CONCORD, N.C. (August 29, 2012) – Roush Fenway drivers Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth each clinched a spot in the 2012 Chase for the Sprint Cup ‘playoff’ race with their respective finishes last Saturday night at Bristol. Roush Fenway has now placed 24 entries inside the Chase since its inception in 2004.
Leading the point standings and now locked into his fifth Chase berth, Biffle says his team can continue to take steps that will put them in the best position to not only make the 12-team field, but take home the Sprint Cup in November.
“We’ve been decent in the points, so we’ve kind of tried to step out of the box and do some things to try and learn for the Chase,” said Biffle. “(We can) really be more aggressive with the setup and go for the win and say, ‘hey, if it doesn’t work, then we’re not going to cry over spilled milk.’ That’s really all you can do. You can’t flip a switch, and we’re already running as hard as we can. The only thing we can do is take some more chances on the setup, whether it might work for the race or not, that’s basically what we’ve been doing.”
RFR’s third driver, Carl Edwards will look to win one of the final two races to lock up a ‘wildcard’ berth in this season’s Chase. The odds may be in Edwards’ favor, with Atlanta and Richmond the remaining two regular-season tracks.
“We’re going to approach them like we’ve approached the last couple of races,” said Edwards. “That’s just to go out and try to win the race and do whatever it takes to put ourselves in a position to win.”
Atlanta is probably Edwards’ top track. He won his first Sprint Cup race there in 2005 and boasts three Cup wins and six overall NASCAR wins at the 1.5-mile track. In addition, he had one of the dominate cars earlier this year at Richmond, leading 206 laps and potentially poised for the victory before being penalized on a controversial call while running second under a late restart. In fact, Edwards has led 319 laps in the last two Sprint Cup events at RIR.
“I don’t think there could be two better tracks coming up,” added Edwards. “Atlanta is one of my personal favorite tracks to drive on. I don’t think there’s a more fun race track on the circuit to race on.
“(Crew Chief) Chad (Norris) and all the guys (on the No. 99 team), we spoke a lot this week about our strategy for the race and we feel like we’ve got a car sitting there in the hauler that can go win that race, so we’re really excited about it. I hope that it goes the way we want it to, and Richmond has been kind of a hot-and-cold race track for us, but this spring we found some things and figured some things out and I think we’ve got a good shot at a win at Richmond as we have at any other track on the schedule.”
Edwards will look for his seventh berth in the Chase in the last eight seasons. Kenseth has qualified for the Chase in eight of its nine seasons. Roush Fenway has placed at least two teams in the Chase in every year of its existence, while occupying almost one quarter of the total Chase spots since 2004.
Roush Fenway Racing is the winningest team in NASCAR history, fielding multiple teams in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series with championship drivers Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor Bayne. Celebrating 25 winning years in 2012, Roush Fenway is the leader in NASCAR marketing solutions, pioneering its exclusive Roush Fenway OnTrack sponsorship measurement services, motorsport’s first team-focused TV show and its award-winning social marketing channel RickyvsTrevor.com. Visit www.RoushFenway.com, circle on Google+ at +Roush Fenway Racing, become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/roushfenway and follow on Twitter at @roushfenway. For sponsorship inquiries call John Bauersfeld at 704.720.4621.
