Last-Lap Brake Issues Foil Strong Run for Biffle, Yard-Man Brewco Crew in Mexico

Mexico City, Mexico (March 5, 2006) – After overcoming much adversity – including a practice session accident that forced the team into a back-up car – a brake malfunction on the final-lap halted a top-five run for Greg Biffle and the Brewco Motorsports’ No. 37 Yard-Man Ford Fusion crew in the Telcel-Motorola Mexico 200 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodrigez Sunday.

Biffle usually takes trips to Mexico to relax, but there was nothing relaxing about his latest trip south of the border. Biffle, who has never run at the Mexico City racetrack, was fifth-fastest in the weekend’s rookie practice session, but during the final practice session, he lost control of the No. 37 Yard-Man Ford, causing extensive damage to the car. The damage was bad enough for Crew Chief Newt Moore to decide to pull the back-up car off the Brewco team transporter.

“I just went into turn eight too hot,” said Biffle. “There were a lot of marbles and debris up high going into the corner and I just basically ran out of concrete.”

“The back-up we brought to Mexico was a brand new car that we built specifically for the Montreal race in August,” said Moore. “It wasn’t where we needed it to be for this weekend, so we knew we had our work cut out for us after the wreck.”

The No. 37 Brewco crew spent five hours Saturday morning getting the car prepared to qualify for the race. Biffle was then faced with qualifying the Yard-Man Ford with no practice laps in the new car. Fortunately the veteran driver has had a number of successful road course runs, and was able to qualify the Brewco Ford Fusion in the 16h position.

Biffle began moving quickly through the field from the drop of the green flag. The Brewco crew pitted first on lap 14 in the fourth position for four tires, fuel, and to remove tape from the front grill. After the restart, Biffle was in the 24th position but moved into 16th place by lap 23. After a restart on lap 26, contact with the No. 66 car caused minor left front damage on the No. 37 Yard-Man Ford, but it didn’t seem to affect the car’s performance.

At the race’s halfway point, Brewco’s No. 37 Ford was in eighth place. Moore brought Biffle into the pits for the final time in the race on lap 46 for four tires, fuel and minor adjustments. Biffle was back in 10th place by lap 50, and didn’t fall out of the top-10 for the remainder of the race – that was, until, the final lap.

“We lost the brakes on the last lap and just fell back in the field,” Biffle said. “It’s so disappointing because the car was really strong all day, I didn’t have any complaints. Newt and the Brewco guys did such a great job getting the back-up car where we needed it to be to run as well as we did. I’m really proud of all their efforts this weekend. I just can’t believe we finished where we did.”

The No. 37 Yard-Man Ford finished in 20th place.

“Greg is just an awesome driver and our Brewco guys really stepped up to the plate this weekend,” Moore said. “Given what Greg and the guys were up against, I have to give them all the credit in the world for what they were able to accomplish. We just didn’t bring home the finish we wanted. It’s especially frustrating when you consider how the whole team rebounded after everything that happened this weekend. All we can do now is go back to the drawing board and get ready for Las Vegas.”

Next for the No. 37 Yard-Man Ford is the Sam’s Club 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Jamie McMurray returns to the driver’s seat in Las Vegas. Television coverage of the race begins at 2:30 pm EST on ABC.