Today's race was no different as Ryan Newman qualified on the pole at 192.582 MPH. His lap was well off the track record of 194.224 MPH which was set by Bill Elliott back in 2002. By contrast, Dale Jarrett won the pole for the 2005 Daytona 500 with a fast lap of only 188.312 MPH.
Texas Motor Speedway welcomed NASCAR NEXTEL Cup racing in 1997 with a huge wreck in turn one of lap one and it has been a magnet for yellow flags ever since. Today's race was no different as lap 32 saw a six-car chain reaction wreck to bring out the fourth caution of the day. The first part of the race averaged a wreck every 8 laps, including two cautions in the first ten laps but then they settled down and raced as Tony Stewart took command for the first long green flag run of the day.
After a caution for debris on the track, Greg Biffle took control as he passed Stewart on lap 87 and set sail. Biffle qualified in fifth but had to start in the back because he destroyed his primary car in a hard crash during practice. When he took the lead only 87 laps into the race he was showing some real muscle.
The rest of the Roush Racing team also was having a pretty good day as at one point right after the halfway point all five Roush drivers were running in the top ten.
The cautions calmed down throught the middle of the race and we saw some more long green runs with Greg Biffle dominating the majority of the race, leading 219 of the 334 lap scheduled distance.
A couple more late race cautions, (there were 11 total cautions on the day) shuffled the running order as some drivers pitted and some didn't moving Biffle behind some cars with older tires. With 24 laps remaining Biffle regained the lead and the race was never in doubt. Biffle took it the rest of the way to become the 9th different winner in the nine NEXTEL Cup races held at Texas Motor Speedway.
Next week the NEXTEL Cup series heads out west to Phoenix International Raceway as the challenging 1-mile oval with a "kink" in the backstretch hosts the series. While Texas is all about the speed Phoenix International Raceway is all about getting the car to turn on the relatively flat corners.
