Team: No. 16 3M Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Matt Puccia
Primary Chassis: RK-849 Brand new chassis
Backup Chassis: RK-809 Last ran Texas – finished 10th
ADVANCE NOTES
· Defending Winner
o One year ago Biffle started third, led 90 laps and ultimately took home the checkered flag under the lights at Texas Motor Speedway. He’ll once again hit the track with a brand new 3M Ford Fusion at Texas to see if he can race his way to another victory.
· To the Dogs
o Biffle visited Texas Motor Speedway a few weeks ago, participating in an event with the Fort Worth K-9 Police Department and the local SPCA. He even tried out the K-9 bite suite. http://www.youtube.com/watch?
· Biffle at Texas
o Biffle has led a total of 732 laps at Texas Motor Speedway, making Texas his best track for laps led. He ranks second overall in laps led at Texas Motor Speedway.
o In his 18 career Cup Series starts at the 1.5-mile track, Biffle has two wins, seven top-five and 11 top-10 finishes. His average starting position is 11.2 with an average finishing position of 15.9.
· The Car
o The primary chassis RK-849 is a brand new chassis. Biffle won this race a year ago with a new chassis.
o The backup chassis RK-809 is the same car that won at Texas a year ago. Since then it’s finished fourth in the Coca-Cola 600, fourth in Michigan, 16th at Dover and finished up 2012 with a 10th-place finish at Texas in November.
· Texas Connection
o Robert Best, the person responsible for building the rear suspension on the 3M Ford Fusion hails from Arlington, TX.
Biffle on Texas:
“We are really excited to go back to Texas as the defending race winner. It takes a good balanced car to be able to win at Texas. We test Thursday afternoon which will help get us dialed in. Our team is excited; the car we are taking just came out of the wind tunnel with really good numbers. I’m ready to get on the track and defend our win.”
Puccia on Texas:
“Texas has been a good race track for us. We’ve been working on our 1.5-mile program pretty hard to get it to where it was last year and I feel pretty good about what we’ve got. Texas is an important track position race. Not only is maintaining track position important but, tires are also important since the track surface is getting worn out. We’ve got Filtrete featured on our car this weekend and not only is getting a new Filtrete filter important for having clean air, but clean air will be very important for us to race.”
