Biffle works hard for his second top-five in a row

DOVER, Del. -- Greg Biffle got out of his car, soaked in his driver's suit and eyes beaming wide-open. But his voice dragged. He was tired.

If his second consecutive top-five finish -- not counting a runner-up in the All-Star Race -- was such an accomplishment, Biffle struggled to show it Sunday night at Dover International Speedway when he came home in third place.

Best Buy 400

Official Results

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Kyle Busch	Toyota
2.	Carl Edwards	Ford
3.	Greg Biffle	Ford
4.	Matt Kenseth	Ford
5.	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet
6.	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevrolet
7.	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet
8.	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet
9.	Dave Blaney	Toyota
10.	Jamie McMurray	Ford

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Biffle appeared poised to chase down his first victory of the season after starting from the pole in the Best Buy 400 and easily having the dominant car early in the race. Of the first 170 laps, Biffle led 164 of them. He was passed on Lap 170 by Carl Edwards, the first time anybody was able to move around Biffle's No. 16 Ford all afternoon.

The reason: an alternator problem.

Biffle initially radioed to his crew that his engine was blowing. Oil pressure began to drop. The motor sputtered at the end of each straightaway. Biffle began flipping switches and turning off non-essential items. Finally, with Edwards catching him, he moved up out of the way and gave up the lead. Only then did his team discover it was the alternator. He switched batteries and kept going, although he still was forced to leave the cooling fans off inside his machine.

"I had an awful pain in my stomach from not having any oxygen inside the car," said Biffle, whose strong performance adds to a pair of second-place finishes in an exhibition event and the Coca-Cola 600. "I opened my visor up and there's dust and dirt flying around, stuff going in my eyes. So I shut my visor down. If anybody's ever had a helmet on with a visor down -- we've got a chin flap that seals it off and there's just no air in there to breathe. So I panted inside that thing for 300 laps and it just wore me out."

The on-track results didn't show it. Biffle never fell below eighth, and that was simply due to green-flag pit stops shuffling the running order. Otherwise, he held steady inside the top three.

It was, however, on-track racing that frustrated Biffle much more than not having his air conditioning unit.

As Edwards and Biffle were running second and third, respectively, and trying to chase down eventual winner Kyle Busch, lapped traffic anchored any progress either driver could make. And it included one of their Roush Fenway Racing teammates as lapped cars of Jamie McMurray and Jeff Burton raced for eighth position and to be the first car one lap down.

Biffle said he didn't mind that situation as much as he did when cars run by themselves despite being multiple laps down. (Continued)