NASCAR Cup

Greg Biffle's NASCAR Indianapolis Friday Media Visit

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Edited: Jul 30, 2011, 3:19 AM

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Greg Biffle – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion

THOUGHTS ON THE SPRINT SUMMER SHOWDOWN AND BEING HERE AT INDY. “This race track is always good to compete on because there’s a lot of history that surrounds this race track. It’s fun to race here. There’s a lot on the line because everybody wants to win the Brickyard, but the Sprint Summer Showdown is a neat deal. It rewards people for winning and that’s what we need to do is win. I feel like we’re getting close. I feel like we keep making steps in that direction and I think we’re gonna get there one of these first weeks.”

Greg Biffle, Roush Fenway Racing Ford

Photo by: Ashley Dickerson, ASP Inc.

WHAT WERE YOU LOOKING FOR IN A NEW CREW CHIEF? “Not necessarily chemistry, but we needed a different approach. We needed to look at it differently and I don’t think just changing the crew chief is gonna fix why we’ve run out of gas so many times and our fuel mileage and other things that we’ve had going on, but it gives a fresh look at it. ‘OK, what can we do to fix our issues. What can we do to be a better team and compete more competitively every weekend.’ Not really compete more competitively because we have been fast everywhere we’ve been, but how do we finish where we’ve been running. What do we need to do to finish where we’ve been running? One is to run the same amount of laps as the rest of the field is on a fuel tank. Two, get good, decent pit stops, and pit strategy – when to pit and when not to pit, when to put two on and when to put four on. That’s what we were missing. We had good, fast cars and still do. We just needed to finish and close the deal. We weren’t closing and we just needed a fresh look at it.”

WHAT’S THE TRANSITION PERIOD LIKE WITH A CHANGE? “One good thing about it is Matt doesn’t have any background in this. Matt’s figuring it out as he goes. Let’s give Matt more credit than that, he’s been a crew chief and knows how to make calls and knows track position is important and all those things, so he’s aware of what he needs to do, but I don’t think the transition period is really all that much. I feel like he’s really in tune with the race cars. He’s working hard. He’s down there at night babysitting them. He’s working with his guys and has a plan. I think it’s gonna be good.”

IS THERE A TERMINOLOGY DIFFERENCE? “Yeah, you always have that. You have a little bit of what this guy is used to and that guy. Maybe this guy likes to move the track bar a lot or he kind of tends to want to run it a certain way, so you have some of those things.”

DO YOU TARGET THE OPEN WEEK FOR A CHANGE LIKE THAT? “We made the decision before that. We just had to change something. Whether it was right or wrong, we had to do something. We weren’t gonna make the Chase the direction we were going and we very well still may not make it, but we had to make a decision.”

WE’VE SEEN 5 CREW CHIEF CHANGES THIS YEAR. WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE THAN PAST YEARS? “For us, I’ve had the same crew chief since 2007, so we’d been together a long time. This is really technically my fourth crew chief in my Cup career. I had an interim of Pat Tryson for seven or nine races, so I had (Randy) Goss, Doug (Richert) and (Greg) Erwin. I think everybody has so much pressure to perform and to win races and be competitive. I don’t know what everybody else’s issues are, but I would imagine they’re the same. We just needed a fresh look at what we were doing to try and be better.”

... it kind of surprises me a little bit that we haven’t won here.

Greg Biffle

WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO RUN AT RACEWAY PARK? “That, to me, was really one of the most fun races of the year was to race over there. IRP, ORP, Lucas Oil Raceway Park – it’s been a bunch of different names, but that is a fun race track. That’s back home, drives kind of like Darlington but smaller. You can diamond the thing, run the bottom, run the top. I love that race track and I find it hard to believe that they’re not gonna race there anymore after putting on such a good show.”

HOW HAVE THINGS CHANGED SINCE BECOMING A DAD. IS IT WHAT YOU THOUGHT? “I think I had looked around and really saw my teammates and friends who had kids what they were going through and how it changed and what they had to do, so I guess I want to say I was halfway prepared, but you’re never prepared 100 percent. I was expecting to change diapers and be taking care of her, but probably the one thing I underestimated is them needing to eat like every two-and-a-half to three hours. I didn’t really think about that as much, and then I expected her to be awake and have her eyes open in between those times and all she does is sleep or fusses. That’s how they tell you something is wrong and they need something, so it’s different than what I anticipated, but I kind of mentally prepared for the worst and it’s been fun so far.”

IS IT BIGGER THAN YOU THOUGHT? “No, I don’t think so. I think it’s just a little bit different than you always anticipate. Going on a trip you’re thinking this or this or this and you don’t know what to expect.”

IS SHE WITH YOU THIS WEEK? “Yeah, this is her first race. She’ll probably camp out in the motorhome the entire time, but she’s here.”

HOW MUCH CHANGE HAVE YOU SEEN IN THIS INITIAL PERIOD? “A lot and you can start to see the personality start to develop. When she does this she wants that. It’s kind of interesting how you can predict what they’re gonna do, at least you have an idea of what you think they’re gonna do.”

HOW HAS IT CHANGED WHEN YOU GO HOME AFTER A RACE – GOOD OR BAD? “It was killing me at Kentucky and Loudon because I couldn’t wait to get home to see her. It’s pretty neat to go home to and a lot like my dogs. I couldn’t wait to get home to see them, so it’s all the more reason with her as well, so it’s pretty neat.”

CARL HAS BEEN IN THE EYE OF THE SPECULATION HURRICANE. HOW DO YOU THINK JACK WOULD RESPOND IF HE ANNOUNCED HE WAS LEAVING AND STILL HAD SOME RACING LEFT WITH ROUSH? “It’s obvious that it’s coming to a head, kind of like whether we’re gonna approve the debt ceiling or not. At some point he’s gonna have to say that I’m not coming back. He’s not gonna be able to wait until Homestead, we all know that, so Carl is a big boy, he’s a man and he has to make his own decisions. Eventually, he’s gonna have to make a decision and it’ll be best for everybody so, one, we can plan for sponsorships and drivers and teams and people. There are a lot of people’s jobs on the line – if we’re gonna be three teams or four teams – so the sooner the better. I understand contract negotiations take a long time and there is a lot to them, but truly if you know or you’ve made a decision, then it’s time to give everybody enough opportunity to make their decision on the back side of that.”

Greg Biffle, Roush Fenway Racing Ford

Photo by: Ashley Dickerson, ASP Inc.

YOU’VE LIVED THIS SO YOU HAVE GOOD CONTEXT OF WHAT HE’S GOING THROUGH. “Right. It’s tough, but one thing I always did is when I knew what I was doing, then I said, ‘This is what I’m gonna do.’ You can’t have a deal done or plan to have a deal done and not let everybody know, so that it’s fair for everyone to go make a plan on what’s next.”

JACK HAS NEVER HAD A CAR WIN HERE. DOES THAT SURPRISE YOU? “For how successful as we’ve been as a company, yeah, it kind of surprises me a little bit that we haven’t won here.”

COULD THIS BE THE YEAR? “Yeah, this could definitely be the year. We finished third last year and probably had a car that could definitely win. We’ve tested well and I really think that one of our cars has a good opportunity to win.”

WOULD IT BE COOL TO GIVE JACK THAT FIRST WIN HERE? “Yeah, it would be. It would be cool to get the 16 a win this year and Jack’s first win.”

By: ford racing

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