STATER BROS. 300: GLOVE AND HAPPINESS FOR BIFFLE LATE CAUTION HELPS ROUSH DRIVER WIN BUSCH RACE.

Byline: Keith Lair Staff Writer

FONTANA - If the glove fits, Greg Biffle can safely admit it was not his.

Biffle took advantage of a glove thrown onto the track by a competitor in Turn 4 with 16 laps left in Saturday's NASCAR Busch Stater Bros. 300, bringing out a caution that enabled him to win the race in front of approximately 30,000 at California Speedway.

``It's karma, I guess,'' said the Nextel Cup veteran driver, who suggested NASCAR officials should have checked to find out who was missing a glove. ``Last year, I would have taken off my helmet and thrown it on the track at Texas to get a lap back, and I would have won the (Cup) title. But that's cheating.''

Biffle, who won both Busch Fontana races in 2004, became the first driver to win a race in the Ford Fusion body and the fifth straight Jack Roush driver to win the Busch race at Fontana. Friday night, another Roush driver, Mark Martin, won the Craftsman Truck series race.

``We needed the caution at the end,'' said Biffle, who won his 18th Busch race. ``We weren't going to catch them without the caution.''

Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton and Ryan Newman dominated the race's long middle runs. Biffle, who led 52 laps, was in the lead for most of the first few laps, but was happy to run in fourth or fifth in those middle laps.

They ran 45 green-flag laps until the yellow - only the fourth of the race - with 16 remaining. Edwards led, with Burton second, Biffle third and Newman fourth. It looked like it would end that way. But when NASCAR officials threw that last caution, Burton faked to go in. Edwards, who led 49 laps, pitted - the only driver among the leaders to pit.

``It was a little lonely,'' said Edwards, who had four tires put on his car. ``I was afraid Biffle was going to catch me if I stayed out. We had to make adjustments.''

Edwards, who had the pole, came back out in 10th place. He got up to third on the 147th lap before running out of laps. Biffle took the lead with nine to go and pulled away. He won by 2.256 seconds ahead of Newman, with Edwards third.

``We were running down the 21 (Burton) and the 60 (Edwards),'' Biffle said. ``We were doing pretty good and we probably would get the 21, but not get to the 60 without a caution.''

He could not pit because the team had used up all of its tires.

``I was really shocked when everybody stayed out because new tires are really fast,'' Biffle said. ``I didn't have a choice. I thought we were a sitting duck. But I guess everyone was going for track position.''

Biffle said he had trouble with handling early on. In his last pit stop, on the 120th lap, he had the track bar raised and added more tire pressure and wedge.

Roush said it's why his drivers have done so well at Fontana.

``Biffle is a master at these tracks,'' Roush said. ``You have to drive these cars incredibly loose. Our guys really excel at that.''

Keith Lair, [phone]

keith.lair(at)sgvn.com

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Greg Biffle leads the pack during the NASCAR Busch Stater Bros. 300 race Saturday at California Speedway. Biffle won the race, thanks to a caution.

Gavin Lawrence/Getty Images