GREG BIFFLE POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE
TALK ABOUT YOUR LAP OUT THERE TODAY. “That was a spectacular lap considering everything we did today. We were fortunate enough to get an extra hour of practice here and unfortunately we had about eight minutes of practice today before qualifying. The guys worked really hard to get the engine changed. I got out with three minutes to go to make a lap and we made adjustments from that lap and we were able to put down a pretty fast lap. Obviously the car is pretty close. I am anxious to get some track time. I can’t wait to see how my car runs and hopefully we will get that right tomorrow. We are going to get a good pit stall for the race and we will have to start at the back so that is unfortunate but I am proud of the team for how hard they worked and the car that we are going to have for the race.”
DID THEY DIAGNOSE WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE ENGINE? IS THERE CONCERN WITH KESELOWSKI’S ISSUE AS WELL? “I don’t have all the details. They are actually taking the engine apart now. They were going to do it after qualifying. I wish they would have done it right away but maybe I will sleep better tonight finding out what it is. We feel like the issues could be common between the 2 car and my car. I think they are thinking it is the same issue and something mechanical, something parts wise inside the engine at the bottom of the engine I think. I will know and we will know here after we take it apart but right now we are sort of guessing.”
HOW ARE YOU GOING TO PASS 40 CARS ON SUNDAY? “Same way I did at Bristol. This ought to be a lot easier. I started at the back at Bristol – we started 29th and in 60 laps I was 9th under green. It was a heck of a run for us. Hopefully we can do the same thing here. This race track has a lot more room and I wouldn’t say is easier to pass but there is a lot more opportunity to pass than last week. Certainly we aren’t going to do it in a short amount of time. Definitely it will take probably 100 laps at a minimum or maybe 50-75 laps to get our way up through the field. Hopefully we can. Maybe some pit strategy too. We will see what we can come up with.”
DID YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH THE SPLITTER? “We haven’t. We did more so at Las Vegas than here. Here we have been pretty good on that, although we have only had seven laps or so total of practice. Qualifying the car was really good. There were no issues qualifying.”
HOW ABOUT HANDLING THE SEAMS? “They are difficult to go across. What will happen is you get down in the corner and if the car starts to drift or get a little tight and gets to that seam then the car kind of wants to skate across it. It is the same for everyone though and they aren’t as bad in three and four kind of as they are in one and two. One and two are a little tricky and that is what gives a race track character and makes it challenging.”
WHEN YOU ARE IN THE RACE DO YOU WANT YOUR SPOTTER TALKING TO YOU A LOT, A LITTLE OR JUST GIVE YOU WHAT YOU NEED? “I am middle of the road on that. What I need and keep me up to speed on what is going on around us.”
