Wednesday

This Week in Ford Racing (January 6th) with NSCS Driver Greg Biffle

Greg Biffle

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT GOING TO NASHVILLE THIS WEEKEND TO PARTICPATE IN THE SPRINT SOUND AND SPEED EVENT? “It’s so exciting to do events like this, where you meet up with so many influential people. The music industry is so passionate and it’s fun to go to Nashville. I think a lot of NASCAR fans can relate to this because it’s such a star-struck event, and the most important thing is it gives them an opportunity to come out and get autographs and see the drivers and attend a Q&A and do things like that in a setting where they can get a little one-on-one time and get a little closer when they go to the Municipal Auditorium. These are the stars of the sport you get a chance to get next to, plus all the music acts, so it’s gonna be a real fun event.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THIS EVENT AND WHY COUNTRY MUSIC AND NASCAR RELATE TO THE SAME DEMOGRAPHIC? “It really does. This is one event a year that I think a lot of us really look forward to because, number one, we’re not around the race track, we’re not around the race cars – we’re in a setting where we can relax and have a little bit of fun and spend some time around these guys that are very talented – men and women in the music industry – that I look up to. I’m not musical at all. I couldn’t play an instrument if I tried in my life, and I’m never gonna try to sing karaoke at the bar, but it’s so neat to listen to these guys and go and see the performances and be around them and talk to them. It’s a great opportunity for the NASCAR fans to get a double-whammy – to see the NASCAR drivers and see these guys perform is pretty neat.”

WHAT ABOUT DANICA PATRICK COMING TO NASCAR. WHAT KIND OF IMPACT WILL THAT HAVE? “I think we all know it’s gonna be great for our sport as far as recognition and awareness and bringing some popularity over, and bringing some of her fans. It’ll be our first female driver in a while, so that will be good for us. I’m looking forward to seeing how she performs on the race track. I think it’s a win-win for everybody. I’m glad she’s decided to come over and give it a try. It’s very difficult. I hope she does well, and I’m looking forward to racing with her a little bit.”

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES SHE’LL FACE? “The same things some of these other guys have – Sam Hornish, Juan Montoya and some of the other open-wheel guys, like Scott Speed, who have come over and really tried to get a handle on these cars. These cars are very hard to drive and the list goes on. Max Papis and right on down the line, there are a bunch of guys – Boris Said and Ron Fellows, very successful road course drivers, not necessarily like open-wheel or anything like that, but very talented. The oval track with these cars are very, very difficult. We’ve seen them have huge success in road racing and won road races, but then have a tough time competing on the ovals. I don’t know what it is about it, but it is difficult and if it’s not what you’ve grown up with or not what your reflexes and your instincts and your car control and everything that you’re used to in your environment, it makes it difficult to adapt to. Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman – a lot of those guys come from those type of cars and have been very, very successful, so certainly it’s possible.”

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE OVER THE WINTER TO RETURN TO THE FRONT OF THE PACK AND CAN YOU GET ANY SENSE WITHOUT TRACK TESTING TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE OR WILL YOU HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL DAYTONA AND CALIFORNIA? “Really, truly, we need to wait until California, Atlanta and some of those other race tracks because Daytona is kind of in a class of its own. It’s hard to get a feel for where you’re at competitive-wise at a restrictor plate track, but we’ve worked very hard this winter getting weight out of our cars, getting the center of gravity down, lightening them, working hard on our data acquisition and trying to understand our modeling better – working on aero. Combining the technology, somewhat, from the RPM group or the old Evernham stuff has helped us a little bit, I think. I think we were able to help them a little bit, so we were able to put two technologies together. We did a tire test in Phoenix for Goodyear. Kasey Kahne did one in California for Goodyear and I’m doing a test next week in Texas, so I think we’re gonna have a good mixed bag of data coming back into the organization from those three race tracks before the season starts, and, hopefully, more throughout the season. Hopefully, Carl gets a chance and David and Matt to do some more tire testing, and then if NASCAR makes a few rules changes along the way, that gives a chance for all the cars to get on the race track. If they’re gonna do a mass tire test, like before Indy, those kinds of things help us, so we just look forward to those opportunities. If they ever come up, we’re right there to take advantage of it. I think we’re doing everything we can to be better.”

LAST YEAR THERE WERE ONLY SEVEN FULL-TIME FORDS IN THE FIELD. THIS YEAR THERE WILL BE 10. HOW MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE DOES THAT MAKE IN TERMS OF THE BODY OF KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN DRAW FROM? “Certainly, we’ve added a couple of good, quality guys that won races last year or came close to winning races, so that’s certainly gonna help the Ford camp pick up some more wins. We’re really excited about that. Like I said, we’ve already consolidated some of those technologies and I think it’s really helped us and is going to help us.”

HOW MUCH DO YOU SHARE INFORMATION WITH OTHER FORD TEAMS? IS IT LIKE ONE BIG TEAM? “Yes. Last year we shared information across the board with the Yates organization and we feel we’ve worked hard, and we’ve talked a lot about it, that we feel like this year we want it to be the same as it was last year, and I think they’re all for that. They’ve said it’s gonna be an open book across the street, so I think it’s gonna help both of us. We’re gonna put our bump-stop technology together and all the things we can do, and I think it’s gonna help us all.”

THE TIRE TEST AT TEXAS, CAN YOU TAKE US THROUGH WHAT GOES ON AT ONE OF THOSE? DO YOU HAVE ANY CONTROL? “It’s not quite like a test because you don’t have as much control, but you do get some track time to get on the race track, get your car running good. They want a good, driveable car – kind of like a race setup – so that they can put sets and sets and sets of tires on it and you can give them a good, accurate comparison of the sets of tires and not how your car his handling. So you get a few hours to work on your car and get it driving good, and get to try a few things that you might not at a normal race, but that’s about it. Then you go through all those sets of tires and usually when you finish up, or you get close to the end of the second day, you look forward to possibly getting a couple more hours or another hour to try another combination or another setup that you can try to get some data on. That’s another thing that’s important is we’ve got on-board data during these tests, which we don’t on race weekends, and, in turn, we can bring that back home and study it for the next month or two and see if there’s anything to be learned from that data. We can see if we can decipher anything from it that might help us, so you get a little bit of extra extended practice when you wouldn’t for a race weekend, but it’s certainly not like being at a two-day test.”

ARE THERE ANY COUNTRY MUSIC STARS YOU’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO MEETING? “I just enjoy being around all of those guys. Hank Williams Jr., and members from Diamond Rio are gonna be there. Chris Young – there’s just gonna be a bunch of talented guys there, so it’s just cool being around those guys and seeing what they can do – Jason Michael Carroll. I’ve heard all of their music, so it’s pretty neat to be rubbing elbows or shoulders with those guys.”

ANY OF THOSE GUYS EXCITED TO MEET YOU? “I don’t know. I think we all appreciate each other’s talents. They don’t know what it’s like driving a car each weekend and I certainly couldn’t imagine what it’s like performing in front of a packed auditorium of people or making a record or doing all those things. We certainly have our own things and I think I appreciate any other athlete, whether it’s a singer or a different series of racing or baseball or any of those – you can appreciate what they go through and how hard they work.”

WHO IS IN THIS YEAR’S PET CALENDAR? “The 2010 pet calendar got done in October and it’s been on sale since, and it’s just been great. All through the holidays it’s done well and, actually, January and February are some of our strongest months because people are still in need of a calendar and it makes a great gift. Some of the regulars and a few new guys – Kasey Kahne, Carl, Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton is in it this year, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears and his new wife-to-be in about four days, so it’s a great cause. We help a lot of animal rescue groups and if you go to gregbifflefoundation.com, it’s on sale there. We cover all the administrative costs, so all the money we collect off the sales of the calendar goes to animal rescue groups and adoption and spay and neutering programs.”

HOW MUCH OF YOUR TIME DURING THE OFF SEASON WAS SPENT ON IMPROVING NEXT SEASON? “Prior to Christmas we really just talked about what we needed to do and we worked on it some, but we did have a tire test in Phoenix that we went and did, but really since the New Year – this week – we’ve worked really hard. I’ve been at the shop everyday and we’ve been in meetings and doing different things. We’ve got a lot of exciting stuff. We’ve lightened our cars up, which we feel is gonna be important to help get some more ballast in them and get the weight balance correct. We’ve come up with new geometries, new shock packages, new bump stop stuff – some of it has been through the merger and some of it has been through what we’ve learned. We’ve worked very, very hard and all the guys are really, really excited about it. We can’t wait to get to the race track with our cars at Texas next week. That’s gonna be our first real true test, our first opportunity to get on the track.”

WHEN YOU GET TIME OFF DOES THAT RE-CHARGE YOUR BATTERY? “Actually getting some time off does. This off-season I’m doing a little bit more traveling and it’s a little busier than it was last year. Last year I really laid low. I really stayed home a lot and didn’t do a lot, and, I tell you, when Daytona came around and getting ready to go to Phoenix and all that, I was really charged up and ready to go. I’m looking forward to driving to the airport and getting on the airplane and going to the race track, versus when you get to the middle of the season and the end and it’s like, ‘Gosh, I can’t wait until it’s over.’ But that really charges your batteries up, having some time to spend at home, but we have some tests scheduled, a sponsor summit. I’ve got a few appearances right before the season starts. I’m planning on going to the desert with my buddies, and then I’m gonna do a little three-day vacation before I go to Daytona, so the month of January and beginning of February is pretty active prior to the 500.”

DOES DRIVING EVERY WEEKEND LESSEN THE THRILL OF OTHER ADVENTURES YOU DO? “I don’t think so. Maybe like driving something or some kind of activity like this, you would probably find more of a thrill than I would because we get to drive on the weekend. But everything else that you get to do – snow skiing or going on a vacation or going to the desert, or I’m going motorcycle riding, that I really enjoy and I don’t think what we do on the weekend diminishes that at all.”

- PCGCampbell for Ford Racing, Press Release