Biffle Pulls an Upset at Daytona

The Dale Earnhardt Inc. reign at restrictor-plate races is over, at least for now.

Greg Biffle scored a major upset in his Ford at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night, winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series Pepsi 400 and keeping DEI teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip out of victory lane.

Earnhardt and Waltrip came into the race as the heavy favorites, having won eight of the last 10 restrictor-plate events.

But a wreck early in the race turned it into a fuel strategy contest and the DEI cars came up empty when they didn’t stop with most of the field.

“Everybody stopped that one time and we didn’t,” Earnhardt said. “That got us.”

Earnhardt and Waltrip were running first and second in Chevrolets when a seven-car accident occurred on Lap 74. Because neither could have finished the race with only one more stop for fuel, they decided not to pit under that caution.

Biffle and another group of cars did stop for a splash of gas just before racing went back to green under that caution, giving most of them enough fuel to make it with one more stop.

But Earnhardt and Waltrip still had to make two stops and dropped out of sequence with the rest of the cars.

Earnhardt, who appeared to have the strongest car in the field and led two times for 43 laps, finished seventh, while Waltrip, shooting for his third straight win at Daytona, finished 11th. The two combined to lead 52 of the 160 laps.

*

Jon Wood was forced to start from the back but still earned his first victory in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, winning the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.

Wood qualified third on the 1 1/2-mile tri-oval but had to start from the back because he changed engines in his Ford after qualifying. The race tied a track record with eight lead changes and set a track record with seven cautions.

The point standings were shaken up as well, when Travis Kvapil finished fourth in a Chevrolet and took over the lead from Brendan Gaughan by six points. Gaughan was leading in his Dodge on Lap 139 when he pitted, giving Wood the lead for good.

It was a one-two finish for Jack Roush Racing, with Wood’s teammate Carl Edwards finishing second.

*

Rookie Sebastien Bourdais crossed the finish line with one of his tires damaged to win the CART Cleveland Grand Prix, held at night for the first time in its 22-year history.

Bourdais took the lead from Jimmy Vasser at the end of Lap 83 and won for the third time.

However, while cruising to an apparently easy win, he barely avoided trouble with four laps left when he had contact with Adrian Fernandez. Bourdais’ car sustained damage to the left side, and his left rear tire was nearly shredded.

Paul Tracy, the points leader, led the first 67 laps and finished second. Bruno Junqueira was third.

*

Ralf Schumacher won the pole position for today’s Formula One French Grand Prix, the third time in the last four races he has been on the pole.

Juan Pablo Montoya, his Williams-BMW teammate, was second, and his brother, defending champion Michael Schumacher of Ferrari, qualified third.

*

Scott Dixon won the pole for the Kansas Indy 300 and Tomas Scheckter was second, giving Chip Ganassi Racing both front-row spots for today’s Indy Racing League race in Kansas City, Kan.

Dixon’s qualifying lap of 218.08 mph gave him his second straight pole and third of the season. Series leader Tony Kanaan will start in the fourth row on the 1 1/2-mile tri-oval.

*

Todd Burns increased his lead in the Auto Club Late Model series by going wire-to-wire to win the Firecracker 100 at Irwindale Speedway.

The win was his seventh in a row, tying an Irwindale season record. T.K. Karvasek won seven straight Super Stock races in 1999.

Doug McComb was second Saturday night and Scott Youngren finished third.