Saturday, May 14, 2005
Jimmy Johnson found out early on in Saturday's Chevrolet 400 race.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Greg Biffle went into the Chevrolet 400 third in the points race and aware his luck could change quickly.
"Short track racing at Richmond on a Friday or Saturday night, it's real easy to make mistakes and that's what we're trying not to do," he said before starting ninth on the three-quarter-mile oval.
On lap 81, points leader Jimmie Johnson became Exhibit A.
Johnson was running 26th, two spots ahead of where he started, when he was nudged into a spin by Travis Kvapil in Turn 2. The spin ended with Johnson's Chevrolet slamming rear-first into the inside wall.
"It just was a chain-reaction deal," Johnson said.
Johnson then tried to hustle his damaged car onto pit road for repairs. On the way, it suddenly took a hard left back into the wall.
"My steering failed," he said in the garage. "If it didn't hurt the car bad enough the first time, I killed it the second time."
A short time later, the team said he was done for the night.
"Night like tonight, it feels good to have a points lead," Johnson said. He started the night 127 points ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon, and earned 43 for his 40th-place showing.
Saturday's race wasn't completed in time for today's edition.
Coach speak
Washington Redskins coach and NASCAR car owner Joe Gibbs and Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer covered a wide variety of subjects during a news conference several hours before the race.
Gibbs said he's feeling fine about a month after doctors put a stent in an artery to his heart in mid-April, needing to unclog a blockage.
"In overnight, out the next day and you're rocking and rolling," Gibbs said. "I probably have the most looked-at heart in the world."
Beamer said he looks on with admiration as Gibbs guides the Redskins and keeps his hand in on the operations of his three Nextel Cup and two Busch teams, but that he's never thought of trying to do the same.
The two also had a humorous exchange while posing for pictures.
"I'll tell you what the difference is," Beamer said, holding his dangling credential aloft. "The owner doesn't have to have one of these."
Yeah," Gibbs said, "but you got in free. It cost me $100,000."
Beamer was a guest of track president and Tech alum Doug Fritz.
Iron man
Ricky Rudd started sixth in his 850th career Nextel Cup start, and record 763rd in a succession.
Only seven-time champion Richard Petty, with 1,185 starts, and Dave Marcis, with 883, have run more races in the Nextel Cup Series than Rudd.
"It doesn't seem like that long ago I was 18 years old and starting my first race at Rockingham," the 48-year-old Rudd said. "I think the next-youngest guy at that time was probably 30 to 35 years old. I was kind of in this sport when young wasn't cool and you sort of felt like a fish out of water.
"Now I'm on the other side of the spectrum."
Fame game
With three victories in the first 10 races of the season, Biffle is gaining more than his share of attention this year. He admits his sudden stardom it could make staying "normal" more difficult.
"Yeah, but everybody is like, 'Well, we didn't expect all this to happen, and who is this and who is he?' and all this," Biffle said.
"I'm just a driver like all these other guys."