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Runner-Up Finish Secures 10th Place Championship Finish for Biffle

 

HOMESTEAD, FL (Nov. 19) - Despite leading a race high 79 laps, Greg Biffle, driver of the #66 Royal Office Products Ford, had to settle for a second place finish, his eighth of the season.  Biffle, who was the class of the field for most of Saturday's race, fell victim to a late race caution which allowed Ryan Newman to take the lead on the final lap.  As if losing the race wasn't tough enough, Biffle climbed from his car to learn that he was only one point shy of securing ninth place in NBS championship standings.  Biffle, having competed in 27 of 35 Busch Series events, finished 10^th in the final tally.  Team Brewco #66 held onto fifth place in NBS Owners' standings.

 

"It was unfortunate for the Royal Office car to see that caution.  We had probably one of the fastest cars all night- Man, I hardly made any adjustments to it.   We were kind of conservative at the beginning and I kept finding my line around the race track and would move up and move down, and found some stuff that would really, really work well.  Ryan's car is just really fast off of the start.  Once those guys get to where they can't use the whole motor and can't run their cars as hard as can be, the way I can drive my race car, I can beat him on the long run.  But, that short run, when it gets bunched up and they've got cold tires, their cars are faster.  It's tough to lose them like that.  I figured that I probably wouldn't beat him when the caution came out just because of how strong his car is and the way his car gets around the corner on the start.  I think one more lap and I could have passed him," Biffle said after Ryan Newman's last lap pass to win the Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"It's kind of incredible to finish second that many times.  We've had a great race car at a lot of these races.  I would have to say, probably four of those second-place finishes, we had the fastest race car and it was just circumstances that we didn't win it at the end.  Here, the caution came out and Ryan was able to get around us.  A couple of other places, I remember when that pit stop, when the 21 won a few weeks ago, Ryan was really fast and got a lap down, Kasey Kahne was really fast and crashed, and they kind of handed it to us on a silver platter.  And, we had a problem in the pits and came out third and couldn't quite get back to the front and finished second.  A lot of those, we looked like the car to beat right up until the end and then something small happened.  If something big happened, of course, we wouldn't be finishing second.  Everything has to be so perfect to win these races in the Busch Series, and the Nextel Cup Series.  They're very difficult to win and there's a lot of competition," Biffle added after posting his eighth runner-up finish of 2005.

 

Despite having competed in only 27 of 35 NASCAR Busch Series events this season, Greg Biffle finished an impressive 10^th in drivers' standings.  In that time, the 2002 Busch Series champion recorded one win (Phoenix), 16 top-fives (8 second place finishes), and 21 top-tens.  His 10^th place finished marked his fourth top-ten championship finish in the NASCAR Busch Series.

 

"It has been an awesome year, all things considered.  Sure, we would have liked to have traded some of those second place finishes for a few more wins, but there's no denying we were a team to contend with week in and week out.  Newt (crew chief Moore) and his guys did an excellent job preparing racecars that were capable of winning every race- as a driver that is all you can ask for.  We led a ton of laps, posted some great finishes, and wound up in the top-ten.  If you had asked me at the beginning of the season if we were going to finish in the top-ten, I would have told you that you were crazy.  But here we are."