Greg Biffle scored the first victory of the season for Ford after overcoming all odds Sunday to win the 37th Running of the Sunoco Red Cross Pensylvania 500!

photo credit: Chris Trotman/Getty Images for NASCAR

Biffle outlasted rain delays, a red flag and a car he called early on “embarrassing” to snap a 64-race winless drought at Pocono Raceway for his 15th career win.

“I hadn’t given up faith that we’d be able to get back in Victory Lane,” Biffle said. “You know, didn’t anticipate, although we do run good here, didn’t anticipate it being here. I was thinking maybe Michigan, Bristol, Atlanta. Those are some of our good racetracks coming up into the Chase. Hopefully we might get a couple more before Richmond.”

Leading a total of 28 laps, Biffle seemed like he was shot out of a cannon after the final restart with 20 laps to go, crossing the finish line 3.598 seconds ahead of polesitter and second place finisher, Tony Stewart.

“Man, the car just took off at the end,” Biffle said. “It was really nice. It’s been a long time. The guys have been working really hard. I beat the hell out of the engine today. It shouldn’t be running, but it still is. I’m thankful for that. But it got the durability test today, I can promise you.”

The win came just days after team owner Jack Roush was injured in a plane accident in Oshkosh, WI. Roush was taken to the Mayo Clinic where he remained in serious, but stable condition. Roush has had multiple surgeries for facial injuries resulting from the crash.

“This race is meant to be. It’s for Jack,” Biffle said.

“We had a good car,” runner-up Stewart said. “Just was a matter of figuring out what the pit strategy was going to be at the end.  It always comes down to strategy of fuel or weather, it seems like here, which isn’t exactly the way you want to have to run a race.  It’s part of it and it’s made for some exciting finishes because of that. I thought we were going to be in bad shape when we had to come in for the four there at the end.  But our guys did a great job of getting us out first car on four tires out of the pits, and that got us the opportunity to get by some of the guys that took two tires or no tires there at the beginning of the run.  From there, we were able just to race hard with Carl (Edwards) and the 77 car (driven by Sam Hornish Jr) and (Kevin) Harvick. It was a fun day.”

“It’s a few weeks in a row we’ve run really well,” Edwards said. “That’s what we needed.  It’s cool to see a Ford in Victory Lane, especially with everything that happened this week.  I spoke with Jack this morning.  I think he kind of put out the message he wanted to talk to all of us before we got in the racecars.  It’s pretty cool to say the least to have a race win for him and two cars in the top three. I feel like we’re building a little bit of momentum towards the Chase.  That’s what we need.  We haven’t run the way we’ve run the last month for a long time.  It’s a good day for us.”

Point leader Kevin Harvick raced his way towards the front by the conclusion, although he didn’t get a chance to lead a lap. He wound up 4th. Harvick leads the standings by 189 points over 2nd place driver, Jeff Gordon at the half-way point in the “Race to the Chase”.

Former Pocono winner Denny Hamlin finished 5th followed by Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Martin Truex Jr and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 5 cautions for 31 laps and 19 lead changes among 9 drivers: T. Stewart 1-2; J. Gordon 3-17; J. Yeley 18; J. Gordon 19; G. Biffle 20-21; J. Johnson 22-77; J. Gordon 78; C. Edwards 79; J. Johnson 80-107; J. Gordon 108; J. Johnson 109-120; J. Gordon 121-122; G. Biffle 123-127; D. Hamlin 128-146; J. Montoya 147-150; J. Gordon 151; J. Montoya 152; J. Gordon 153-170; S. Hornish Jr. 171-179; G. Biffle 180-200

A late race red flag slowed the day down by 28 minutes and 46 seconds for a horrific crash on lap 166 involving Kurt Busch and Elliott Sadler.

Kurt Busch: “I got wrecked on the straightaway. Jimmie Johnson drove straight through us.”

Jimmie Johnson: “Kurt isn’t very fond of me, he never has been. I think when he has a chance to take a shot at me, he will probably do so. But certainly nothing intentional and if he would like to talk about it, I’m more than willing to talk about.”

Elliott Sadler had difficulty climbing from his car after the crash. Once Sadler was out of his car, he laid flat on the track until he could be taken to the infield care center.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m a little sore. The breath definitely got knocked out of me,” Sadler said. “It was probably the hardest hit I’ve ever had in a race car, but I’ve got to thank all my guys back at home that put these things together. It knocked the engine out of it. I know it knocked the swaybar tube and the whole swaybar out of it and the whole left-front wheel assembly, but I’m still in one piece so it did its job. The way it hit the guardrail back there was pretty tough. It’s not the run we wanted to have with U.S. Air Force car, but we’ll go get ‘em next week.”

Busch is scored with a 33rd place finish while Sadler left the track 34th.

Talking about the reigning series champion, Johnson dominated the first half of the race, leading a race-high 96 of 200 laps.

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