General Discussion » Toyota recall includes 3.8 million cars sold in the USA
November 2, 2009 General Motors is recalling all models because of a problem with plastic supply and return ports on the modular reservoir assembly. The ...
Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle hopes to keep up momentum at Phoenix
By Rea White - Associate Editor
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle finished fifth in his last start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Phoenix International Raceway.
Jeff Robinson
NASCAR Scene
For Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle, the next two races offer an opportunity to gain a lot of ground in the standings at a pair of tracks where he has a solid record of success.
After collecting a pair of top-10 finishes in his last two races with his Greg Erwin-led team, Biffle heads to Phoenix International Raceway, a track where he has four top-10 finishes, including three top-fives, in the last 11 races, for Sunday’s Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500.
Biffle has also won three times in the season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season will conclude.
While Biffle enters the final races seventh in the standings, 247 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson, he’s only 11 behind sixth-place Juan Pablo Montoya, 69 behind fifth-place Tony Stewart and another seven back from fourth-place Kurt Busch.
As he looks back over the last few races, Biffle sees a lot that has happened to shake up the standings, including wrecks involving fellow contenders in the Chase For The Sprint Cup at Talladega Superspeedway and then Johnson's crash last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.
Those incidents have him believing that anything is possible at this point.
"I really think, obviously up until last week, Talladega was really the turning point in the Chase, I felt," he says. "Both Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon got in that wreck and Jimmie Johnson split through and finished sixth or seventh, and that was disastrous for those guys. Mark is on his roof going down the stretch, and Jimmie Johnson is finishing in the top 10. So that really hurt their opportunity.
"If you look back at that one race, Mark might be leading the points today, you know. So is it over yet? I don't think so. Because anything can happen. There's a lot of pressure on the 48 team [of Johnson] right now because of what happened last week. So he still has a fairly significant lead [73 points over Martin], but there's a lot of pressure on him, and Mark runs very well at these last two race tracks and so do a few of the other guys out there. So I think anything can happen. I still feel like anything can happen."
Biffle is hoping to take advantage of any opportunity he can, too.
His team is trying to end 2009 on a high note, not only to get the best possible finishing position but also to set the tone for 2010.
Roush Fenway Racing has obviously struggled this year to match its past successes, but Biffle sees strides being made in the right direction.
He seems pleased that the team has been taking the time to make the right steps, though - such as working with the new Ford engine. The new model has been tested this season in just one race. Biffle thinks that it needs to be back in a non-restricted race this season - it was used at Talladega - and then continue to be studied and slowly worked in over the course of next year.
Instead of rushing to make any change to improve on a season in which Biffle has not yet won and Roush Fenway only has three victories overall, the group and manufacturer are making sure the engine has been fully studied and tested before implementing it for every race.
"I'm very, very excited about it," Biffle says. "The engine looks promising. It ran well in the restrictor-plate races, both cars at Talladega. That was a huge statement for that engine not to have any issues in either car. So I think it's full speed ahead with the new engine. It's going to take a little while for it to get implemented in all these cars.
"And I know that I raised my hand and said, 'You know, hey, the first third of the season instead of us jumping all over the map, because you really have to have these cars built differently for the engine bay to work, I said I'll run the old engine for the first third.'"
For now, Biffle and his group are focused on this season and getting as much out of the year as possible.
They look over the year and see some missed opportunities - and even find comfort in those.
"We’ve been very close on a number of races that we’ve just missed by a little bit, either a two-tire call got in our way or a four-tire call got in our way, or staying on the race track when we should have come in, or coming in when we should have stayed out," team co-owner Jack Roush says. "We’ve just seemed to be off a little, and it’s not something that was foreseeable, but sometimes you can flip the coin and you can get heads three times in a row, and other times it will wind up tails. Some of the calls that they made have not worked out as well as they should be expected to on average, and that, too, will change. It’ll swing back in our favor next year.”
Biffle is taking that same approach to the final two races - trying to get as much as possible out of the season. He has finished as high as second in the standings, in 2005, and wants to close this year as high in the points as possible.
"Just try and get best prepared as we can for next year and take these last two races and try and win and get our program turned around," he says of his plans for the final pair of races.
Mentioned Drivers: Greg Biffle
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6492 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -108 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -169 |
| 4 | Kurt Busch | -211 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -285 |
| 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -289 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -321 |
| 8 | Denny Hamlin | -352 |
| 9 | Ryan Newman | -411 |
| 10 | Kasey Kahne | -476 |
| 11 | Carl Edwards | -520 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -666 |
Popular News
-
Championship battle may not be tight, but Chase still has some intrigue
Comments (79) -
Kyle Busch would consider Nationwide title his biggest achievement in NASCAR
Comments (70) -
Denny Hamlin vows to retaliate against Brad Keselowski
Comments (70) -
Jeff Gluck: Brad Keselowski's aggressive style should be embraced, not criticized
Comments (53) -
Jimmie Johnson's Texas trouble reignites NASCAR Sprint Cup championship battle
Comments (48)
Recent Headlines
-
Kevin Harvick, Ron Hornaday cap off championship year for KHI
Post Comment -
Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards spins, leads final Nationwide practice
Post Comment -
Colin Braun wins Truck pole for season finale
Post Comment -
Denny Hamlin to have minor knee surgery Wednesday
Comments (1) -
Jimmie Johnson snags pole for Ford 400 at Homestead
Comments (9)
Poll PositionView All
Which has been most detrimental to NASCAR television ratings and attendance this season?
Promotions
-
Play "WIX Filters' Pick 3" stock car fantasy and win prizes. Season 2 is now in session!
-
Tweet your thoughts about each race and join the conversation with other fans.
-
Drive an authentic NASCAR Sprint Cup car at the NASCAR Racing Experience.
-
Make weekly pics for the Chase and be entered to win weekly SPEED Merchandise.
Comments
4 responses to "Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle hopes to keep up momentum at Phoenix". Post a Comment.
nascarnutsheeler said:
Nov 11, 2009 at 3:48 PMGo for it Biff, us Ford fans are behind you pushing like the devil
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportjbbigrod said:
Nov 11, 2009 at 4:21 PMI didn't check the standings this week close and didn't know it was that close in mid pack of the chasers. Hope he improves a few positions the next two weeks. Hope Carl can get back to the top ten also.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportnascarnutsheeler said:
Nov 12, 2009 at 1:02 AMIt won't be the same with Carl not in the top ten.I would love see him on stage. Hopefully we will see it up in Canada since its in Vegas. We never ever got it when it was in NYC.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportjbbigrod said:
Nov 12, 2009 at 2:44 AMSorry you couldn't get it in canada. Carl STILL COULD get in the top ten, IF he has good weeks now and at Homestead.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Report