Monday, November 20, 2006
Martin Truex Jr. was the runner-up.
By REID SPENCER
SPORTING NEWS NASCAR WIRE SERVICE
HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- In each of the three years of the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup, Greg Biffle has won the season-ending Ford 400. He completed the triple after nightfall on Sunday, holding off charging Martin Truex Jr. in a green-white-checkered finish.
Johnson, however, claimed the most important prize, surviving an adventurous day to claim his first Nextel Cup championship.
Raybestos Rookie of the Year Denny Hamlin secured third place in the final points standings with a third-place result in the race.
Crash
The season finale was red-flagged on Lap 254 after the No. 30 Dodge of Juan Pablo Montoya crashed hard into the Turn 1 wall and burst into flames. Biffle took the lead from J.J. Yeley after the restart on Lap 257 and remained up front through the 11th caution of the race on Lap 262.
Truex Jr., who posted his career-best result in the series, closed on Biffle in the final two laps but couldn't overtake the No. 16 Ford. Polesitter Kasey Kahne was fourth, and Kevin Harvick came home fifth to secure fourth place in the final standings.
Biffle started his string of Homestead wins in 2004, and by beating Johnson to the checkered flag in the first year of the Chase, he ensured that then-teammate Kurt Busch would win the championship by eight points over Johnson.
Biffle's win didn't help Kenseth in the same way, but it brought an upbeat end to an otherwise disappointing season and a satisfying end to the driver/crew chief relationship between Biffle and Doug Richert, who will be replaced by Pat Tryson in 2007.
The finish
"Doug and everybody did a great job, but I was really nervous," said Biffle, who won his second race of the season and the 11th of his Cup career.
"I was really nervous about the 1 [Truex]. He was getting a good start. He was laying back on me, and I'm pretty excited to hold him off.
"This is the same car I've won with three years in a row. Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson on his first championship, and hopefully we'll be in that position next year."
Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had dominated during a 44-lap stretch from Lap 117 to 160, subsequently lost the handle on his No. 8 Chevy and smacked the wall on Lap 226, ending a promising run with a 19th-place finish.
Earnhardt ended the season fifth in the points standings.