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Biffle looks at season-ending run as prep for 2010

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Updated Nov 12, 2009 10:06 AM ET
     
 
Greg Biffle has, by most accounts, had a good year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He has not, however, had the kind of season that he and his Roush Fenway Racing team anticipated or find satisfying. While Biffle did make the field for the Chase For The Sprint Cup for the second consecutive season — and third time of his Cup career — he has yet to win a race in the opening 34 outings. And while he has 16 top-10 finishes (10 of them top-fives), his current seventh position in the standings is well short of his third-place finish last season or his career-best second place in 2005. So Biffle freely admits that things could certainly have gone a little better this year. "I guess the season has been a little bit disappointing for the (No.) 16 team," Biffle says. "You know, I shouldn't say the whole season, because we came very, very close. We just digested this whole year a little bit for the last couple of hours in (crew chief Greg) Erwin's office. And we look back. We almost won California. We were right there at Las Vegas. We would have probably won Texas had we not dropped a lug nut. We would have won Michigan if we (hadn't) run out of gas in the last 800 feet. "So we look back and look at so many opportunities that we missed that we were the fastest, the most dominant car of that event. And so that really is the highlight of our season. That gave us the momentum to get into the Chase. What is disappointing is that we haven't been able to perform really the second half of the season, leading up to the Chase, and the eight Chase races so far haven't been where we wanted them to be." Still, his group remains committed to continually gaining ground and preparing for a stronger run in 2010. The entire Roush Fenway organization has been a little off its game this season, with Matt Kenseth's pair of opening-race victories the only wins the group snared until Jamie McMurray won two weeks ago at Talladega Superspeedway. No driver from the organization is in the top five at this point, and only Biffle and Carl Edwards represent the group in the Chase this season.

The group has picked up ground of late, though. Kenseth was third and Biffle eighth last weekend at Texas. McMurray won at Talladega, a race in which Biffle finished fourth and the cars of Kenseth and David Ragan ran well with the engine Ford plans to slowly begin using in 2010. The overall strength of the organization seems to be gaining, and the group seems to be on more solid ground — something that could help the organization step up next season. While team co-owner Jack Roush expected that to pick up more quickly and for his drivers to contend for the title, he says that the organization is now focusing on 2010. "We're faced with the reality of saying that what we need to do is to focus on the things that we can learn in the time that is left to benefit us in the start for next year," he says. "Happily, there's not going to be a big change in the car over the winter, so what we've got in front of us is pretty much what we expect to be faced with in Daytona and beyond." The team has assessed the season and performances and diagnosed specific areas in which to work as it attempts to improve for 2010, such as its short-track program.

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That, too, is a good thing. Biffle says that knowing what the group needs can help it gain more specific input and begin to utilize that more quickly. "Figure out the front geometry," Biffle says, listing the areas to study. "Figure out how to get our cars to turn around the center of the corner, rotate so that we can put the gas back down. And that's what we're facing every week. Those are our issues. "We're constantly trying to figure out how to equal that playing field, level the competition, if you will. And it has been a tough year for Roush Fenway and the 16 team as far as competition-wise." And he's still not giving up on a win. Biffle won three consecutive season-ending races at Homestead-Miami from 2004-2006. He believes he can contend there once more. He's also confident at Phoenix International Raceway, site of this weekend's race and a track where he has four top-10 finishes, three top-fives and an average finish of 14.9. Whether he wins in the final pair of races or not, Biffle has managed to find the better moments of this season. And while he admits it hasn't been a dream year for his group, he also believes it can help lay the groundwork for a better 2010 effort. That's what he chooses to focus on now. "I feel like making the Chase this year was a lot of momentum for the team," he says. "And this sport is a lot about momentum. Certainly, we'd like to win one of these last two races, but we're looking forward to finishing off the season the best we can in the points and then being better next year, being higher up on the points. "Get locked in earlier in that Chase and then compete for this title even better than we did this year."

Rea White is a writer for NASCAR Scene, which is published weekly, 46 weeks per year. Visit www.scenedaily.com for more information.

Tagged: David Ragan, Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth

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