Ford Racing NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Quicken Loans 400 (Michigan International Speedway)
NSCS Qualifying (June 16, 2012)
GREG BIFFLE PRESS CONFERENCE
YOU ARE THIRD QUICKEST TODAY, YOU GOTTA FEEL GOOD ABOUT THINGS. “I am telling myself that the track slowed down after Marcos and Kevin went. It seemed like it was awful slick when I went. Boy, I got all I can get down there in turn one. I drove it around turn one and two and it felt like I had all weekend. I was really happy because I barely made it off the corner. It was chattering the front and sliding the back. It felt like I got all I could down there. In three and four it felt pretty good but I came off turn four and the car really kind of slowed down a little bit off of turn four. When I got off the car on pit road there was a fair amount of win. It plays a little havoc with the cars here. To be third and running that fast is certainly nothing to shake a stick at. We are real happy with that. The change in the tire, we didn’t have a lot of tire trouble. I guess there was a lot more tire trouble around the garage than what I knew of. Even when I came in here and did the interview last night I had no idea that some guys were – I had heard maybe one tire was blistered and that is typically low air. We are going 200-some miles per hour and guys are trying to run 15 lbs of air in them and it hurts the tire. That is typically the issue. I guess there was more to it than that. Some guys had right rear trouble on long runs. Denny Hamlin on the other hand said he ran a fuel run plus and didn’t have any issues. Different cars are having different issues. Certainly we need practice time to see how this thing drives and make proper adjustments to how thing drivers. Maybe a different shock or bump stop too. The other thing we are limited on is mileage on our engines. The engine shop is certainly not excited about another practice session. We are real narrow on laps on the engine so we are going to have to get it done quick.”
AFTER CARL HAD HIS ISSUE, WERE YOU CONCERNED TO GO OUT AND TAKE YOUR LAP? “Not really. A lot of times things like that are isolated car incidences. Whether it is wiring or a mechanic left something undone or a plug didn’t get plugged in. It could be a number of things. I wasn’t that concerned. I was after qualifying concerned to find out exactly what did happen and I think they are still working on what exactly did happen to it.”
IS THERE ANYTHING WITH A FAIRNESS ISSUE IN REGARDS TO THE TIRE SINCE YOU HAD NO ISSUES AND YET THEY STILL MADE A CHANGE? “You always want a leg up on the competition. I am saying, ‘Oh yeah, lets stick with this tire because we haven’t had any trouble.’ Certainly safety comes to mind at the speeds we are going. You know, I am not a tire specialist but it seems like a tire from 2007 blowing the dust off it and putting it on a car going 200 might not be the best. I don’t know if that would have been my first choice as a driver, let me put it that way. Maybe something with a little more grip than that. You know, I could say we want to stay on that tire but guys are having troubles and if it isn’t going to make a tire run – I have to admit, I didn’t run more than 10-12 laps at a time. I ran an entire fuel run but coming in and out. Quite possibly, if I ran straight 30-40 lap runs, maybe we would have an issue too.”
WHEN YOU SAY THE TIRE WILL BE HARD TO DRIVE, DO YOU THINK IT WILL LESSEN THE CHANCES OF A GOOD RACE? ALSO, JACK ROUSH SAID YOU WERE USING A TALLER GEAR IN THIS NIGHT PRACTICE, WILL YOU BE ABLE TO LEARN MUCH? “Well, you read my mind because I am lobbying to run the race gear because of that issue. Number one, if we slow the cars down two or three miles per hour, you are going to want more gear. So, we are going to slow the cars down two or three miles per hour and put a taller gear in. Those two combined is a giant negative. I think the car is going to slow down enough with the tires that you will be able to run the same gear and relieve some RPM on the engines. They are just trying to get less miles on the engine and a taller gear means it thinks it is going less of a distance. I can’t argue with the engine shop. Some guys on our team are out of mileage. We have like 30-some laps left on normally what we get handed out. I know a couple guys have zero or two or three. They are getting extensions on their mileage. That is about what we have to deal with. The harder tire will mean it could be harder to pass, that is a possibility. If the tire doesn’t have as much side bite, which is what slows the car down, sometimes it is harder to race side by side with a tire that has less side bite because it could take off on you. A lot of times a little bit slower lap times almost make a little bit better race sometimes. The cars become a little less aero dependant and the slower they start dropping down. I would say there is a direct correlation, you just don’t know.”
THIS TRACK WAS GOING TO BE NICKNAME THE FASTEST TRACK IN NASCAR AT THE END OF THE DAY. HOW FAST DO YOU THINK YOU WILL GO OUT THERE AND HOW DO YOU COMPARE THIS PLACE TO INDIANAPOLIS? “The speeds are kind of similar but the corners are totally different. Indy is real straight and then two corners and then another long straightaway. I would say this is the fastest track. Yesterday we went 220 mph and a 204.7 average. Definitely fast, faster than any track out there and probably I would say that I can nearly guarantee that is the fastest that any car has gone at a down force, non restrictor plate – take Talladega and Daytona out of it – that is faster than any car has gone at a non-restrictor plate.”
WITH ALL THE CHANGES, DOES IT CHANGE HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT WHERE YOU QUALIFIED? “I am extremely happy with where I qualified. I just go into turn one and bump Marcos out of the way (laughter). No, I am extremely happy I just don’t know about this tire that we are going to. I am nervous about it until we get out on the race track. The driver in you doesn’t know what to expect. You hope your car is as good as it is now. Maybe just a little slower. Hopefully the balance is good and I pick the right shocks and we don’t have to change a whole lot. We just don’t know til we get there. We hope it is not real skatey, we just don’t know.”
