Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
AAA 400 Advance (Dover International Speedway)
Friday, September 27, 2013
Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M Ford Fusion, is fifth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings coming into this weekend’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway. Biffle came into the infield media center after today’s practice session to talk about his Chase prospects.
GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – THOUGHTS ON DOVER THIS WEEKEND? “It’s been a great track for us, although as of late we’ve struggled a little bit here as an organization. We’re looking forward to turning that around like we’ve been able to do at Richmond and some of the short tracks we’ve been a lot better on as of late. We targeted this place to be a place we need to improve at and I feel that so far we’ve been a little bit better than we had been in the spring time here. That gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the weekend and what we’re able to do with the car tomorrow.”
CAN YOU MAKE THE CASE WHY THIS ISN’T A THREE-MAN RACE FOR THE TITLE? YOU ALWAYS SEEM TO DO WELL IN THE CHASE. “The Chase, from what I understand, is made up of 10 races and to be two races into the Chase and say it’s a three-man race already, to me, seems silly as to why somebody would want to put themselves in that position and say it’s a three-man race. Obviously, you don’t have anything on the line. It’s not like we’re making a wager in Vegas that it’s a three-man race. It’s somebody’s opinion and everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but I can’t imagine with eight races to go that somebody would be willing to say, ‘Oh, this is a three-man race.’ Take for instance last week, we finished third and moved up six spots in the points to fifth. I don’t know how one would say it’s a three-man race. Now, if Kenseth goes on and wins the title does that mean it’s a three-man race or does that mean it’s a one-man race? I don’t know. I just think there are more than three cars in this thing right now. Now, if we get past Talladega and there are four races to go or three races to go, I could see that. But they could break for three races in a row and maybe not even go to Vegas and not even be in the top 10. So I’d say it’s a little early is all I was getting at. I wouldn’t be the one putting my name on the line to say there are only three cars in this hunt right now. I wasn’t necessarily saying that for the 16 team. I wasn’t making the case that it’s not a three-man race because of us, I wouldn’t count out Carl Edwards or any of those other guys that are right there in the hunt. Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, I wouldn’t be counting those guys out just yet is all I was saying. I wasn’t saying it just because of our case of one race we finished third and moved to fifth in points, that wasn’t the point I was making.”
FORD HASN’T WON A TITLE IN A LONG TIME. IS THERE A THREAD GOING THROUGH THE PAST EIGHT OR NINE YEARS YOU CAN POINT TO THAT HAS CAUSED THAT? AND DO YOU FEEL MORE OF A BURDEN TO GET IT DONE THIS YEAR? “I can’t really answer why we haven’t won a title. You look at Carl and Carl tied for the points championship. It doesn’t get any close than that and in 2005 we finished under the old point system 35 points behind Tony with a major hiccup with three races to go. Potentially, with not much in history changed, we’ve got two championships right there. Some teams have probably done a little better job than we have and you look at Matt Kenseth for example. He’s got seven wins on the season. That might indicate some of the reasons why they’ve got more championships than we’ve got. We’ve still got a little bit more work to do. We’ve come a tremendously long way and I think we’re fairly competitive right now.”
DO YOU ROUSH GUYS FEEL LIKE YOU’RE CHOPPED LIVER BECAUSE YOU GUYS AREN’T GETTING THE ATTENTION EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE IN THE TOP FIVE? “I think that’s just historically the way it’s been. You talk about the guys that are having success and how great it is. That’s sort of been the way it is. Am I surprised they’re not talking about Carl? A little bit. Am I surprised they’re not talking about the 16? Not really because we tend to slide a little bit under the radar all the time anyway, so it doesn’t bother me. It gives you motivation to do well and compete every week and try to get what you can. Like I always said before, if you’re winning races or you win the championship, they have to talk about you so put yourself in that position – put yourself in the position Matt is and they’re gonna be talking about you.”
WOULD YOU RATHER BE IN THAT POSITION AND IS THERE A REASON WHY MATT COULDN’T FIND THAT CONSISTENT SUCCESS DURING HIS TENURE AT ROUSH? “That’s a hard one. I couldn’t pinpoint any particular reason why, but the other thing is I don’t mind flying a little under the radar. It’s a little less pressure sometimes.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HAVING A TEAMMATE IN THE CHASE, WHAT YOU SHARE AND HOW YOU COMPETE AGAINST EACH OTHER? “Carl and I have a lot of respect for each other. We had an incident earlier in the season at Michigan where the whole organization sat down and I think we understand each other and appreciate each other’s abilities a lot more since that meeting and we kind of do what we can to help one another that doesn’t hurt yourself and that’s what came out of that meeting in Sonoma after the Michigan race and that’s the way we’ve really handled it since then. Carl and I are parked next to each other in the garage and we’re talking about our cars and competition and how our car is in race trim versus qualifying trim, so we share everything and try to help one another with what we can.”
