Why is everyone saying Biffle didn't win the race Sunday?

Question

NASCAR said he won the race and that's really all that matters. His crew chief said there was a gallon of gas left in the car. Biffle says he was saving gas for a burnout which did not happen because he got stuck in the grass. When they changed the rules years ago about freezing the field after a caution, a lot of things changed. It seems most people thought Bowyer or Jimmie Johnson should have won because Biffle wasn't on the tail of the pace car. He didn't need to be. His engine did not shut off until he shut it off in the grass. Nowhere in the rule book does it say that the leader must run a pit road speed on a caution. They need to follow the pace car at a reasonable speed which Biffle did. Johnson and Bowyer have 7 wins between them and are atop the championship standings. Greg Biffle was the class of the field the last 50 laps and would have won anyway if the race had gone green the last 4 laps in my opinion. He was over a second ahead of Bowyer and 2.5 seconds over Johnson.

In Victory Lane it was disclosed that Biffle was running 40 mph (73% of 55 mph). His engine was running.

Answer 1

I agree with you. The main point is that he crossed the finish line without having to be pushed, and therefore maintained a reasonable pace. As the race leader, he was setting the pace.
The confusion comes because NASCAR officiating has lost a lot of credibility because of the perception of the fans. I have been guilty of that myself--even though I'm a Tony Stewart fan, I questioned why the #99 team was penalized for what I thought was the same infraction Smoke had the week before. I was wrong, I found after reading the details--the 99 car was set up low in the right rear, probably due to error, while the 20 was low because of race wear and tear. So NASCAR wasn't inconsistant at all, they were right, I was wrong.
That is just an example of what I mean by "perceived" as inconsistant. It happens every week, depending on who your driver is. It's fair if it favors your driver, unfair when it's against your driver.

Answer 2

OK, you're right up to a point. With 4 laps to go, the caution
came out and the field was frozen, as long as you don't run
out of gas. Now here is where the problem is. On the last
lap, the rules say that you can be passed if you don't keep
up a reasonable speed under a caution. There in lays the
question, did Biffle keep up a reasonable speed? It looked
like he was doing about 25 MPH when he should have
been doing 55. Is less than 50% of what he should have
been doing reasonable? NASCAR says yes, others say
no. It's your call. BTW, if the race would have stayed green,
he might have run out of gas and not finished in first anyway.
But that is just an educated guess.

Answer 3

NASCAR has a ton of gray areas in the rules.
The interpretation of the rules is one of them.
Biffle ran out of gas and was passed by several cars under yellow.There is no passing under yellow.So the cars passing were in violation of the rules.
But under yellow the field is frozen,and the pace speed is set by the lead car,so as a measure to conserve fuel Biffle slowed down but some people in a hurry did not want to.
Well this opens the gray area is the pace set by the leader if the feild is frozen or by the pacecar?
Being the last lap the pace is being slowed for the checkers.
There is no clear cut answer to this question so the best thing is to say congrats Biffle and hello Talladega.

Answer 4

Well, NASCAR hasn't been consistent with any single issue this year, so blame them for the confusion. I think this Chase stuff is all a bunch of crap anyway.
Let the drivers race, add their points up at the end of the season and declare a winner......simple.
At least it used to be.
It also used to be simple knowing who won, the first one across the finish line.....
NASCAR's ruling body has been so inconsistent with penalties, fines, and suspensions, the fans are lost as to "what the hell is going on", and honestly, I don't think NASCAR even knows what's going on anymore......
The "Chase" is NASCAR's feeble attempt at a "playoff" system, and it's failed miserably.......
Let's go back to racing every weekend, for every racer, until the season is over........ That's what I say

Biffle was leading when the caution came out, he did not run out of gas, so why is every one crying? I'm not a Biffle fan, but I certainly think he won............

Answer 5

Yep, the two McMurray and Elliot Sadler are massive supporters of autism understanding, i think of they'd the two have nieces with it. i does not strategies seeing the two of them winwin, i've got continually beloved them truly. I nevertheless could pull for my famous driving force, however, Jimmie Johnson. He grow to be quickest interior the final 2 practices and seems to have particularly some momentum splendid now.

Answer 6

It's just more rules that NASCAR makes up as it goes along. If the field is frozen and the race is over then why even follow the pace car at all? Why is the pace car even out there?
NASCAR wonders why they are losing fans?

Answer 7

We can hash this over until the cows come home but NASCAR says Biff won, so Biff won. It's history. Was it right? I think that's perhaps debatable. Will anything change? Nope. NASCAR is a privately held company. They make AND interpret the rules. They answer to no one but themselves. So people can speculate all they want on these things but there's no governing body that oversees anything. It is what it is.

Answer 8

OH HE WAS OUT OF GAS!!!!! THEIR LIARS.....
Im not trying to bash or get all crazy & im DEFINATLY not crying about it im just saying what i heard about this.... & seriously.....He did not have enough gas to make it to the end of the race....or to the end of the "called" race....i CLEARY heard them say LOUD & CLEAR that the #29 team was not worried about Biffle when he passed Harvick cuz they heard the #16 team say that they DID NOT have enough fuel to make it to the called lap.....they said they were a few laps shy!!!! i know what i heard cuz it had to do with Harvick and it was right when he was leading & Biffle was trying to pass and then when he did.....that is what they came over the radio and told Harvick sooooo i was all over the coverage & what they were saying at that time!!!!
Do you really think they would admit they were out of fuel???
That would only add to the already questionable finish???
They wouldnt set themselves up for that kind of questionable attention especially with the way it already went down with that bougus finish!!!! It was not too dark to go 4 more laps how many seconds would it of taken???not enough for it too be that dark, there was still just enough light!!!

GO HARVICK & RCR!!!

Answer 9

Jimmy Johnson started it when he passed Bowyer and tryed to cry he won.

Answer 10

I agree, everyone needs to stop crying about this. Biffle won, end of story...