Green holds off Biffle for Carquest win

CONCORD, N.C. -- Jeff Green survived an exciting four-lap shootout and heated battle with Greg Biffle in hot pursuit by winning the Carquest 300 at Lowe's Motor Speedway for the second year in a row.

	Jeff Green

Green had a five-second lead when the caution came out when Dan Pardus spun with six laps remaining. With only 10 cars on the lead lap, Biffle was running second and decided to pit.

Taking on four tires, Biffle was eighth on the restart. He quickly sliced his way through the field and began chasing Green as the laps ticked down.

Biffle was able to pull up on Green's back bumper but unable to pass as the cars crossed the finish line.

"I knew Greg would be coming, but I didn't think he'd come that fast," Green said. "We just thank the good Lord for a safe day. We're all thinking about Jeff Purvis.

"This is fun, man. I wish I could this on Sunday, and we'll do it on Sunday before long. I love Charlotte. This is two in a row in the spring race for us."

The victory was the 15th for Green in 221 Busch Series races.

	Greg Biffle

That Biffle was even in the car was in itself incredible. He was in the hospital six days ago after a terrifying collision with Purvis at Nazareth Speedway. Purvis was released from a Pennsylvania hospital on Friday.

"I'm really sore, my ribs are really hurting," Biffle said. "About a quarter of the way through the race, the cold air broke on my helmet hose so I had no air. Then later on, one of my earplugs quit working so I couldn't hear the spotter too well.

"I wish we could've had a little better stop. Coming in for four tires was my call. It almost worked. I figured only five guys would stop, but nobody stopped.

"I was trying to figure out what I would do. I knew Jeff was a smart man, and he'd protect the bottom. I could've easily bumped him out of the way, but I didn't want to race like that. He doesn't race us that way."

Rookie Scott Riggs finished third, followed by Mike McLaughlin and Todd Bodine.

Kevin Lepage, filling in for Purvis, came home sixth. Rounding out the top 10 were Bobby Hamilton Jr., Kevin Grubb, Jay Sauter and Jack Sprague, who suffered a number of calamities after damaging his fender during the final caution flag.

Sauter, filling in for ailing brother Johnny, led 22 laps and built a double-digit lead over the field late in the running. However, he was forced to give up the lead when he stopped to take on fuel with 16 laps remaining.

Points leader Jason Keller finished 13th. There were 14 lead changes among nine drivers.

The race action was slowed by nine cautions for 41 laps. The first yellow flew six laps into the event when Stuart Kirby, Josh Richeson, Jeff Fultz and Kerry Earnhardt got together. Earnhardt was the only one able to continue and finished 28th, eight laps down.

Other notable wrecks involved pole-sitter Ron Hornaday and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hornaday finished 33rd and Earnhardt Jr., who was running in the top 10, got together with Michael Waltrip and spun out of the race to finish 36th.