Ford Performance NSCS Notes and Quotes
Folds of Honor/QuikTrip 500 Advance – Atlanta Motor Speedway
Friday, February 26, 2016
Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Roush Performance Ford Fusion, held a press conference this afternoon following NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice and discussed a variety of topics, including the new low downforce package.
GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 Roush Performance Ford Fusion – WHAT’S YOUR OUTLOOK WITH THIS NEW LOW DOWNFORCE PACKAGE? “You can definitely tell the difference in downforce. The car is definitely a lot freer, on top of the race track a lot more. We started pretty far off. We didn’t have that much speed right off the truck, but we’re getting it dialed in slow but sure. It looked like some of the other guys’ cars drove pretty good. Every time I was leaving I could see guys loose running across the bottom, so I think it’s gonna be a great race. It’ll be a little slick on Sunday and we’ll just wait and see what we’ve got to do.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE TIRE AND ARE YOU OPTIMISTIC GOODYEAR WILL BRING A TIRE ALL YEAR THAT YOU CAN RACE ON? “Yeah, that’s the whole thing. I think Goodyear probably wants to weigh on the conservative side with seeing how much of this downforce off these cars, what kind of an effect it makes and what it does. This is a tough place to pick a tire. I’ve tire tested here. Me, Jeff Gordon and I can’t remember who else, and came back here and the race was not good. This was about four or five years ago – not a lot of grip – so this is a really tough place for picking a tire. Although I will say so far the tire feels like it has decent grip and has a lot of fall off on lap times – a couple seconds in 10, 15 laps, so I think it’s gonna be good but we won’t really know until the track is rubbered in. It’s a little premature right now.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE 16 TEAM WILL BE LIKE ON SUNDAY? “I’ll tell you, I was not where I thought we’d be coming off the truck, although I feel really good about the speed the 17 car has, so I feel really good about that. We just missed the setup a little bit. We have the same car as they do, the same aero numbers and same suspension and all that. We’re dialing back in toward their direction, and our lap time is slow because we only made one sticker run on qualifying and didn’t make two. We probably would have been in the top 10, 12, 15 if we would have done a second sticker run. Instead, we elected to do a second scuff run, thinking we’re gonna be in the top 24 or top 12 and we’re gonna have to run again and see what the tire fall of was like. So we ran the same speed both runs, which tells me we’re two, three-tenths at least off on the first run because it didn’t get to the bottom. I had to come out of the gas coming off the corner, so we were a little ways off on those runs. We actually have a bit more speed than what the lap time shows and the lap tracker, but we know we still have a little bit of work still to do. I don’t know if we’ll get all the way to where the 17 is at for qualifying, but hopefully we get close to him.”
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU RACED A MOTORBIKE? “The last time I competed was probably ’95, ’96, but I don’t ride all the time. I do more side-by-side with UTVs now than motorcycles, but I’ve rode my whole life.”
ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO TOMORROW? “Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. I don’t know how much Clint and Ricky rode, either. I know Ricky rides quite a bit. It’ll be fun.”
HOW CAN YOU UP YOUR PERFORMANCE FOR QUALIFYING AND THE RACE? “Yeah, I just kind of talked about it. We were a little ways off on setup, and then when we did our sticker run these tires wear so fast here. Unlike next week you’ll make two or three runs on a set of tires in q-trim, and you’ll go the same speed about every time. Here, you’ve got one chance. You’ve got one lap to put it down and I was coming across three and four and the thing was a lane-and-a-half up the track. I had to come all the way out of the gas coming off the corner, so that lap just throw it in the garage can. If we had come back and done a second sticker run, I think I would have been in the top 15 or better. We feel confident that we’ll be close to making that third round, but we’re hoping to. We think we can make the second round and make a good run at it.”
WITH STENHOUSE’S GOOD PRACTICE IS THAT A SIGN THAT ROUSH FENWAY IS TURNING IT AROUND? “Yeah, I would say so. I was happy with the speed I saw from Ricky and Trevor and the 43 and 44 were all kind of right there. That’s somewhat optimistic for us, considering we’re still searching around for the right setup. It at least gives us some hope that we’ve made an improvement.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BEST BAROMETER OF MEASURING IF THIS NEW PACKAGE IS A SUCCESS – EYE TEST, LEAD CHANGES? “I think a little bit of both. I think there is gonna be slipping and sliding around. We’re gonna be two, three-wide in the corner. You’re gonna have lead changes, I think. I think it’s gonna be a good race and I think you’ll see it by watching it, really.”
EVEN THOUGH DAVE PERICAK SAID THE SUPPORT OF ROUSH FENWAY WON’T CHANGE IS THERE NERVOUSNESS AT ROUSH FENWAY REGARDLESS OF THE PROMISES THAT HAVE BEEN MADE? “No, I don’t think so. I see it as a very smart move on Ford’s part. Quite honestly, I’m very surprised that it took to 2016 for them to make a move to add some competitive teams to the lineup because they want to be known for winning on Sundays, and you’ve got to have enough organizations where your odds get higher. If you own three-quarters of the field, your odds are pretty good of winning every week. I think it’s gonna be good. There’s potentially some working alliance between the organizations. Who knows yet. That’s a little premature obviously with an announcement, but I see it as a positive for us in every direction of it.”
