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2012 Daytona: Did Biffle have a mediocre engine/car at the finish? Or was he blocking for teammate Kenseth?
Earnhardt must have thought that, if Earnhardt & Biffle working together could get by Kenseth, Earnhardt would not only have a shot at finishing second behind Biffle, he might even be able to sling himself around both Biffle and Kenseth and take it all.
When Earnhardt realized, at nearly the last possible moment, that his "alliance" with Biffle was going nowhere -- and he was looking at finishing third -- he reacted in time to salvage second place ahead of Biffle. Not too shabby, for working solo against teammate-pair Kenseth & Biffle.
Biffle has a "I wanna win" reputation, but in this case could he have POSSIBLY been thinking something like: "I don't think I want to risk finishing second behind Earnhardt -- what will they do to me if Roush Fenway has a PAIR of cars running 1 & 2 near the finish BUT they manage to finish 2 & 3 behind Earnhardt?"
[And yet another thought is : If Biffle could have pushed behind Kenseth, maybe Biffle could have guaranteed himself second place behind Kenseth, instead coming in third behind Earnhardt? ...But maybe Kenseth wasn't interested in that tandem, because Kenseth didn't want to risk getting passed by Biffle at the last moment?]
Interesting "what are the possiblilities here" and "what's going on here" kind of finish for fans, after the rain and (bizarre) fire delays.
Will be interesting to remember this skirmish, when watching future interactions between Earnhardt and Biffle.
Here is one more angle: Could both be true? That is, Biffle knew well before the final stretch that his car was too weak to win and THEREFORE he decided to devote his attention to keeping Earnhardt behind him?
...and although Biffle couldn't keep Earnhardt behind him at the finish line, Biffle can maybe claim some credit for keeping Earnhardt off Kenseth's back long enough to deny Earnhardt at chance at passing Kenseth?
@ Ray J -- Do drivers always share their inner workings with NASCAR reporters/journalists?
12 Answers
- Anonymous9 years agoFavorite Answer
Biffle was blocking. It's very obvious.
If you watch the last lap again carefully, you can actually see Biffle's rear brake discs glowing. He was trail-braking the entire last lap to hold up Junior. Had he not done so, Junior would have won. He had a very fast car at the end of the race.
Source(s): Marcos Ambrose fan - truexfan44Lv 49 years ago
Biffle knew well before the final stretch that his car was too weak to win and THEREFORE he decided to devote his attention to keeping Earnhardt behind him?
I am going with this one as this is what i thought when i seen it live. I think Biffle blocked, i am not sure why people would say he would not block for a teammate, this happens all the time( Drivers say this in interview all the time) Now if THE BIFF thought he could win, then hell yea he would have raced Kenseth for a win.
- JoshLv 79 years ago
I honestly don't think Biffle had enough car to get by Kenseth. With how huge the 500 is, I really don't think anyone would hold back if they didn't have to, even if it meant beating a teammate. I believe he just played it safe so he could get a guaranteed solid finish.
There won't be any skirmishes between Junior and Biffle. They both have too much class to let such a thing get to them.
- Colonel RebLv 79 years ago
If Biffle had the car to pass I can't believe he wouldn't have done it. He's not the kind of guy who's going to block for teammates and this is the Daytona 500 we're talking about.
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- Anonymous9 years ago
To answer your question, Biffle didn't have as strong a car as Kenseth toward the end. He wouldn't block for a teammate in the biggest race of the year. He was goin' for it all, he just didn't have the motor.
- Ray JLv 79 years ago
Didn't you listen to his post race interview? He said he had every intention of passing Kenseth but that he and Junior needed a run. They were too close to Kenseth to get a run on him. He thought that he maybe should have dragged his breaks a bit so that he and Jr would back off of Kenseth, Kenseth would lose the draft, slow down then they maybe could have passed him.
- ?Lv 59 years ago
In his interview after he said even with the 88 pushing he didn't have enough. I don't think he would have given up the Daytona 500 for a team mate he had a pusher at the end if he could of he would have won the race.
- mblLv 79 years ago
If you guys would do 10 seconds of research, you'd know the answers to these things. Greg wasn't blocking or trying to help Matt win. There was no getting around Matt. If Greg would screw Matt in the Dual like he did, he'd certainly do it to win the 500. Any teammate would. Greg said after the race, he could not get a run. It's not like you just pull out and grab another gear and simply pass someone.
