Following a victory in 2013, many fans were surprised that Greg Biffle went winless for the entire 2014 season. However, that was just how the year went for the driver of the No. 16 Ford Fusion for Roush Fenway Racing.
In his 13th season of competition, Biffle would finish 14th in points after barely making the Chase for the Sprint Cup on points. Beyond failing to reach victory lane, he would only post three top-fives and 11 top-10s in the 36 races.
For Biffle and Matt Puccia, it seemed that the performance was there the first half of the schedule, however it seemed to dwindle off throughout the summer and the Chase. Some have to wonder whether the pair didn’t continue to improve their performance as much as other teams did, or whether they just fell into one of those slumps. Though if that was the case, it wouldn’t have been something also reflected by their teammates with Carl Edwards also suffering the same fate, as well. Why do you think he made the decision to leave RFR at season’s end to go to Joe Gibbs Racing?
Now heading into 2015, Biffle will look to return to victory lane – but may find it a little tough.
For starters, since moving up to Sprint Cup, he has never been part of the championship discussion. The new format may give him a reasonable shot if he can put some results together, but it isn’t to be expected based on the past 13 years.
Beyond that, there’s a lot of questions surrounding the RFR organization. Will losing Edwards create a blow in the team’s sails? It could very well hurt performance, as Biffle finished 14th last year with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finishing 27th in points with a single top-five. Combining those two subpar performances, the loss of a driver and the addition of a slightly inexperienced driver in the form of Trevor Bayne, it doesn’t seem as though there’s enough resources right there in writing to create results.
However, there may still be some hope out there. With the new rule package, if RFR can hit on something before their competition, they could rack up some success before the rest catch up. Considering they were known for mile and a half domination in the past, that may be something to have return this year.
