Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
Following a sub-par season that resulted in Greg Biffle not reaching victory lane, the Washington native is excited to get back to the track this year in hopes of finding success.
“I am excited,” he commented. “We have some new blood from engineers to management to drivers to everything and it has taken on kind of a different face. I feel pretty good about it. I feel really good about how we will be competition wise and being more competitive.”
During the off-season, Roush Fenway Racing added some engineers to their ranks in hopes of finding what the team is missing as Biffle barely made the Chase, while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished outside of the top 25. One of the highlighted additions is Kevin Kidd, who previously served as the crew chief for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 XFINITY team. The hiring of Kidd, among others, was a result in the team wanting to get some outside people in for a new perspective. Biffle feels all the changes are going to help strengthen the organization.
Though in getting set for the first race of the year, Biffle will have to survive the group qualifying format that NASCAR has implemented for Daytona 500 qualifying on Sunday.
“I think it will definitely be different,” he commented. “We have all done it though. We did it at Talladega. I think it will be pretty nerve-wracking and a lot of guys are trying to get a good time that aren’t in the race yet two guys are trying to get the front row. Other than that I don’t think it really matters. If you think about it analytically and points wise. It is going to be interesting.”
Biffle feels that he will have a chance at the pole, but it’s going to be a situation of being in the right place at the right time. Part of that is positioning yourself in the back half of the pack, which was witnessed by drivers sitting around at Talladega.
“It is a big game of chicken and it bit a lot of guys at Talladega, including the 17 (Stenhouse),” Biffle commented. “I think here, people can’t afford that. It is the Daytona 500. You have to get a time. You have to get the fastest time you can.”
Biffle added that the format will put everyone in a tough spot as you want to make sure all of your team’s cars qualify for the event, while being one of the drivers locked in on the front row.
Regardless, it’s going to certainly made the session interesting on Sunday.
