Trackin’ Trucks: Greg Biffle Wins at Texas

Credit: LJ Cloud for Skirts and Scuffs

The No. 51 visited Victory Lane for the sixth time this season at Texas Motor Speedway, this time with former Gander Outdoors Truck Series Champion, Greg Biffle.

Biffle, who hasn’t raced in the series in over a decade, led 18 laps to bring home the $50,000 bonus cash prize with Kyle Busch Motorsports.

The Triple Truck Challenge kicked off its inaugural event this weekend, which gives drivers a chance of up to half a million dollars.

 “Just excited to be here, man,” Biffle said. “I don’t even know what to say. Just so thankful for all the opportunities I’ve had to drive great trucks. This thing was really fast.”

Biffle’s win at the 1.5-mile track is his first series victory since winning at Phoenix in 2001.

There were several drivers that fell victim to accidents in Turn 2, including Angela Ruch, Todd Gilliland, Jordan Anderson, and Stewart Friesen.

Pole sitter Gilliland led twice for 32 laps before his day ended on Lap 69. The KBM driver got loose battling for the lead on a restart and hit the outside wall of Turn 2.

“It still sucks that we’re out of this race — DNF — but still a lot of fun racing out there,” Gilliland said. “I was laying it all out there on the race track and I thought we were going to have something for them tonight. Just a couple more adjustments, but … I just need to be more patient. It’s not the end of the world if the 99 (Rhodes) gets by me right there and I finish this stage second or third. I just need to be a little bit smarter about that stuff. Felt really good to run up front. Proud of my Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra team. Hopefully we can come back stronger. We have an important couple of weeks right here. Keep the morale up and go into the next one even stronger.”

Matt Crafton finished second during the SpeedyCash.com 400, Tyler Ankrum battled back from a spin to finish third, while Grant Enfinger and Harrison Burton rounded out the top five.

Sheldon Creed finished sixth, Brennan Poole seventh, Austin Hill finished eighth, Cory Roper ninth, and Ross Chastain finished 10th.

Chastain declared to start earning points in the NGOTS earlier this week. He now has seven races to get inside the top 20 and win before the start of the playoffs.

His win earlier this season at Kansas does not count toward the playoffs since he was earning Xfinity Series points at the time of his victory.

A Look Ahead 

The Gander Outdoors Truck Series are headed to Iowa Speedway on Saturday, June 15th.

Biffle is not eligible for the  $150,000 bonus at Iowa, but will be on June 22nd should he pilot the No. 51 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway

Enfinger is the points leader now by 37 points over Friesen and 41 points over Crafton.

Gilliland is ninth in the points with seven races to go before the start of the series playoffs. He is 26 points behind Burton, who currently holds the last seed of eight drivers.