Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

February 22, 2009 — FONTANA, Calif.—Greg Biffle will be the first to tell you the fastest car didn’t win Sunday’s Auto Club 500.

Nothing against Biffle’s Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth, who won for the second time in as many races, but Biffle also will be the first to tell you driver error cost him the race.

During a pit stop under caution on Lap 209, Biffle slid past his mark in the stall and parked on his front tire changer’s air hose. Biffle, who was second when the caution flew, lost valuable seconds as he backed up to allow his crew to complete the service on his car.

When the race restarted on Lap 216, Biffle was 12th. Forget that he gained eight positions in the final 35 laps—the driver of the No. 16 Ford was disconsolate about blowing the chance for the win.

“They should fire the driver,” Biffle said. “This thing was fast. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. I don’t know how I’m going to sleep tonight. I’m just sick to my stomach, man. It almost brings tears to my eyes to know that I let the guys down like I did.

“When you’ve got a car like that, it sucks to not win, and it sucks that it’s your fault. If they’d have dropped a lug nut or something, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. But, when it’s your fault, it’s really hard.”

Busch falls short in bid for weekend triple
Third-place finisher Kyle Busch had a chance to make history, but he didn’t have a car capable of pulling off an unprecedented weekend sweep of three NASCAR races at the same track in the same weekend.

The winner of Saturday’s Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series events at Auto Club Speedway, Busch couldn’t find the speed he needed to complete the sweep Sunday. The consolation was that Busch had the front-row seat for Kenseth’s hard-fought victory over runner-up Jeff Gordon.

“I couldn’t even challenge them,” Busch said. “I couldn’t even keep up with the 17 (Kenseth) and the 24 (Gordon) on that last run. Never thought it (his No. 18 Toyota) was a winning car. Felt like if I could just bide my time right there, I could finish third, just try to protect a third-place finish.

“I had the best seat in the house for that battle. It was pretty cool to see those guys racing like that. It was a good show for the fans. Their first good race they’ve had out here in a while. They stuck through the weather (four cautions caused by rain). That was cool to have all them here, too, being able to watch those guys, two superstars putting on a show like that.”

Sour engine foils Earnhardt
Several more weeks like this and Dale Earnhardt Jr. may have to start answering questions about a sophomore jinx.

In his second season with Hendrick Motorsports, Earnhardt’s troubles continued at Auto Club Speedway, a week after triggering a controversial 10-car wreck in the Daytona 500. On Sunday, he took his car to the garage on Lap 206 after the engine in the No. 88 Chevrolet expired.

“Something broke in the motor,” said Earnhardt, who finished 39th. “We were just sitting there running good. Just had a caution and got back up. We were sitting there looking at maybe driving it into the top 10 for the first time tonight and probably broke a valve spring.”