Biffle wins at Pocono for injured team owner

LONG POND, Pa. - Greg Biffle won it for Jack Roush.

Biffle raced to victory in an often-delayed Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway yesterday to snap a 64-race winless streak and take the checkered flag for his injured team owner.

Biffle hadn't won since the first two races in the 2008 Chase for the Cup championship. But with Roush in the Mayo Clinic for injuries suffered in a plane crash in Wisconsin, Biffle found Victory Lane. "We know he's watching," Biffle said. "It's been really tough. We worked so hard."

It also was the first win of the season for both a Ford and Roush Fenway Racing.

Tony Stewart was second and Roush driver Carl Edwards was third. Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, who won the last two Pocono races, rounded out the top five.

Edwards spoke with Roush yesterday morning and said his boss sounded in good spirits.

"He was Jack," Edwards said. "Don't mess anything up. Don't wreck. He's been through a lot this last week. He really needed that victory . . . I'm sure he's really hard to handle for all those nurses in the hospital."

The start of the 500-mile race was delayed by rain, then had two lengthy red flag stops that totaled nearly 50 minutes.

Elliott Sadler and Kurt Busch both walked away from scary wrecks that knocked them out of the race.

Biffle's crew kept the same car after driving the No. 16 Ford to a season-high third-place finish last week at Indianapolis. That finish put Biffle in 11th place in the points standings and now he's strongly positioned himself with five races for a spot in the 12-driver field for the championship chase.

Biffle was winless last year for the first full season of his career. No repeat this time.

He won his 15th career Cup race and joked in Victory Lane he had forgotten how to celebrate. "We know we have a great team," Biffle said, "and I know I can do it behind the wheel and we were able to prove it today."