LMS - Biffle NNCS teleconference, part 2

Continued from part 1

SO BASICALLY, RIGHT NOW, IF ANYBODY'S GOING TO STOP HENDRICK IN A COT RACE, DARLINGTON IS THE PLACE TO STOP THEM?

"I would think so. I hope so. Let me rephrase that: I hope so, because I feel like I've got a good opportunity to win there. Now, they may finish first, second, third again, we don't know, but I feel like I have a good opportunity there. To be honest with you, I was a little bit better than 48 this weekend at times. I don't know if they worked on their chassis or not, but I was as good as the 5. The 24 was right in front of me for the whole run, and I caught the 48 and passed him in one run. And we had a couple of bad pit stops in a row and I got cycled back a little bit and then got spun out by the 66, so I don't think we were that far off at Richmond, even though both finished first and second and were way out front. I don't think we were that far off."

DALE EARNHARDT JR. THIS MORNING EXPRESSED HIS DISSATISFACTION WITH THE CAR OF TOMORROW. IS THIS JUST NORMAL GRUMBLING WITH A NEW CAR AND NEW ENVIRONMENT, OR IS THIS SERIOUS FRUSTRATION AND DRIVERS ARE SENDING A MESSAGE TO NASCAR?

"Well, certainly Dale Jr. has a little bit more star power, and Tony Stewart, than I do, so I've got to be careful about what I say or I get ripped a little bit more than they probably. It is a difficult car to get do what you want it to do. It's hard to influence the car to do stuff -- it's hard because it's all technical stuff. It doesn't have a lot of travel before the front valence piece hits the ground, so you don't have a lot to work with there. So, what happens is the thing is on what we call a bump stop, so we stop it from hitting the ground with a piece of rubber, if you will, like a low-rider car that you see going down the road. What happens is when it gets down on that thing, it wants to push. It just wants to push, period. There's nothing you can do to make it turn once it gets down on that stop. So, we're juggling, trying to get it turn while it's on that stop. And then we're trying to figure out ways to make it do what we want it to do. It doesn't do anything like the old car does, so we're working hard on trying to figure it out. But it seems like everything we do -- we go test for a day, everything we try doesn't change the car. So, we're saying, 'What do we do with it now?' But I think as we continue to work on the car we're going to figure it out. We're going to figure out ways to get it to turn when it's on that bump stop. We just haven't figured it out, yet. But I think as time goes on I think we will figure it out. Will that it have to be a change in the design of the car? Ultimately, going way forward in the future, probably. But I don't think NASCAR is against modifying the design a little bit. We've got the concept down. We've got a safer car. We've got an easier car to tech, eventually -- we're still having troubles getting through tech in time to make it to qualify, but eventually, we're going to have a better piece. And there's going to be some adjustment to it, it's that simple. Whether we give another inch of travel on the splitter on the other side or something, or whatever the scenario is to fix it, we've never really tested that before. I think that it's a compromise. Definitely, at Phoenix, I was yelling about the car, too. I hated it, but nobody wanted to listen to me because I finished 20th, barely. But I was miserable. Richmond, I was a lot better. So, I don't know. It's a just a work in progress, I guess."

THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF TALK ABOUT YOUR CONTRACT. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE O SEE TTHIS PLAY OUT?

"Well, there's one thing comes to mind is to be the highest paid guy in the sport and stay at Roush -- no, I mean if you're dreaming you may as well dream big, right? I'll say up front to reflect on that subject, it's not about money, it's about being competitive. And it's about being with an organization that realizes their weaknesses and we're working on them to fix them. All a race-car driver, you go ask 43 guys, what they care about, in that garage area, tonight, and all 43 of them are going to say they want to win -- the All-Star race, they want to win Coca-Cola 600 and they want to win at Darlington this weekend. All of them are going to be bullish about their answer. They're all going to say the same thing: 'We just want to win. Give us a car that we can win.' That's all we care about. That being said, yes, you have to be compensated average-wise across the board, but the most important thing is winning and being competitive every week, and having a team you feel like is focused on doing that. That being said, we're negotiating with Roush on getting the extension done. We've got a couple of sponsors on the table that want to come over and be on our race car, and there are other teams that have shown interest in me coming and driving their car. So, I'm pretty sure I'm staying at Roush. The negotiations are going well. I don't see a reason why I'd be out talking to anybody else at this point, or at least entertaining those ideas until I feel like I've gone as far as I can with Roush, we can't come to terms."

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'LL GET THIS DONE THIS YEAR? GEOFF SMITH SAID IT COULD BE THIS YEAR OR NEXT YEAR?

"If we don't get it done this year, I'll be announcing where I'm going to be driving in the future."

HOW CLOSE ARE YOU TO GETTING A DEAL DONE? THERE'S AN UNDERSTANDING THAT GEOFF SMITH SENT YOU SOME SPECIFICS IN THE LAST 10 OR 12 DAYS ON WHAT HE HAS TO OFFER, AND HE WAS WAITING FOR YOU TO GET BACK WITH HIM.

"You're right; we just got some information last week, and I think that we're going to discuss the terms with them this week. In fact, I was just talking to somebody today before I came in here, ironically enough. That was their first, preliminary offer -- this many appearances, this whatever, all the necessary stuff in there. So, we're just in the beginning stages of negotiating a deal through 2012, or something. So, we're not close at all about having a deal done. At least 60 days, I would say, have to guess, by the time we back and forth a couple of times. I let somebody kind of handle that for me because I don't want it to distract me from what my job is and my job is to go over there and drive that car in a half hour and try and be the best I can. That's what I focus on, and I don't worry about the rest of it. I don't have any reason to believe that we're not going to be able to do the deal with them."

THE ALL-STAR RACE WILL BE FOUR 20-LAP SEGMENTS THIS YEAR. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?

"I kind of like the changeup of the normal deal. I think it's kind of fun doing something different -- you know, caution laps don't count this, that, the other. I like it. I like doing something different. It's challenging for us. The thing I like the most about it is qualifying. I think that's the funnest thing we do all year. I think it's a lot of fun. It's exciting, it gets the teams involved. I think it's the greatest thing we do."

YOU'RE SAYING THE COT MIGHT NEED JUST ANOTHER INCH OF TRAVEL ON THE SPLITTER. SO, ARE YOU SAYING THE COT IS THAT CLOSE TO BEING THE CAR THAT EVERYBODY WANTS IT TO BE?

"I think so. And I say that because that's our biggest nemesis right now, we feel, is the front travel, we have to keep that front splitter off the race track, so we're on the bump stop so quickly. I say an inch of travel; that may not do anything. Here, I'm just guessing. But, I think we are as close as what you're saying, we are that close to having something that I think everybody can be happy with. The thing is, we want something that drives like a race car, that really turns and we can be more aggressive with it and whatnot. Right now, we don't quite have that. Not quite. Us, as race-car drivers, we want to have something a little more aggressive driving for a race car. I think that's what everybody's really after."

YOU AND DOUG RICHERT HAD A LOT OF SUCCESS TOGETHER. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON WATCHING HIM STRUGGLE NOW WITH THE 83 TEAM?

"Yeah, it is really tough. I got something I want to talk to him about, and I keep thinking that I'm going to go over and see him in the garage and catch up with him, and they keep missing these races by just a little bit. I know it's frustrating for him and I feel bad for him because I know that as a team, Brian is a good driver and Doug's a good crew chief, this sport, it just goes to show you how competitive our sport is today. It is difficult. And you don't what to see anybody struggle, especially somebody you've had a relationship with in the past. But, I'm confident that those guys will get it turned around and will be good in the future, and I'll get caught up with him. I've talked with him a little bit. I talked with him at Talladega a little bit, but I haven't really had a chance to talk to him that much."

YOU SAID THAT THE COT HAS LEVELED THE PLAYING FIELD FOR SOME TEAMS, LIKE THE 96 AND 66. HOW SO?

"You know, that's kind of funny. I was thinking about this the other day, and I certainly don't want to talk bad about anybody, but it's kind of ironic that you take drivers that don't typically ruin in the top 10 and you put them running in the top 10, and they make mistakes. They get a little over-aggressive. They hit the apron, or they get into a guy, or they make the wrong pit decision, or something happens -- that's all part of a learning process. Because you've never run there before, you kind of don't know what to expect. I'm not saying none of them have never run there, but when you're put in that situation, all of a sudden, it seems like there's all of a sudden more pressure, more emphasis on pit stops, more emphasis on everything, and you see guys making small mistakes. You know, it's been really good for them, and I'll tell you, Dave Blaney, I feel bad for the guy. The guy is absolutely running very well, he's run very good, and he has been caught up in so much stuff. And it doesn't seem like, really, any of it's his doing, a lot of it is not his doing. And I saw the points today and he's, like, 38th or something, and the guy ran fifth this weekend and got caught up in a wreck and finished ninth or 10th or something. So, it's amazing how well he could run and then not be there in the points. It has made a difference on those teams, definitely."

-credit: ford racing