Biffle Too Fast for Martin

Greg Biffle drove to an easy victory, pulling away from teammate Mark Martin at the end of the NASCAR Nextel Cup race Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

Biffle, the only driver to win the Busch and Craftsman Truck series championships, won the GFS Marketplace 400 for his second career Cup victory.

To get his first win since the July race at Daytona last year, Biffle had to hold off Martin, who overcame a mistake in the pits to get back to the runner-up spot.

Martin and crew chief Pat Tryson chose to take only two tires on their final pit stop, while Biffle and the rest of the leaders took four. That gave Martin track position, but he was unable to come close to chasing down Biffle’s Ford.

Biffle pulled steadily away from Martin’s Taurus in the closing laps, beating his Roush Racing teammate to the finish line by 8.216 seconds -- nearly half the front straightaway on the two-mile oval.

Biffle led a race-high 73 of the 200 laps and averaged 139.063 mph, slowed by a track-record nine caution flags.

Martin lost ground when he was penalized after a crewman failed to get a lug nut tightened on his left rear tire during a pit stop on the 130th lap. Martin, leading before that stop, fell to 23rd for the ensuing restart after being penalized by NASCAR for the loose lug nut.

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Dario Franchitti shook off a potentially dangerous pit mishap and used a caution midway through the race to make up ground to win the IRL Honda 225 at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo.

Franchitti, who led the final 63 laps, went into the pits on Lap 85 for four new tires and fuel.

As he started to pull out of the pits, fuel man Mike Miller had trouble getting the hose disconnected from the car and was clipped by the rear tire. Miller wound up with a twisted knee.

Franchitti took the checkered flag 2.2429 seconds ahead of Adrian Fernandez. It was the 11th consecutive victory for Honda.

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John Force earned his fourth funny-car victory of the season and the 113th of his career at Memphis Motorsports Park. His Ford covered the quarter-mile in 4.907 seconds at 308 mph to beat Tim Wilkerson’s Chevrolet at the NHRA O’Reilly Auto Parts Mid-South Nationals.