Sunday belonged to Tony Stewart, who won his
second Nextel Cup title with a clean, if unspectacular, 15th-place finish in the
Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Stewart's steady effort clinched him the
title by 35 points over Biffle, the Vancouver, Wash., native who won Sunday's
thrilling season finale. Edwards, who finished fourth Sunday, ended up tied for
second in points but will be third in the final standings because Biffle had
more victories this season.
While Stewart did enough to win the championship
at Homestead, it was Biffle and Roush teammate Mark Martin who had the crowd
cheering as they fought for the lead over the final laps, with Biffle holding
off the veteran at the line. Matt Kenseth, the 2003 champion and another Roush
driver, was third.
Martin gave Biffle all he could handle over the
last two laps, battling him door handle to door handle for the victory. Biffle
won by 0.017 seconds.
"Man, it was close!" said Martin. "We were just
inches short. I guess maybe we needed another lap, or maybe I would have crashed
trying."
While Stewart was avoiding spinning cars and
showing championship consistency down the stretch, each of the five Roush
drivers who qualified for the Chase faltered at some point.
The biggest fumble came in Texas two weeks ago
when Biffle had to pit under a green flag with a loose lugnut. He lost a lap and
never regained it, finishing 20th.
There's no dought about one thing. Biffle has to
be the hottest driver going into 2006.
| Career Race Data |
Top |
|
Average |
|
| Year |
Races |
Wins |
Poles |
5 |
10 |
DNF |
Finish |
Start |
Winnings |
| 2002 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
27.4 |
17.4 |
$394,773 |
| 2003 |
35 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
6 |
19.8 |
20.1 |
$2,410,053 |
| 2004 |
36 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
8 |
5 |
19.2 |
14.2 |
$3,583,342 |
| 2005 |
36 |
6 |
0 |
15 |
21 |
1 |
11.9 |
13.2 |
$5,729,928 |
|
|
| Totals |
114 |
9 |
1 |
22 |
35 |
13 |
19.6 |
16.2 |
$12,118,096 |