FONTANA, Calif. (March 20, 2016) – A solid run at Auto Club Speedway ended with a trip to the garage for Greg Biffle. Biffle started the race 22nd and was making gains on the track when something went amiss with his No. 16 Ford EcoBoost Ford, ultimately sending him to the garage where it was determined their day was done leaving Biffle with a 37th-place finish.
“It started smoking a little bit there and it was down on power, so we figured we would just bring it in and take a look at it before we break something out on the race track,” said Biffle. “We’re not really sure what it is yet. Everything was fine, it was actually running really good, so we’re not sure if it’s something electrical or what. We have to get to the bottom of it and see exactly what happened. We thought it might be a plug wire, but it looks like it may not be a plug wire. You just never know what it could be in there.”
Biffle had a fast EcoBoost Ford at the end of final practice and was coming up on the No. 42 with fresh tires when the No. 42 got loose. There was contact between the two and Biffle’s team had their work cut out for them making repairs to their primary car. They did just that and Biffle kept his 22nd-place starting position.
The tires faded quickly throughout long green flag runs, but Biffle did the best he could managing tire wear. A penalty for a crew member over the wall too soon on the first pit stop sent Biffle to the tail end of the longest line for the following restart. Biffle battled back to the top 15 until a mechanical issue lead to multiple trips down pit road.
The issue wasn’t able to be resolved on pit road and sent Biffle to the garage for further evaluation. Unfortunately repairs couldn’t be made and Biffle was left with a 37th-place finish.