Greg Biffle Rebounds To Win at Kansas While David Reutimann Gets Kyle Busch

Racin’ with Russ

Greg Biffle started this year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase series with a pair of sub-15th place finishes only to rebound on Sunday with a win in Kansas.

The Roush-Fenway Ford driver was among the top five most of the day yet a simple tightening up of the car made it that much better to get him out front by seven seconds over Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, and Jeff Gordon at the stripe.

Stewart led the most laps along with Harvick, Johnson, Gordon, Kenseth, and a surprising performance by Paul Menard out front.

The field was spread out for most of the day, although not spread out enough for Chaser Kyle Busch and non-Chaser David Reutimann as the two got together off of turn 4 on lap 52. Reutimann got turned around by Busch as he got a piece of his rear left quarter panel. Reuti was relegated to the pits for extensive repairs.

Busch went on to be among the top ten until lap 154 when Reuti expressed his displeasure with Busch’s previous move by returning the favor in Busch’s rear left quarter panel. Reuti spun off into the infield with additional damage as Busch drove away after bouncing off the outside wall with front and rear damage.

I had to laugh when the TV coverage aired Busch’s response to his crew that NASCAR better do something about that! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! Wow! How many times have we seen KB payback someone, such as the most recent event between he and Brad Keselowski at Bristol in the Nationwide race.

Busch’s crew managed to put enough band aids on the car to finish a credible 21st, but dropped four spots in the Chase.

Both drivers expressed their displeasure with the situation and NASCAR didn’t shed any light or hint at any further repercussions after the incident.

Someday KB is going to have a light bulb shine above his head to realize when you poke a snake in the corner, it will eventually strike back. Just ask Keselowski or Denny Hamlin among others about payback. What do you think? Drop me a line.

Notes: Jimmie Johnson was mid-pack fort a good part of the race, only to climb back to a runner-up finish, elevating him to lead the Chase, but only by eight points over Hamlin who struggled to finish 12th.

- Carl Edwards took a hard fought sixth, just in front of fellow Ford drivers Matt Kenseth and Menard. Harvick and Edwards both moved up two spots respectively in the Chase to third and fourth.

- Biffle’s second win of the year moves him up one spot to eighth, but is only 85 points out of first with seven shows remaining.

- With the most recent results seeing Fords running as strong as they are, I’d say the engineers are figuring out more of the little nuances the engines like. Look for more of the same down the road.

Nationwide

The race at Kansas turned out to be the Joey Logano vs. Kyle Busch show with Logano coming out ahead. A heated battle took place over the final two restarts with Logano simply getting up on the wheel and getting a push from Brad Keselowski on the final restart to edge BK and Busch, notching his second trophy of the season.

Open Wheel News 

The Indy Racing League ran their finale in Homestead, Florida where the main topic was whether Will Power or Dario Franchitti would emerge as champs.

Franchitti ran well early to lead with teammate Scott Dixon running as blocker in second. But, Power wound up brushing the wall, all but eliminating himself from contention with a very lengthy stop for repairs.

Dixon wound up the winner as Franchitti putted around just enough to claim his third title by a mere five points over Power.

Danica Patrick surprised many with a second place run, just barely beating her teammate Tony Kanaan for runner-up.

From Rumorville 

Look for a new race car movie concerning the life and times of Wendell Scott, the only African American to win a NASCAR 100-mile feature. Initial footage will be shot this week at I-77 Speedway in South Carolina with an airing slated in February during Black History Month.

- Don’t be surprised over the next year to hear more and more about German auto maker Volkswagen wanting to enter the NASCAR stock car racing ranks, joining Toyota as another foreign entrant. I can see it now…Herbie the Love Bug wins the 2015 Daytona 500.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the NASCAR Cup and Nationwide action from California along with more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ at [e-mail]