BROOKLYN, Mich. (June 16, 2013) – Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle powered his way through the field, took the lead and drove away en route to his second consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup win at Michigan International Speedway. The win marked the landmark 1,000 NASCAR victory for Ford. It was the 314 NASCAR win for Roush Fenway Racing and Biffle’s 19th career Sprint Cup Victory. It also marks Roush Fenway’s 23rd win at Michigan and its 13th in the Sprint Cup Series.
“It is a pretty special day for us all together,” said Biffle. “It is (daughter) Emma’s first victory lane on Fathers Day. I am thinking about my dad that couldn’t be here who is hopefully watching. We are thinking about little Charlie Leffler that doesn’t have a father today. It is a hard fought battle. It wasn’t easy. I kept working on this car and working on this car. The guys did a great job. The pit stops were flawless. You know, we beat the 48 today and that says a lot. He was really, really fast. Once we got out in clean air we could match up fairly well with the 48. He made a small mistake trying to catch us.”
Carl Edwards started on the pole, led 16 laps and was in strong contention to challenge Biffle for the win, before getting caught on pit road during a caution. He was able to battle back to an eighth-place finish. RFR rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was putting together a solid top-10 effort as well, before getting derailed during the same late-race caution. He went on to finish 16th; just behind Trevor Bayne in the Wood Brothers’ No. 21.
“I have been with Ford Motor Company and they have been supporting me for almost 50 years now and we expect to be at our best when we come to MIS and I am glad we could pull it off,” said RFR team owner Jack Roush. “I was a little nervous for a minute there, but I am glad it worked out and glad we could give Ford their 1,000th win.”
Roush Fenway’s Trevor Bayne scored Ford’s 200th NASCAR Nationwide Series win at Iowa last week.
Biffle started the race 19th, but saw his 3M Ford come to life at the front of the pack.
“Once my 3M Ford Fusion gets out front the thing really goes,” said Biffle. “It loves clean air and once I could make it past those guys that thing really set sail. I knew (Kevin) Harvick was going to have some trouble and I was taking it easy on the beginning of that run on those tires. I didn’t think he would be able to hang for 25 laps.”
It is Biffle’s fourth Sprint Cup victory at Michigan and his sixth NASCAR win at the track.
Biffle moved up two spots to eighth in the Sprint Cup point standings; 95 out of first. Edwards remains in second and move to within 31 points of first. Stenhouse moved to 19th in the standings.
Roush Fenway and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series return to action next week at the road course of Sonoma. RFR has won 13 times in NASCAR road course action.
