Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Biffle taking it to his foes in truck series

Friday, Sept. 17, 1999 | 11:21 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand's motor sports notebook appears Friday. His golf notebook appears Wednesday. Reach him at bh@lasvegassun.com or 259-4089.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series that Greg Biffle is dominating the series with eight wins after 21 races.

After all, Biffle posted 12 top-10 finishes in 1998 as a rookie and was in position to win the final two races of the year, including the season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

But not even the 29-year-old Biffle could imagine the success he and his Roush Racing teammates would be enjoying in the No. 50 Grainger Ford.

"I think eight wins has come as a surprise, but I was really hoping to be able to contend for the points title this year," Biffle said. "My goal was to stay in the top three in points and try to win three or four races.

"We've gotten real fortunate in that we've been in the right place at the right time and other people have had bad luck in front of us. I doubt very seriously whether anybody else is going to do this -- including ourselves -- next year (because) this series is so darn competitive."

Biffle's eight wins matches the series record set by Mike Skinner in 1995. Biffle, who has won seven of the past 11 races, holds a 125-point lead over Jack Sprague in the championship going into next Friday's The Orleans 250 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"It has been a record-breaking deal for us," Biffle said. "We've just really done everything right. I keep reverting back to last year, too: We really were having the same kind of run at the end of the season. We almost won at Phoenix and had a bad pit stop ... and then Vegas, we really had that one kind of sewn up.

"That was really like two wins right in a row we should have had and we were second in the series in laps led. So really, we were right there but just didn't lead the right laps. Now we've got our program turned around and we're real terrible three-quarters of the way through the race and then after the last pit stop we're running like dynamite. That has been our M.O. the whole year."

Biffle said he is looking forward to coming to Las Vegas next week and trying to extend his lead in the championship on the 1.5-mile superspeedway. In last year's race, Biffle led 75 of the 169 laps and was the leader on the final lap until he and Sprague made contact as Sprague passed him, and Biffle wound up fifth.

"I'm real excited about Las Vegas," Biffle said. "I love Las Vegas, it's a great race track and that was really our breakthrough speedway race there (last year)."

Biffle said he won't change his strategy in next week's race to try to protect his sizable points lead.

"We've been trying to run our program the same every week, we just shoot for that top-five finish and do the best we can do," he said. "I'm really excited about a 125-point lead.

"My PR guy (Kirk Lowry) told me today that if we finish fifth or better for the rest of the season, we will win the championship even if Jack Sprague wins all four races -- that makes me feel a little bit more secure."

* NASCAR: Biffle was among a handful of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers who took part in a test session at Daytona International Speedway on Monday.

It is believed the trucks will make their debut at Daytona next February during Speed Weeks. Biffle said the trucks were "safe and stable" on the high-banked speedway, but that NASCAR was working on slowing them down.

"We went about 210 miles per hour down the straightaway and the average speed was about 192 mph -- about three mph faster than Winston Cup," Biffle said. "They're slowing them down some more with more spoiler and things like that because they don't want to put restrictor plates on them." ...

NASCAR legend Richard Petty was in Las Vegas Wednesday to unveil a new "Richard Petty Driving Experience" slot machine at the World Gaming Congress & Expo. The slow machines, developed by International Game Technology, are expected to hit casino floors later this year.

* CART: Not only did Paul Tracy's fourth-place finish in last weekend's Honda Grand Prix of Monterey allow the Las Vegas resident to overtake Michael Andretti for third in the championship, it enabled Honda to win the manufacturer's championship for the third time in the past four seasons.

Tracy leads Andretti by seven points and trails second-place Dario Franchitti by 37 with three races remaining. ...

Andretti and his wife, Leslie, celebrated the birth of their son, Lucca Michael, Thursday morning at St. Luke's Hospital in Bethlehem, Pa. The baby weighed in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces and is 20 inches long.

* IRL: Kentucky Speedway officials are expected to announce Tuesday that they have obtained a commitment from the Indy Racing League for a race late next summer.

Speedway president Jerry Carroll has been seeking an IRL race as the showcase event for the inaugural season at his $152-million facility, and has called a news conference for next Tuesday.

The speedway, a 1.5-mile oval, eventually will seat 180,000. The initial speedway section now being built will seat 63,000 and have more than 50 luxury boxes. ...

Vegas.com, the title sponsor of next Sunday's IRL race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, will hold three live Internet chat sessions next week with drivers Billy Boat (Monday), Scott Harrington (Tuesday) and Eddie Cheever Jr. (Wednesday).

All three chat sessions will take place at www.vegas.com at 7 p.m. (PDT).

* BACKMARKERS: Las Vegas Motor Speedway officials disqualified, suspended and fined NASCAR Late Model driver Ken Holt for "conduct detrimental to the sport" in last Saturday's race at the LVMS 3/8-mile paved oval.

Holt was disqualified from the race and fined $100 after wrecking series points leader Scott Gafforini, allowing Ken Lowden to win the championship. Holt also was suspended from competing in any race event at the speedway in the 1999 season, as well as the first points race in 2000. All fines are paid to the Las Vegas chapter of Speedway Children's Charities.

Holt reportedly has hired an attorney in an attempt to appeal the Speedway's sanctions.

Late Model drivers Eric Martin and Kurt Busch were also penalized following Saturday's race. Martin was disqualified from the eighth-place finishing position for using an illegal carburetor and Busch was fined $100 for having an extra crew member in the technical inspection area after the feature.

In the Limited Late Model division, the top four cars' crankshafts, rocker arms, pistons and rods were inspected. Dave Quartaro was declared the Limited Late Model Champion after second-place finisher Glenn Burke was disqualified for an illegal crankshaft. All other cars cleared inspection. ...

The Gold Coast S.N.O.R.E. 250, the oldest off-road race in Nevada, will be run Saturday, Sept. 25, beginning at Nellis Dunes.