Biffle and Brewco
Record Sixth Top-Five
Finish
CONCORD,
NC (May 28) - Track
position was the name of
the game Saturday night,
as Greg Biffle and his
Brewco Motorsports, Inc.
teammates posted their
fifth top-five finish of
the season. Biffle,
driver of the #66
Duraflame Quick Coals
Ford, started second and
led fourteen laps en
route to the fourth
place finish. As a
result, Biffle, who has
competed in eleven of
thirteen total NASCAR
Busch Series events this
season, moved from ninth
to seventh in driver's
standings. The 2002
series champion trails
leader Carl Edwards by
three hundred and eleven
points.
Unloading
the same car Greg Biffle
raced to a sixth place
finish at Atlanta Motor
Speedway and a second
place finish at Texas
Motor Speedway, Team
Brewco held high
expectations upon
entering the two hundred
lap event at Lowe's
Motor Speedway. "We had
a really good test
session here a week or
two ago, and feel like
we have a good grip on
the new surface. This
place is a lot different
than it has been in the
past. For the most
part, we are starting
from scratch, but Greg
is great at
communicating what the
car needs to go fast,"
crew chief Newt Moore
added.
For the
first time this season,
Team Brewco had a little
luck on their side while
drawing for qualifying
order. With time trials
scheduled to begin at
5:00pm, a late draw
would ultimately provide
a significant
advantage. Slated to go
out forty-seventh, Team
Brewco anxiously awaited
their turn. Like most
of the field, Biffle
battled a very loose
racecar, but managed to
turn the second fastest
lap of the day.
"Man, my
blood pressure went
through the roof. I
thought I was wrecking
down there, but that's a
great racecar that Newt
(Moore, crew chief) and
all of the guys at
Brewco built me. I
certainly didn't want to
lose it for the race,
and I knew it was a good
lap. I went almost flat
across one and two. I
had the pole until that
thing got out from under
me down there. Not an
excuse, but I had the
tape a little bit low
and I could only see
about 60 feet or 100
feet out in front of the
race car. That was kind
of a stupid thing on my
part to put too many
rows of tape on it. The
sun was in my eyes
yesterday in Cup
qualifying at about this
time, and I thought I
was going to fix it but
I didn't," Biffle added
after securing the
outside pole for the
CarQuest Auto Parts 300.
With a
handful of teams forced
to bring out back-up
cars after Busch Pole
qualifying, Biffle's
plan was to play it safe
during the opening laps
of the three hundred
mile event. At the drop
of the green flag,
Biffle settled in behind
leader Kasey Kahne.
When asked how his car
was handling, he
radioed, "It's just a
tick on the loose side-
I'm definitely better
behind other cars." As
the track temperature
dropped the loose
condition slowly
remedied itself. On lap
forty-one, Biffle passed
Kahne for the lead.
"She's pretty nice boys.
Great job on this car,"
Biffle added as he
pulled away from the
rest of the field.
Team
Brewco made their first
stop of the evening on
lap fifty-four. After
taking on four "scuffs"
and fuel, Biffle
restarted the race in
ninth place as a handful
of cars elected to stay
out. With the new
surface at Lowe's Motor
Speedway drastically
increasing the speeds of
the forty-three
competitors, the cars
became more
aero-dependant than in
years past.
Theretofore, track
position became
increasingly important.
Nevertheless, Biffle
managed to work his way
to second place by lap
eighty-three.
The
turning point of the
race occurred during
Team Brewco's second pit
stop on lap
eighty-five. A missing
lug nut on the left rear
wheel resulted in a
second trip down pit
road for Biffle. Once
the lug nut was
replaced, Biffle
rejoined the field in
twenty-ninth place. In
an amazing display of
driving, Biffle sliced
and diced his way
through the field,
cracking the top-ten on
lap one hundred and
seven. With momentum on
his side, Biffle
continued to work his
way to the front of the
field. Unfortunately,
an aero tight condition
prevented Biffle from
catching race winner
Kyle Busch. Team Brewco
would have to settle for
fourth place, their
sixth top-five finish of
the season.
"We had a
little miscue on the pit
stop and I had to come
back. The Duraflame/Quick
Coals car was really
good all night. We made
some adjustments on it,
but we got together with
the 8 car down the
frontstretch and knocked
the left-front fender in
and the night was kind
of over for us after
that. We don't know
what happened; maybe he
moved up to miss the
grass or something. We
might have been three
wide, I'm not sure, but
we hit together and
knocked the fender in
and these things are
pretty sensitive on the
front fender. It's
tough. We had a great
car, probably the
fastest car from what it
looked like on the
computer for most of the
night, but just got
stalled out when the
fender got knocked in,"
Biffle said after the
race.
Next up,
Team Brewco heads to
Dover International
Speedway for the MBNA
200 on Saturday, June 4th.
FX and MRN will provide
live coverage of the
event beginning at
1:00pm ET.
