DEARBORN, Mich., Oct. 15, 2008 – Halfway through the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup playoffs, Ford Racing team member Greg Biffle remains in third place as he continues his quest to become the first driver ever to win titles in NASCAR’s top three series.
With five races remaining, starting with this weekend’s Tums QuikPak 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Biffle, who won the Craftsman Truck championship in 2000 and the Nationwide title in 2002, trails points leader Jimmie Johnson by 86 points.
“We didn’t gain in the points on Johnson last week in Charlotte like we had hoped we would, but we didn’t lose a whole lot, either,” said Biffle, who finished in seventh place, one position behind Johnson, in the Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last Saturday night.
Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Dish Turbo HD Ford Fusion, has four top-10 finishes, including two victories, in the first five Chase races, but only has one career top 10 at Martinsville, a .526-mile paperclip-shaped short track.
“Martinsville is not historically my best track, but we have been running better and better there every year,” said Biffle. “We need a solid top-five finish this weekend at Martinsville.”
Biffle, whose best Cup finish at Martinsville was seventh last October, finished 20th there in this year’s spring race.
“In the spring race at Martinsville, we blew a motor in practice and had to start in the back,” said crew chief Greg Erwin. “We were a little worried about this race, with it being one of the Chase races, but we feel that the setup we ran at New Hampshire when we won there last month should help us at Martinsville.”
The chassis that the team is running this weekend also ran at New Hampshire when Biffle scored his first victory of the year en route to becoming the first driver ever to win the first two races in the Chase.
Biffle remains busy off the track, filming a weekly video blog for www.fordracing.com called “Chasin’ Biff,” and also penning a weekly diary on his Chase exploits for www.usatoday.com
Ford Racing team member Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion, dropped from second to fourth place in the standings following a 33rd-place finish at Charlotte.
“We have two independent ignition systems, and for some reason they both quit,” Edwards said after last weekend’s race. “We’ll fight back, though. We’ve got a great team, and we’ve just got to get everything we can. We’ve got five more races.”
Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 R+L Carriers/DeWalt Ford Fusion and the third Ford Racing driver in the Chase, heads into this weekend’s race in 11th place in the standings.
The NHRA Countdown to 1 playoff is idle this weekend. Robert Hight, driver of the Auto Club Ford Mustang, is in fifth place in the standings with two races remaining. The series resumes with the ACDelco Las Vegas Nationals on October 30.
About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles in 200 markets across six continents. With about 229,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company’s core and affiliated automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo and Mazda. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit www.ford.com.