Greg Biffle, Roush Fenway Racing and Ford all celebrated the end of a drought Sunday with Biffle’s victory in the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
With his third victory at the 2-mile track, his second of the season and the 18th of his career, Biffle broke a seven-race dry spell for both Ford and owner Jack Roush. Biffle also grabbed the points lead from Jimmie Johnson, who finished 27th after his engine failed in the closing laps.
Brad Keselowski tried to catch Biffle during a two-lap run to the finish but fell .416 seconds short, taking second in a photo finish over fast-closing Kasey Kahne. Dale Earnhardt Jr. came home fourth, followed by Marcos Ambrose.
Johnson took the lead from Keselowski on Lap 191, but four laps later his engine expired, handing the lead to Biffle, who had passed Keselowski for the second spot on Lap 192. NASCAR called a caution for oil in the tri-oval, the result of Johnson’s engine failure.
That set up a restart that sent the race one lap past its scheduled distance of 200 laps.
Pole-sitter Mark Martin suffered a vicious hit on Lap 64, when his No. 55 Toyota slammed into the butt end of the pit road wall at an opening to the garage. Martin was an innocent victim of a wreck involving Juan Montoya and Bobby Labonte, who spun off Turn 4 in front of the race leader.
Kahne spun alongside Martin and slid through the grass but suffered no significant damage and rallied for a top-five finish.
