Greg Biffle did not run out of gas or time or luck. For once, the engine did not blow, the crash did not come and Biffle was not left to wonder how a sure victory could become yet another sure sign that his charmed 2005 season was long past.
In a confounding season of occasional dominance and occasional disaster, Biffle finally found his way back into victory lane Saturday night in the Dodge Charger 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Biffle held off a late charge from Jeff Gordon for his first Nextel Cup victory of the season and second in a row at Darlington.
"We never give up," Biffle said as he emerged from his No. 16 Ford in victory lane.
Biffle won this race a year ago for his third victory in his first 10 races. It was the start of a breakthrough year in which Biffle won six races and finished second in the Chase for the Championship to the Tony Stewart.
Coming off that effort, Biffle entered this season as one of the contenders for the title. But he has endured a troubled season, and was 20th in the Nextel Cup championship points standings entering Saturday's race.
He was also second only to Stewart in the number of laps led in Cup races this year. And yet, while Stewart has maintained a comfortable lead in the standings, Biffle has seen his hopes of making the 10-car Chase diminish through the first 10 races. Biffle has had engine problems, has run out of gas more than once and crashed, all leading to a free-fall out of serious contention for the Chase.
But all of that began to turn around a week ago when Biffle finished fourth at Richmond. It was his first top-five performance of the season, and he celebrated as if he had won.
The momentum carried to Darlington, where Biffle qualified ninth and quickly moved up in the field and into contention early Saturday night. He took over the lead from the pole sitter, Kasey Kahne, on Lap 36, maintaining that spot through the early portion of the race.
Eventually, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson emerged as contenders as well, both leading for stretches of the race. But in the final stages, Biffle gambled by going to pit road for fresh tires and fuel, hoping a caution flag wouldn't come out. This time, his luck held. Biffle was back in the lead by the time the competition pitted and returned.
It was Gordon who raced past Kenseth to move into position to make a run at Biffle in the closing laps. But with one lap to go, the lapped racecar of Ken Schrader appeared to block Gordon's path to the low side of the racetrack and a possible last-lap challenge.
"It killed all of my momentum," Gordon said. "I lost every chance that we had."
Still, it was a strong performance for a team that is still finding its way back after struggling a year ago and finishing out of the Chase for the Championship.
"It was a good run," Gordon said. "I'm very happy to be up there battling for that win, obviously. It's been a little while since we've been able to do that."
He isn't the only one who is saying that right now. Two weeks ago, after a 38th-place finish at Talladega, Biffle was 23rd in points and 232 points behind the 10th place spot in the standings, the cutoff for making the Chase.
With the Richmond performance and Saturday's victory, Biffle has now jumped to 14th place and is only 106 points out of 10th place.
He expects that momentum to continue as the series shifts to Lowe's Motor Speedway the next two weekends, including the non-points all-star race on May 20 and the Coca-Cola 600 on May 28.
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