Biffle has a fun day coaching student drivers at Utah track
By SceneDaily Staff
Thursday, July 24, 2008
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Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle took an unusual turn on the track this week, visiting Miller Motorsports Park in Utah to serve as a guest driving coach.
Biffle had the opportunity to drive all the track's racing vehicles, from go-karts to the Ford Mustang FR500S, and to help people get an insider's view of what a NASCAR Sprint Cup driver faces.
"We’re doing a little lead-and-follow, cat-and-mouse on the race track with students in the cars, and the students get to drive the cars, too," Biffle said. "It’s just been a fun deal. I think the main thing is that the general public gets to come out here and take this Ford Performance school at Miller Motorsports Park and get a chance to get on the race track and drive these cars.”
He says that when fans get the chance to get behind the wheel of a racing machine, even one with limited horsepower, it offers them a different view of what drivers endure during a race.
"You know, everybody you give a ride to, even in the Mustang, which makes 330 horsepower, and our stock car makes 900 horsepower, even in that car, with a street-type tire on it, you give the guys a ride around the track after they’ve driven for three hours themselves and have gotten instruction, you take them for one lap in the car, the same car they’re driving, their eyes are wide open," he said. "It’s just incredible. The difference the students feel between them driving it themselves and being in a car driven by someone who does it for a living. And, it’s the same with the instructors. The instructors out here, I can’t get away from those guys. They’re obviously on the track every day, but I’m able to stick right on their bumper and vice-versa. These guys who teach these classes out here are great drivers as well and know how teach somebody how to drive.”
Now, Biffle turns his attention to his own racing and this weekend's Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Roush Fenway Racing has never won on this track, but Biffle thinks the organization is getting close to that.
“I think it’ll be a matter of time," he said. "Roush Fenway, as a company, we’re not as good at the flat tracks as some of the other teams are. That’s obvious – Loudon, Martinsville, even though they’re smaller than Indy, they still have the same characteristics of that flat track. And, predominantly, we have not been the best at those race tracks – and quite honestly, it’s frustrating for us. We’re getting an aggressive test plan together to try and combat and get better at those places. But we go there and we give our best, and normally that’s in the top five, certainly top 10. We want to win at those places, and the Brickyard, especially, is a place we want to win at. We feel like we’re going to be competitive. We’re always learning and we’re always getting better every week.”
Biffle is also keeping his eye on the big picture this weekend, though. He's seventh in the series standings with seven races to go before the field for the Chase For The NASCAR Sprint Cup is set. While that's not the most ideal position - drivers seventh through 13th are separated by 62 points - Biffle remains confident he'll be one of the 12 drivers contending for a title this season.
"We’ve had some great runs, and have had some stupid things happen to us – got caught speeding at Pocono, got the air hose caught at Michigan, went off the track at Infineon, all those race tracks we had top-fives or possible wins at and had bad finishes or 11th and 15th and 21st," Biffle said. "So those certainly don’t reflect how we’ve been running – the fourth-place run at Chicago certainly reflects how we’ve run – but we just don’t have those finishes that we need to have to make us solid in the Chase. If we would’ve had those finishes, we’d be basically locked in now. Instead, we’re fighting to stay in that top 12.”
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Greg Biffle
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