Biffle Blames Busch.

[Virginia Giant]

Biffle points finger at Busch for Lap 82 crash

Busch's response: Biffle's car slowed; he had nowhere to go

By Mark Spoor, NASCAR.COM

April 10, 2006

10:22 AM EDT (14:22 GMT)

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FORT WORTH, Texas -- You can add another name to the list of drivers that Kurt Busch won't be receiving a dinner invitation from anytime soon.

 

Defending race winner Greg Biffle's No. 16 Ford, which led 49 of the first 70 laps of Sunday's Samsung/RadioShack 500, was tagged by Kurt Busch's No. 2 Dodge on the backstretch heading into Turn 3 on Lap 82.

 

No. 2 crew

Before getting involved with Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch's team had jack problems on pit road. Credit: Autostock

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Lite tap?Contact with Kurt Busch sends Greg Biffle to the garage

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"He just ran into the back of me and turned me into the fence," Biffle said. "I just watched the video and it's exactly what I thought happened -- I left about a half-a-car-width of room out there and was going straight ahead when he hit me and turned me in there.

 

"But that's unfortunate that he didn't want to give. It's a little bit of a give-and-take game out there, you know? If you get a run on someone down the straightaway, you can't just run into the back of them because you're faster than them. If he slid up into the corner and caught me on accident and couldn't react quick enough, that would be one thing. I don't know what he was upset about."

 

Busch's car was a lap down after a jack problem during the race's first set of pit stops kept the No. 2 machine on pit road for nearly a minute.

 

The wreck -- which put the race under the red flag for nearly 10 minutes while repairs were made to the Turn 3 wall -- led to Biffle's second DNF of the season. The other came at California Speedway in late February, also a race that Biffle dominated before engine problems ended his day early.

 

Biffle finished 42nd on Sunday, dropping him to 23rd in the Nextel Cup Series standings, 406 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson. Meanwhile, Busch sits 17th in the points, 341 behind Johnson after finishing 34th.

 

Samsung/RadioShack 500

Official Results

Pos. Driver Make

1. Kasey Kahne Dodge

2. Matt Kenseth Ford

3. Tony Stewart Chevy

4. Denny Hamlin Chevy

5. Kevin Harvick Chevy

6. Jeff Burton Chevy

7. Scott Riggs Dodge

8. Martin Truex Jr. Chevy

9. Mark Martin Ford

10. Bobby Labonte Dodge

• Complete results, click here

• Official standings, click here

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Victory LaneKasey Kahne celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Samsung/Radio Shack 500

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Final lapsKasey Kahne passes Tony Stewart down the stretch

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Hard hitCarl Edwards' bad luck continues as he wrecks on Lap 257

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All-tellingRyan Newman blames Sterling Marlin for his Lap 201 wreck

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Rookie stripeJ.J. Yeley gets loose and slams the Turn 4 wall

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How frustrating was Sunday's outcome for the Biffle camp? Biffle's girlfriend, Nicole Lunders, climbed to the top of Busch's pit box and had a brief confrontation with Busch's fiancée, Eva Bryan.

 

"At some point common sense has to set in and you say, 'I can't run into the back of a guy at a superspeedway or a mile-and-a-half track going 175 miles an hour unless we have restrictor-plate bumpers -- or our bumpers line up,'" Biffle said. "You can't do it and if you continue to do it, stuff's going to continue to happen."

 

Not surprisingly, Busch had a different view.

 

"I don't know what he was doing," Busch said of Biffle. "I was a lapped car trying to get out of the way. He had trouble passing the 21 [Ken Schrader], and he checked up going down the straightaway. I tried not to get into him. I had nowhere to go.

 

"He had a fast racecar. He caught me from like 20 car lengths back in a lap, so I don't know why he couldn't pass the 21. I was just trying to get out of the way."

 

On his in-car radio shortly after the incident, Busch and his team contended that Biffle had dropped a cylinder and that's why the cars made contact.

 

"Dropped a cylinder? Didn't drop a cylinder," Biffle said. "I know the Penske engines have a lot of power ... but I'm here to tell you I didn't drop a cylinder going down the backstretch."

 

Biffle's crew chief, Doug Richert, concurred with his driver.

 

"I don't think so," Richert said. "That's not the Greg I know. I think everybody knows Greg.

 

"People gotta drive smart. [busch] wasn't on the lead lap to boot. Ya know, I'm sorry for his problem he had on pit road or whatever, but I don't think we raced him dirty up to that point. People just aren't giving and taking.

 

"It's a shame, you know. Man, so many times this year we've been like this. We've had a good car and we just can't complete it. We certainly don't have the luck going our way this year, but you know what -- we can turn it around."