlin (5th) had his best finish since he was 4th at Martinsville last October.
#15-Michael Waltrip (6th) had his best finish since he was 6th at Loudon last July.
#19-Jeremy Mayfield (11th) had his best finish since he was 6th at Martinsville last October.
#31-Jeff Burton (12th) had his best finish since he was 6th at Phoenix last November.
#66-Hermie Sadler (29th) had his best finish since he was 23rd at Talladega last October.
STREAKIN….Jimmie Johnson has 13 Top-10’s in a row.
Greg Biffle has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is a tie between Jamie McMurray (+29) and Jeff Burton (+29), followed by Casey Mears (+28), Matt Kenseth (+21), and Mike Bliss (+20). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Kasey Kahne (-32), followed by Tony Stewart (-21), Elliott Sadler (-20), and Jeff Green (-20). This is the second BD of the season for Kahne.
Greg Biffle cut 25 points off Jimmie Johnson’s lead today….its now 135. The “Stayin’ Alive” line is up to 17, and if Johnson keeps stringing these Top-10’s together we can forget that 400 point codicil in the “Chase” rules. We had three drivers move forward six spots in the points today. Sterling Marlin, Casey Mears, and Michael Waltrip all made the advance. Two drivers (Tony Stewart & Jeff Green) moved six spots in the negative direction. As for the privileged list for next week (regarding qualifying), Mike Wallace has earned the final exemption while Bobby Hamilton Jr will now have to time his way into the field. Bobby Labonte will still be in line for the Champions Provisional (should he need it).(Stock Car Fans)(4-17-2005) - No injuries in Roush fire: A fire Friday damaged a building at the Roush Industries complex in Livonia, Mich., owned by racing team owner Jack Roush. There were no injuries. Parts for military vehicles are manufactured in the affected building. “The good news is it was a building that had five different units with five sets of fire doors, so they closed the fire door on the unit and minimized the damage to the rest of the building,” Roush said Saturday at Texas Speedway. “Happily, nobody was injured.”(Atlanta Journal-Constitution)(4-17-2005)
- Wallace to stand by for Labonte, Craven for Busch: It was reported on Speed Channel’s NASCAR This Morning that #18-Bobby Labonte is feeling ill and Kenny Wallace will be standing by if Labonte needs to get out of the car. #97-Kurt Busch is still feeling sore from the Martinsville and Texas IROC wrecks and Roush Racing’s Truck Series and Nextel Cup veteran driver, Ricky Craven will stand by if Busch needs to get out of the car.(Fox Texas pre-race show).
Labonte and Busch will start the race and get all the drivers points and credit for the finish postion at Texas Motor Speedway.(4-17-2005)
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