Biffle hard to beat in trucks

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Jul 25, 1999

The Associated Press

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- It took Greg Biffle a little over one season to figure out how to reach victory lane in NASCAR's Craftman Truck Series.

Now, it's hard to keep him out.

Biffle held off several challenges late in Saturday's goracing.com 200 at Michigan Speedway, picking up his second straight victory, his fourth in his last six.

The 29-year-old driver, last year's top rookie, didn't win his first truck race until May. Now, he has won five of the last 11 and has moved within 89 points of series leader Jack Sprague, who finished fourth but lost 25 points.

It wasn't easy for Biffle, though, with Jay Sauter's Chevrolet finishing just 0.153-seconds -- less than a car-length -- behind the winning Roush Racing Ford. Jimmy Hensley was third in a Dodge, followed by Sprague's Chevy and the Dodges of Joe Ruttman and pole- starter Stacy Compton.

Biffle started 11th and was working his way toward the top five before he slid in the first turn and nearly hit the wall. He fell to 15th before beginning to work his way back to the leaders, finally taking the top spot on lap 67.

"There's no reason why I didn't wreck today," Biffle said. "There were two or three times I was out of shape. Somebody was looking out for us today. We adjusted everything you could except for the springs."

Santerre gets first victory COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Andy Santerre, last season's rookie of the year, got his first NASCAR Grand National victory, holding off Tim Fedewa by less than a second to win the NAPA AutoCare 250 at Pikes Peak International Speedway.

Todd Bodine finished third, followed by Jeff Green and Jeff Purvis.

Santerre, making only his third season start because of a broken leg suffered in February, took the lead for good 16 laps from the end when he put his Chevrolet ahead of the Chevy driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr., the leader in the season driver standings.

Earnhardt was involved in a crash with 11 laps left that dropped him to a 36th-place finish and cost him the points lead. Matt Kenseth, who finished seventh, improved to 2,786 points, 24 ahead of Earnhardt.

Skinner seeks first win LONG POND, Pa. -- Mike Skinner knows all about crossing finish lines. He hopes someday to be first over the one that really counts.

That could happen today, when Skinner goes from the pole in the Pennsylvania 500. But if it doesn't, the 42-year-old driver will maintain a posture of "when" rather than "if" he'll get his first Winston Cup victory.

"There's a fine line between being overconfident and underconfident," Skinner said Saturday before taking his Chevrolet through a final dress rehearsal at Pocono International Raceway. "I try to stay just under that line."

After 94 starts and a career-best finish of third, that wouldn't seem difficult. The danger would be to descend another level.

That's something Skinner never worries about. Despite his winless status since joining Richard Childress Racing in 1997 as Dale Earnhardt's teammate, Skinner had numerous celebrations in Victory Lane.

Vasser earns CART poleBROOKLYN, Mich. -- The fastest drivers in a very fast field expect today's U.S. 500 to be a lot like the race that produced a CART FedEx Series record 62 lead changes last July, when the race was marred by the death of three spectators.

"I'll be surprised if I lead the first lap," said Jimmy Vasser, who won the pole on Saturday at Michigan Speedway with a lap of 229.606 mph.

Adrian Fernandez, second at 229.438, said, "I started on the pole last year and by the time the first lap was over, I was fourth. The first 20 laps, I said, 'This is crazy.' It was like a 50-lap shootout."

A year ago, the exciting race became nothing more than a footnote after a tire and other debris from a crash by Fernandez flew into the grandstand, killing three spectators and injuring six others.

CART now requires tethers that attach the wheels to the chassis of the car, while the fences at Michigan Speedway have been raised to keep debris from flying into the crowd.

Hakkinen top F1 qualifier SPIELBERG, Austria -- Any car will do for Mika Hakkinen.

The defending Formula One champion had to switch to a spare McLaren-Mercedes in Saturday's qualifying but still captured the pole position for today's Austrian Grand Prix, a race he won last year.

"I was initially feeling pretty frustrated when the car rolled to a stop, but then I realized that we had done only 10 minutes of the session so I thought, 'Keep cool, the spare car will be fine,' " Hakkinen said.