Sunday, June 18, 2000
Points leaders wins truck race
Traffic no problem on track for Biffle
By Tom Groeschen
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Greg Biffle celebrates.
(Ernest Coleman photo)
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SPARTA, Ky. — There were huge traffic problems outside the track, but Greg Biffle found few roadblocks inside it to easily win the inaugural NASCAR Craftsman Truck race at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday night.
Biffle, the 2000 Truck series points leader, roared to a big 2.182-second victory in the Kroger 225. Jack Sprague, the 1997 and '99 series champion, finished second, and former Winston Cup driver Mike Wallace was third.
A Greater Cincinnati sports record crowd of 63,750 watched a race delayed twice by rain. A 31-minute delay preceded the race, and a 63-minute stoppage halted it about midway through.
The speedway broke the record for a single-event Greater Cincinnati sports date, which had been 60,284 for a Bengals-Browns football game at Riverfront Stadium in 1971.
Biffle leads the pack into a turn.
(AP photo)
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Biffle took the lead late in the race and blew away the field after a re-start with seven laps to go.
“Getting out front was key,” Biffle said. “I was terrible when I was racing back in the pack. Once I got out front, I was fine.”
Biffle has now won three of the last four Truck races this season, and seized the points lead from Sprague last week.
“It was a good day for us,” Sprague said. “Greg was in a class of his own again. I don't how he's that good, but he is.”
Biffle, a 30-year-old native of Vancouver, Wash., saluted Speedway fans by spinning several “victory doughnuts” near the start-finish line. He then drove down the length of the track and waved to the fans from his truck.
“The fans are great here in Kentucky and stayed here through all this rain,” Biffle said. “I can't say enough about them.”
Mike Wallace (kneeling) and crew wait out the rain delay.
(Patrick Reddy photo)
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Wallace was the leader on Lap 82 (of a scheduled 150 laps) when the race was red-flagged by a rain delay. He said he didn't like Biffle's tactic on the last re-start, when Biffle slowed the field behind him before gunning his engine at the start-finish line with the green flag.
“I didn't appreciate that, but Greg's leading the race and he can do that,” Wallace said. “We finished third, and that's a good night.”
Wallace, 41, a native of St. Louis, raved about the Speedway.
“I think it's a totally awesome facility,” Wallace said. “The owners and everybody involved did a great job. It's very racy, three- and four-wide coming into turn one. We're happy with it.”
The 66,000-seat grandstands appeared about 90 percent full, and with the total count of all people on the grounds, Speedway officials estimated that 70,000 people may have been on the property.
Green flag drops and the race begins.
(Gary Landers photo)
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The race started a half-hour late because of a rain delay. When the green flag finally dropped, the crowd roared and hundreds of flashbulbs fired in the grandstands.
Biffle, the No. 2 qualifier, dashed ahead of surprise polesitter Bryan Reffner to grab the lead after one lap.
The race was just minutes old when it had its first big accident, a four-truck incident entering Turn Four.
The wreck involved No. 6 qualifier Chris Horn, No. 10 qualifier Terry Cook and No. 26 Jay Stewart. None was among the pre-race favorites. Two of the cars went side-by-side into the wall, and the caution flags came out for nearly 10 minutes.
Kurt Busch's car catches fire.
(Patrick Reddy photo)
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Rookie Kurt Busch was in the most spectacular crash of the night, on Lap 112 when he hit the wall coming off of Turn Four and his truck caught fire. Busch crawled out of the crumpled vehicle and briefly sat down on the track as the yellow caution lights came on. He then got up and walked into an ambulance, apparently not seriously hurt.
Wallace grabbed the lead on Lap 64, and rain came again on Lap 78. The yellow flag came out as the trucks crept along the wet track, and then the vehicles came to the pits on Lap 82 and were parked.
Drivers also caught wind of the fact that some people were turned away at the gate because of a lack of parking caused by Friday night's heavy rains.
“I feel bad for the people that didn't get in,” Wallace said. “It was a great race, and the people in Kentucky have a facility to be proud of.”
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