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Greg Biffle Wins At Texas; Captures First Truck Series Win Since 2001

by Hunter Thomas June 8, 2019 0 comments

FORT WORTH, Tex. – Greg Biffle won his first NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race since 2001 on Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway after claiming the checkered flag in the SpeedyCash.com 400.

On Friday, Biffle made his first series appearance since 2004. After a three-season hiatus from NASCAR national series competition, he piloted Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 51 Toyota to Victory Lane after starting sixth and leading 18 laps. Thanks to the first race of the series’ new Triple Truck Challenge campaign, Biffle won an extra $50,000 as well.

“It means a lot to me that Kyle gave me this opportunity to come back and drive this truck,” Biffle said. “Thanks to everyone that stood behind Kyle Busch Motorsports, Mobil 1. This Gander Outdoors Truck Series has a lot of competitive trucks, and these guys make the difference. These guys are a great group of guys that Kyle put assembled. TRD, Toyota ran great today. I am just excited to be here.”

The 49-year-old dodged quite a bit of excitement on Friday as trucks crashed in front of him; however, despite falling back in the race due to pit strategy, Biffle fought his way to the front of the pack and saved enough fuel to lead the final 13 laps. The win marks Biffle’s second at Texas Motor Speedway and his 17^th in the series.

“At the beginning of the race, so much odd stuff happened,” Biffle said. “We ran five laps at a time and then the caution would come out. There was a lot of people wrecking in front of me and behind me. I was just trying to keep the truck clean and stay out of trouble. Then we got four-wide off of Turn 2, and I didn’t know you could do that here. We beat the fenders in a bit, but the Mobil 1 Toyota ran really good tonight.”

Matt Crafton challenged the 2000 series champion in the final laps, but he just didn’t have the speed through Turns 1 and 2 to consistently close-in on Biffle. Crafton, who is a two-time winner at Texas Motor Speedway, finished runner-up on Friday night.

Tyler Ankrum, Grant Enfinger who led a race high of 44 laps and Harrison Burton rounded out the top-five. Completing the top-10 was Sheldon Creed, Brennan Poole, Austin Hill, Cory Roper and Ross Chastain.

There were 13 cautions for 63 laps throughout the 167-lap race. Several of the top contenders found trouble as they battled for the top spot.

On a restart with 12 laps to go in Stage 2, Todd Gilliland got loose underneath Ben Rhodes and crashed in Turn 2. The two drivers were racing for the lead when the accident occurred. Gilliland, who started on the race pole, finished a disappointing 27^th after leading 31 laps.

Stewart Friesen crashed in Turn 2 while battling Biffle for the lead late in the race. Friesen got loose underneath Biffle and pounded the outside wall to bring out the caution on lap 109. Friesen finished 20^th.

Enfinger now leads Friesen in the standings by 37 points.

Up next on the schedule for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series is the M&M’s 200 presented by Casey’s General Store at Iowa Speedway. Live coverage will begin at 8:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) and the Motor Racing Network (MRN).

Photo Credit: Sean Gardner/Getty Images