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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES: COCA-COLA 600May 24, 2015Greg BiffleCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA KERRY THARP: Greg Biffle has joined us. Greg finished second tonight, driving the No.16 Ortho Ford for Roush‑Fenway Racing. Greg, I know you poured everything into it to try to get that W tonight. Maybe talk about how you thought how things unfolded and came out for you here tonight. GREG BIFFLE: Well, I mean, I'm really excited for the team and the organization. We've been working really, really hard on our cars. It's been well documented how bad we've been running, and so it feels good to‑‑ if I finished, it was kind of funny, I decided if I finished in the top 10 tonight, I was going to stand on the door top and be all excited and cheer, and I finished second, and I'm not happy. You know, the thing is we ran in the top 10 all night. Car was good, had a lot of speed. That was a huge improvement. We haven't done that in probably a year, so I was super excited about that. And then because of that, running where we were running, it gave us the opportunity to try and stretch the fuel window and make it. You know, I was putting a lot of pressure on Carl there. I started going with about 10 laps to go. The crew chief told me save all you can, just stay in front of the 88, and I made a decision that I was going to try and beat Carl. You know, I got pretty close to him there, and then with two to go, the fuel light came on that the fuel pressure was low, and so I came around and had to start pushing the clutch in and shutting it off and coasting and try and preserve what fuel I had to make it back. So excited to see the checkered flag. I wasn't sure I was going to stretch two laps of gas out. But it was probably on the straightaway it sucked some air and started flashing the fuel pressure. I was able to run it around the corners and didn't have any more issues, but stayed in front of the 88, finished second, big boost for the team, but probably a bigger boost for the team was how we ran tonight on the racetrack. Q. Greg, did you know whether Carl had had enough to go to the end? Did you think maybe he was going to have to pit? GREG BIFFLE: Yeah, well, we knew that Carl was going to try and make it, and certainly nobody knows whether you've got enough gas. I was sure hoping and praying that he would be about a lap short because, you know, we've lost a few‑‑ everybody has lost a few like that. But you know, it is what it is. He's smart, he knows how to save gas. He's won a lot of races like that. I was just hoping that maybe that engine he had was using a little bit more than they thought, but that wasn't the case. Q. When you get your result in the JGR cars versus the Hendrick equipment that's been dominating, particularly on these racetracks, what do we glean from this? Are you catching up to them? Have you caught them or is it too early to tell? GREG BIFFLE: We certainly haven't come anywhere close to catching them. One common thread it looks like to me is Chevy. It looks like they're head and shoulders better than the Toyotas and Fords, because the Ganassi cars are pretty fast, all the Haas cars, which are kind of Hendrick affiliated, so there's really eight cars there that make that up. But the Childress cars and the single‑car team, the 78 car led the whole race. He had the fastest car. It's pretty obvious those are all Chevies. You know, they definitely have kind of a stranglehold on it, it seems like. I mean, the 11 has been fast and the 2 and those guys, but we have seen some dominance out of the Hendrick bunch this season, probably more than‑‑ there's been a few seasons like this I can remember, but we certainly are nowhere near catching them, but we've met our first goal or at least my first goal was run in the top 10. We haven't been able to do that for a year and a half, and run there, not take two tires and get a 10th‑place finish. I mean actually run the whole race. So we ran 600 miles virtually right in the top 10, so that's a huge improvement for us, so now we'll just work on trying to get in the top 5 and then the wins will come after that. Q. You finished 12th at Kansas, you got a second here tonight. What's it like to get the competitive finish right down the road from your race shop, and then what does that mean moving forward to Dover where Roush Fenway Racing is historically strong? GREG BIFFLE: Yeah, I mean, I'm really excited about the finish. I don't care if we're in México right now. I'm pretty happy that I finished second. This is a good racetrack for us. I had about a half‑straightaway lead here a few years ago and then the caution came out and I didn't have enough gas to make it. Neither did the 88 that day, the 29 ended up winning. But we tested Dover and did a one‑day test up there, and I'm looking forward to that. I've got a couple trophies from there. We run good there. The test didn't go as good as we'd like it to, but maybe we learned a little bit here that can go along with that test and see if we can challenge‑‑ run in the top 10 again. You know, Michigan is kind of‑‑ I've got it circled now kind of on my calendar because it's‑‑ if we've got speed on these kind of tracks back again, that's a good racetrack for us, so we'll see how we stack up. Q. Was there anything you found leading into the last two weeks in particular that led to the strong results? GREG BIFFLE: You know, I think it's mostly what I know of that we've found is really the setup on the race car. I can't believe that we've missed that for a year, that we haven't found anything to get our cars to go faster, and then we changed some minor stuff and all of a sudden here we are. I've got my fingers crossed that we at least‑‑ with all the simulation and all the things we have, hopefully we can pinpoint what we changed and what made the difference and then continue to try and work in that same direction and then hopefully each racetrack is different, Dover is definitely different, so we'll see if those changes we've made, improvements, will continue on. Q. You look wiped. GREG BIFFLE: I'm upset that I didn't win. I was close. Q. How difficult is it that you have two young teammates that don't have the seasoning of your former teammates to help you get the program back together, and how much of a challenge has it been for you on and off the track this year just with everything that's going on in your life right now? GREG BIFFLE: Yeah, I mean, it's been a tough challenge all together, even last year when Carl was there. Man, it was really tough trying to find anything, trying to get anything to get our cars to go. When we came around to the All‑Star or really qualifying in that and then practice, I was a little bit concerned why the other two cars weren't showing the speed that my car was showing, because if we had truly found something, I would think it would help all the cars. But I just talked to Ricky on pit road, and he felt like his car was fairly decent tonight. He got a lap down early and got the lap back. He was running 14th and I guess he had a left‑front hub seize up, and then I saw the 43, also, there. Maybe it's trickling down, but I'm looking forward to those guys, both Ricky and Trevor, running faster so we can use a little bit of the data from them, as well. Q. Did it make any difference that Carl was the guy who won this race to your being upset that you finished second? GREG BIFFLE: No, no, not at all. It's just a special weekend, to have my second cousin's name on the windshield. I went and visited a friend of mine from the mountains earlier in the week that passed away yesterday, and it was just‑‑ there was a lot going on, Memorial Day weekend, and I really, really wanted to win, and I tried so hard. You know, we just came up a little bit short. I feel really good about finishing second, I do, but just over here reminiscing about what it would be like if I would have won. Q. Greg, around Easter time Matt Puccia said you guys brought a next generation of this car to the track, and it seems like your performance has picked up some since then. Has that been from a handling perspective a pretty good change for you guys? GREG BIFFLE: You know, I think what's happened to us is we're stacking pennies, and you know, there wasn't‑‑ we can't look back and say, that was it right there. But what I will tell you is at Texas, the car seemed like it was a little bit more predictable to drive. Maybe it drove a little easier. It didn't have a lick, not a bit more speed. So we were super disappointed. Like we were all hanging our hat on here it is. We've worked extremely hard on this car, here it is. So we didn't have any speed, and then we went and worked tirelessly in the wind tunnel, found a little bit of stuff that helped with the splitter and the pan and those things with the new chassis, enabled us to do a little bit more aero work, and then we kept working on the setup and trying different things and different‑‑ spring some of the stuff we saw in the garage area. You're always picking up bits and pieces where you can, some different testing and different shocks, and all of a sudden like all those little things that we found have gotten us some speed. You know, so it was‑‑ and I think it kind of surprised all of us when we kind of hit on it that it was kind of right there. We're going to look at exactly what we've done, and like I said, kind of try and keep trending in that direction. But it wasn't any one thing. It was definitely‑‑ and that's what they've said, what we've said all along. There isn't one thing we're missing, it's a bunch of it. It was probably off on aero. We're probably off on suspension and all those things. KERRY THARP: Greg Biffle, congratulations on a strong showing here tonight, and good luck at Dover. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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