GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 National Guard/Subway Fusion (qualified 2nd) – HAPPY WITH THE LAP? “Not really. I had myself psyched up for being on the pole here. I just screwed up a little bit there in three and four. I had a really fast race car, I just made a little mistake. In qualifying, you can always go back and critique yourself, where you made a little error. But, it’s a great starting spot for us, you know, we’ll be in the top 10 with that time. More importantly, I have a great car for the race on Saturday night.”
YOU WERE GOOD IN PRACTICE, TOO. DID YOU THINK YOU COULD BREAK 27 SECONDS? “Yeah, I thought I’d do a 26.90 and I did a 26.99. The car was really, really fast. I thought I might be able to beat Kyle, but I guess not.”
HOW MUCH MORE SPEED IS LEFT ON THE TRACK? “There’s a little bit left, I think, especially as it cools down here some tonight. Kyle and myself put down some pretty good laps, and I think that will keep me up in the top eight, I hope, or top seven. We’ll see if anybody picks up a lot. I had a little bit left there, screwed up turn three and four just a little bit. At least I got a top-10 start for this weekend, and we’ll get a good pit stall, and I think I’ve got a great car for Saturday night, and that’s what I’m most excited about.”
GREG BIFFLE PRESS CONFERENCE
GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 National Guard/Subway Fusion – “It was really good. Our car has been really fast ever since we got it out of the truck. I felt really good with it in race trim. The lap, anybody can critique their lap after they get done running it and say, ‘I could’ve been a little here and there,’ but I just got scared going into turn three and turned in early and kind of chopped the corner off and then made the corner real tight around the entry and got a little bit loose and couldn’t get the gas down when I wanted, and ended up with a decent run. It could’ve been a little bit better, but pretty happy with it. Figured I’d start out in the top six or eight somewhere.”
WHAT WERE YOU SCARED OF? “I was just making a joke, figure of speech. There’s a fine line between making the right decision and the wrong decision. And I just turned in a little bit early and should’ve waited just a split second longer to turn in, but if you wait two split second longer you’re in the fence. I just left more margin there and turned in a little bit too early, and didn’t roll across the center of the corner like Tony didn’t do with enough speed to beat Kyle Busch.”
MATT KENSETH – No. 17 DeWalt Fusion (qualified 4th) – “It’s really good. We’ve run good today, so I’m happy. It’s a brand-new car that these guys built, and it’s been pretty fast right off the truck, so I’ve been happy with it.”
DO YOU LIKE THIS RACE TRACK? “I really like the track. I don’t usually dig flat tracks that much, but this is a really good one. It kind of drives like a speedway, and it’s a really neat track. Both ends are totally different. It’s a lot of fun to drive around.”
DOES SUCCESS TODAY TRANSLATE INTO ANYTHING ON SATURDAY NIGHT? “Not necessarily. Last week we qualified sixth and had to make an engine change and start in the back. You don’t always know where you’re going to start until Sunday morning, but qualifying good is always good. It helps you pick a good pit, and the farther up you can start, it’s always better.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Office Depot Fusion (qualified 5th) – “That’s the fastest the Office Depot car has gone all day, so I’m really happy with that. I think our guys did a great job. We picked up a half second, so, it’s awesome.”
BIG JUMP FROM PRACTICE. “That was an awesome jump. I owe it to my crew and all the guys just for working on the car. If it didn’t drag the ground into one, boy, that would’ve been an unbelievable lap, but it was still pretty amazing as it was. I’m just really proud of Wally Brown and the whole crew for stepping up and making the car go.”
YOU’VE DRIVEN OTHER SERIES OUT HERE, TOO; DO YOU LIKE THIS TRACK? “Oh, man, I love this race track. It’s always fun to come here. The fans are great. The racing surface is unbelievable. You can make things happen here. You can drive the car and if it’s not quite right you can drive across the apron or you can run real high around the race track, you can make things happen. I love that.”
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF QUALIFYING WELL. “It’s great. We need anything we can get, man. Our Office Depot team has just had terrible luck. If we can just be running at the end of this race, we’re going to be in the top 10 and that’ll be a great day.”
ELLIOTT SADLER – No. 38 Pedigree/M&M’s Fusion (qualified 20th) – “No, I’m not really happy with that. Our struggles with qualifying continue. It’s really putting us in a bind on Sundays. My guys are working their butts off and we’re trying to get our race stuff better and better and better, we’re just paying the price on Fridays right now. We haven’t qualified near good enough, I think, to get the good pit selections and to get the good track position. It always makes you do a little bit different stuff on Sundays. Not from lack of effort. My guys are trying hard, we’ll keep plugging away at it, and I think once we get our race stuff a little bit better we’ll be able to concentrate on qualifying more and start to get these pit selections and stuff that we need to have to be competitive.”
KEN SCHRADER – No. 21 Motorcraft Genuine Parts Fusion (qualified 27th) – “I didn’t get the lap I wanted. We’ll just have to see. It feels pretty good, we just have to do some tweaking on it.”
YOU’VE DRIVEN JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING THERE IS TO DRIVE HERE. DO YOU LIKE THIS TRACK? “Any track, but, yeah, I always look forward to coming out here. We’ve been coming out here for so long. It’s the first place that we ever went that was a long way from home, and just kind of liked it right off the bat.”
