Herald Citzen
 LATEST NEWS
 Top Stories
 U.S.
  Severe Weather
  Bird Flu
 World
  Castro
  Mideast Crisis
  Iraq
 Business
 Personal Finance
 Technology
 Sports
  Sports Columns
  NASCAR
  Baseball
  College Hoops
  NBA
  NHL
  Tennis
  Golf
 Entertainment
 Health
 Science
 Politics
 Washington
 Offbeat
 Podcasts
 Blogs
 Weather
 Raw News
 NEWS SEARCH
 
 Archive Search
 SPECIAL SECTIONS
 Multimedia Gallery
 AP Video Network
 Today
 in History
 Corrections
Jun 16, 6:14 PM EDT

Biffle holds on to win again at Michigan


AP Photo
AP Photo/Carlos Osorio
Sports Video
Special Section
Complete NASCAR Coverage
Interactives
2009 Sprint Cup Drivers
Comparing NASCAR vs. IndyCar Racers
Top Daytona 500 Moments
Measuring NASCAR
Rolling Road Wind Tunnel
PHOTO GALLERY
AP Photo

NASCAR

PHOTO GALLERY
AP Photo

Indy Racing League

Latest News
Car won't start but Johnson still wows school kids

Daytona frontstretch getting $400M facelift

NASCAR driver in NC turns himself in on charges

Kahne produces hats to sell for Leffler Trust

Leffler planned for young son in case of death

Buy AP Photo Reprints

BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) -- Greg Biffle gave Ford a milestone victory - right down the road from company headquarters.

Biffle raced to his second straight Sprint Cup win at Michigan International Speedway, easily holding off Kevin Harvick after points leader Jimmie Johnson smacked the wall in the final laps Sunday. It was the 1,000th victory for Ford Motor Company across NASCAR's three national series - Cup, Nationwide and Truck.

"What a great moment this is," said Jamie Allison, director of Ford Racing. "We couldn't be prouder to have this moment come here today at Michigan in front of so many of our Ford friends. What a great race and a great day for Ford."

It was Biffle's first win since he overtook Johnson to win at MIS in August. Johnson's engine faltered with six laps left in that race. This time, he was about a second behind Biffle with three laps to go - but a tire give way, and he dropped all the way to 28th.

"I don't want to see anybody wreck," Biffle said. "It makes you feel good when you push the guy over the edge. He made a mistake, and that's what makes you feel good. You outsmarted him, or you beat him at his game."

Harvick was second, 3 seconds behind Biffle. Martin Truex Jr. was next, followed by Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart.

Johnson wasn't the only big name who ran into trouble. Jeff Gordon was out of contention almost immediately when he hit a spinning Bobby Labonte less than 10 laps into the 200-lap, 400-mile race. Gordon finished 39th, one spot behind Kasey Kahne, who led at the halfway point but appeared to blow a tire and went sliding into the wall.

Kahne's car caught fire, but he was able to climb out quickly.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won at MIS last June, finished 37th Sunday. He led for 34 laps, but his engine acted up about two-thirds of the way through the race.

There were eight cautions for 38 laps.

Biffle cruised to the finish in his No. 16 Ford. He finished second to Johnson the previous weekend at Pocono, but this time there was nobody left to challenge him at the end.

It was Ford's third Cup victory of the year - Carl Edwards and David Ragan won at Phoenix and Talladega. Sunday was Ford Motor Company's 110th birthday.

"There have been a lot of great teams and a lot of great drivers, a lot of great engine builders that have contributed to Ford's success," Roush Fenway Racing owner Jack Roush said. "I'm just proud and honored to be part of that."

This was the second Cup win of the year for Roush Fenway.

It's been an emotional week for the racing community after the death of driver Jason Leffler on Wednesday at a dirt-track race in New Jersey. Biffle was quick to acknowledge Leffler while he celebrated his Father's Day victory.

"We are thinking about little Charlie Leffler that doesn't have a father today," he said.

Biffle earned his 19th career victory and boosted his chances to reach the Chase for the Sprint Cup, moving from 10th to eighth in the standings. Biffle finished in the top 10 for the 13th time in 21 races at MIS, which is about 60 miles from Ford headquarters in Dearborn.

Edwards finished eighth. Kurt Busch qualified second but went into an early spin and finished 35th.

Johnson still has a comfortable lead in standings, although Edwards closed the gap at the top from 51 points to 31. Johnson had a chance at his fourth victory of the year before scraping the wall late.

Johnson has still never won a Cup race at MIS.

"I thought this would be the year," he said. "Most of the time we're leading and something happens, but I thought, `OK, maybe coming from behind would be the difference.' But something happened."

Johnson's late mishap in his No. 48 Chevrolet did not result in a caution, so Biffle maintained his comfortable lead over Harvick.

"I wasn't catching the 16 and didn't really feel it necessary to have a tire failure or an issue at that particular point," Harvick said. "So our best bet at that point was the 48 catches the 16 and something happening as those two guys were racing. But we just maintained and managed our gap between us and (Truex) to just hold that track position and not have anything silly happen."

Harvick moved up one spot to fourth in the standings. Earnhardt fell from fourth to seventh.

© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.