Biffle holds off Edwards to win Las Vegas Nationwide race

Autoracing Betting Lines

02/28/2009 - Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Greg Biffle survived a crash-filled Sam's Town 300 and held off his Roush Fenway Racing teammate Carl Edwards in an overtime finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday to end a 76-race winless streak in the Nationwide Series.

After leading 46 consecutive laps, Biffle ran out of fuel and coasted into the pits on lap 146. He fell one lap behind after his stop. Biffle, however, rebounded quickly and was back in front when his other Roush Fenway teammate David Ragan crashed while he held the lead during a round of green-flag stops on lap 169.

A wreck involving Mike Bliss and Denny Hamlin in the closing laps setup the green-white-checkered finish. Hamlin cut a tire, which slowed his progress. Bliss then slammed into the back of Hamlin, putting him into the wall.

On the final restart, Edwards moved ahead of Jason Leffler for second after Leffler ran out of fuel. Edwards then challenged Biffle for the lead, but could not make the winning pass during the final two laps.

"I ran out of gas on the restart going into turn one," Biffle said. "I think they said (Leffler) ran out of gas also. I just kept it on the bottom, and the fuel pressure came back. I tried to block Carl going down the back, but I couldn't do it. So I just stayed on the throttle on the outside and my car was just so good. I was able to pass him back."

Biffle, who led a race-high 86 laps, beat Edwards to the finish line by 0.391 seconds for his 19th career Nationwide victory, but his first since February 25, 2006 at California.

Despite a cut tire just before the 100-lap mark, which put him a lap down, Edwards moved back into winning contention in the late-stages. His second- place finish gave Roush Fenway a one-two finish at Las Vegas.

"I drove in there as deep as I thought was reasonable, and Jason Hedlesky, my spotter, was telling me, 'He's still there, he's still there,' and I'm thinking, 'he's got me'," Edwards said. "I wanted to keep my leg in it, but I thought I would wreck him. So I did the best I could."

Brian Vickers finished third, followed by Leffler and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Rookie drivers Michael McDowell, Brendan Gaughan, a Las Vegas native, Justin Allgaier and Scott Lagasse Jr. were sixth through ninth, respectively. Jeff Burton completed the top-10.

Edwards moved into the lead in the series championship standings. He now holds a 48-point advantage over Vickers after the first three races of the season.

The almost three-hour event featured 12 cautions for a track record 60 laps.

Two of this year's favorites to win the series title were involved in crashes that now have them behind in the early season point standings.

Kyle Busch made hard contact into the wall on lap 22. Busch dove beneath Kevin Harvick in an attempt to take the lead from him, but Busch lost control of his car as it skidded up the track and bounced off the wall.

"It was just a mistake on my part battling for the lead that early in the race," Busch said, "It was 100 percent my fault trying to race for the lead."

Busch ended up finishing 39th and dropped to fifth in points (-109).

Scott Speed's day at Las Vegas ended early when he rammed into Busch's car. Speed, in his first career Nationwide start, led the opening two laps before Harvick passed him for the top position. He won the pole earlier in the day, becoming the ninth driver in the series to qualify first in his debut.

The incident forced NASCAR to halt the race 10 minutes for track clean-up efforts.

Mike Bliss and Brad Keselowski made contact on the seventh lap. Bliss got turned sideways, while Keselowski suffered damage to the left front panel on his car.

Keselowski's troubles continued on lap 16 when he cut a tire and slammed into the wall. He returned 35 laps later and finished 27th.

"I don't know what I could have done differently," Keselowski said. "It's just the way these cars are. This is a great Chevrolet and it's tore up. We've had three great race cars this season and just can't seem to close the deal."

After finishing third in the Nationwide championship standings last year, Keselowski currently sits 22nd in points (-244).

The race was stopped for another 10 minutes on lap 92 to clean up the mess from Robert Richardson Jr.'s badly damaged car. D.J. Kennington bumped Richardson from behind, sending him into the wall. Rookie Michael Annett also was involved in the incident.

Just after the restart, Jeff Burton got loose coming out of turn four. Burton slid into the wall and collected Harvick's car in the process. Harvick suffered heavy damage to his car after running in the top-five during the first half of the race.

"(Burton) wasn't all that good, and he just got up there, and got himself in a bad spot and spun out," Harvick said. "Unfortunately we were the ones that hit him...We had a car capable of winning the race."

After lengthy repairs, Harvick returned to the track 54 laps down and settled for 29th-place finish.

Steve Wallace, David Green, Brandon Whitt and Stanton Barrett were also involved in the wreck.

The next Nationwide race is scheduled for Saturday, March 21 at Bristol Motor Speedway.