Greg Biffle leads Elliott Sadler at Bristol. Credit: AP

Sunoco Pit Move: Bristol

Biffle stays out, regrets it after ninth-place finish

Pit Story of the Race

As we saw on Sunday at Bristol, it is almost better to be in second place before the final round of pit stops.

Greg Biffle's team has pretty much been drawn and quartered for staying out with 85 laps to go on Sunday. As it was, everyone else on the lead lap pitted, leaving Biffle to finish the race on old tires.

Biffle's team seemed surprised that everyone else pitted, but Kevin Harvick said that he was going to pit no matter what anyone else did.

Sunoco Pit MoveBiffle elects not to pit while Harvick makes his move with 85 to go Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

"We were coming to get tires regardless," Harvick said. "I know that from the driver's seat and I know Richard wants four tires whenever we're in that situation."

"We made the decision to stay out. It was stupid," Biffle said. "We should have pitted."

Still, it's hard to say that it was a completely wrong move. The action was pretty heated at Bristol on Sunday, and no one knows what would have happened had Biffle pitted.

Certainly, if Biffle had pitted, several cars would have opted to stay out, and Biffle would have restarted in a pack, and packs lead to wrecks.

This isn't 2001 anymore

The softer Goodyear tire seemed to wear out quicker than expected on Sunday, and Biffle knew immediately that he would not be able to repeat Elliott Sadler's 2001 win, when he ran the final third of the race on the same set of tires.

Elliott Sadler Credit: CIA Stock Photo

"I don't think you can do what I did here (in 2001)," Sadler said. "I think the tires fall off too much. I mean, that's what Goodyear's purpose is and it showed today.

"Greg Biffle ran first and second pretty much all day long and that new Goodyear just kind of killed him at the end."

"After you get 40-50 laps into the run, they fall off and you had about 15-20 laps to take advantage of the new tires," Harvick said. "It was no question in our mind whether we were going to pit or not, it was just a matter of who else pitted with us."

Tony Stewart said he was tempted to stay out, but knew it was the wrong call.

"You know, with that many guys in front of you pit for tires, you hate to have it bite and instead of going forward going backwards, so I just played the safe approach and came in and got four," Stewart said.

Biffle had second chance, but he stayed out again

Biffle still had the lead on Lap 425 when the caution flew again, but he again elected to stay out and try to win the final 75 laps on the same set.

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Biffle regretted that decision too.

"It's tough," Biffle said. "It's really tough to make that decision, but we made the wrong one and we had a chance to fix it and we didn't."

To add insult to injury, Biffle cut a tire in the closing laps. By that time, he had faded to fifth, but four cars passed him in the last two laps and he wound up ninth.

Harvick won with early strategy

Harvick won the race largely because of an early move for track position. During the fourth caution on Lap 71, Harvick stayed out and went from 20th to fourth.

Harvick was able to come in on Lap 139 and get fresh tires, and he remained with he leaders for the rest of the day.

Quotable

"There wasn't a lot of cars on the lead lap, so even if four or five guys stayed out at the end, it was enough time to maybe get back around those guys." -- Elliott Sadler, on why he took four tires on the final stop