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Three drivers faced unusual circumstances in Phoenix Saturday night. One rose to the challenge, the others fell behind. Date published: 4/25/2006
By JENNA FRYER
AP MOTORSPORTS WRITER CHARLOTTE, N.C.--Tony Stewart is in championship form, Greg Biffle has the worst luck imaginable and Kyle Busch is eerily similar to his big brother. All that became clear at Phoenix International Raceway, a race in which the drama surrounded the drivers who didn't win. It started hours before the first night race of the season even began, when Stewart's crew realized it had made a serious error that would cost the defending Nextel Cup champion his third-place starting position. NASCAR requires drivers to begin each race using the same tires that were on during qualifying, and Stewart no longer had his. A crew member accidentally returned the set to Goodyear, which promptly destroyed them. The punishment was being sent to the back of the field, a drop of 40 spots on the starting grid at a race track with little room--or time--for passing. Stewart quickly dug himself out of his hole. He advanced almost 33 spots in the first 100 laps, no small feat considering he started at the back of the pack alongside error-prone drivers who could have easily wrecked his car. But that wasn't enough for Stewart, who raced his way into the lead on lap 218. Although he couldn't hold it for more than six laps, he held on to finish second to winner Kevin Harvick. Stewart is a notoriously slow starter, usually needing until midsummer to hit his stride. Not so this season: He's got five top-five finishes--including a victory--through the first eight races. Biffle, meanwhile, would probably kill for some of Stewart's karma right about now. Adding Phoenix to the list of races he's lost this season, Biffle has now seen at least four wins slip away. And this was the most devastating one yet. He led six times for a race-high 151 laps, only to lose the lead when Harvick passed him with 10 to go. Biffle still had a shot at finishing second, but his luck ran out the same way it has all season: He ran out of gas with two laps to go. He went from second to 16th in a matter of seconds, leaving him 21st in the standings and 166 points out of qualifying for the Chase.
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