Greg Biffle Tames Darlington Again in 2006

Greg Biffle won the 2005 Dodge Charger 500 in thrilling fashion. Today the 2006 Dodge Charger 500 was not thrilling, but Greg Biffle again took the win. Darlington Raceway is a tough abrasive old race track. This forces drivers to race the race track and not each other. Today the race was just not interesting until the final 20 laps as drivers battled their cars instead of each other.

Qualifying

Kasey Kahne put his Evernham Dodge on the pole for the 2006 Dodge Charger 500. Kahne ran strong in 2005 but came up short on strategy at the end. He was looking to back up that strong run with a win in 2006.

Ryan Newman started on the outside of the front row in second. The rest of the top five starters were all rookies as Clint Bowyer, David Stremme and Denny Hamlin swept the next three qualifying spots.

Denny Hamlin continued his hot weekend with a win in the Busch Series race on Friday night. Hamlin was my pick for rookie of the year and has been having a great season in both the Busch and Cup series so far.

Drop The Green Flag

Kasey Kahne moved out front quickly as the front of the pack dropped into line through turn one. Clint Bowyer held down the second spot early in the running with Ryan Newman in third.

Like most Darlington races it seemed like most of the field missed the setup. There was a lot of slipping and sliding early in the running but the first caution didn't come until lap 28 when Brian Vickers got loose and turned it firmly into the outside wall.

Storylines

Darlington Raceway has seen some great finishes. The racing itself during the bulk of the race can be pretty dry though.

To do well here a driver has to be aware of his car and race the track. This causes drivers to be extra-courteous and move over when a faster car comes by. While this is smart driving it makes the racing painfully boring.

We saw this today as the drivers were just putting in laps, marking time and getting themselves in position for the last 50 laps.

Chasing The Checkers

As this one started to wind down towards the checkered flag Roush Racing teammates Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth were out front. Jeff Gordon was coming on strong in third.

Gordon got around Kenseth and was a little faster than Greg Biffle. Jeff Gordon added some drama to the finish as he was able to get to Biffle's back bumper. Biffle was able to hold him off and take the win.

Top Ten

1. Greg Biffle
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Matt Kenseth
4. Jimmie Johnson
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
6. Ryan Newman
7. Kyle Busch
8. Mark Martin
9. Jeff Burton
10. Denny Hamlin

The Points

Jimmie Johnson stretched his lead slightly but in general there weren't any changes at the top of the leaderboard.

At the other end of the critical top ten Jeff Burton took over the tenth place spot. Casey Mears' bad run slipped him back one spot to eleventh.

The top ten in points are now:

1. Jimmie Johnson -0
2. Tony Stewart -93
3. Matt Kenseth -94
4. Mark Martin -199
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -226
6. Jeff Gordon -295
7. Kyle Busch -298
8. Kasey Kahne -307
9. Kevin Harvick -321
10. Jeff Burton -391

Next Week

Next week the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup series goes back home to the Charlotte, NC area. Lowes Motor Speedway will host the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star event. This is a non-points win-or-go-home event where the winner takes home one million dollars.