GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion (will start 7th) – QUITE A PICK UP FROM PRACTICE. DID YOU NOT MAKE ANY QUALIFYING RUNS? “No, we did – that’s just how good these guys have gotten this Ford Fusion race car. It’s really exciting right now to be able to drive these cars; they’re going really fast. We’ve got a great car for Sunday. I’d encourage anybody that gets an opportunity – go drive one of these Fords. They’re pretty fun to drive.”
YOU HAVE TWO CUP WINS AND TWO TRUCKS WINS HERE AT MICHIGAN. WHY DOES THIS RACE TRACK FAVOR YOU? “I don’t know. It’s odd. I love the race track and we run so well here as a company. So, that’s good for us, being in Ford’s backyard. I’ve just run good here every since I’ve been here – undefeated in the Trucks here, two wins. I just love the race track, it’s a lot of fun. You can race two- and three-wide. It’s going to put on a great race this weekend with this new car.”
WAS THERE ANY MOISTURE ON THE BACK STRAIGHTAWAY WHEN YOU TOOK YOUR LAP? “Yeah, it was raining about like it is here. But, when you’re going 200 miles an hour watching the drops go off the windshield, it looks a little different than before I rolled off the end of pit road. It’s been just drips like it is now, but after a period of time, that’s going to saturate the track and get it wet.”
(DURING RAIN DELAY) HOW GOOD WAS THAT LAP? WAS IT GOOD ENOUGH TO SIT ON THE POLE? “Well, certainly, if it rains right now and they dry the race track, there’ll be guys tremendously faster than us. It’ll really hurt us. If it kept going, that’s a pretty tough time. That’s going to get us a top-five, at least, if a couple of guys end up beating us. But, if it rains, and they blow the track and we get going again, I’m sure that will somebody will go a lot faster.”
REGARDLESS OF WHETHER YOUR TIME HOLDS UP, THIS TRACK IS NOT ONE WHERE STARTING POSITION IS VERY IMPORTANT, IS IT? “It’s not, really, because you can do so much here. But, track position is important anywhere you go because you can get back there and get in an accident, starting 20th. We know we’re going to start up front, whether it rains out or not. We’re seventh in points, and we’ve got a darn fast race car here. I don’t know if it’s going to make a difference. We’re excited for Sunday, that’s all I can say.”
CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion (will start 4th) – THE WAY THE RACING GOES HERE, IS STARTING POSITION NOT AS IMPORTANT HERE? “No, starting position is not the key here. But, you definitely always want to start up front.”
TRAVIS KVAPIL – No. 28 freecreditreport.com Ford Fusion (will start 18th) – IS STARTING POSITION AS IMPORTANT HERE AS SOME OTHER TRACKS? “Definitely not as much as some other tracks, but just the trend of this car and, really, Cup racing in general, track position is very important. Everybody runs so competitively, it’s hard to pass. This car makes it a little bit harder to pass until we can figure out a package, and NASCAR helps us out with that, figure out something that makes these cars work together in traffic better. But, for the most part, if you had to take a track where it wasn’t so important – it’s not line-sensitive, I guess; you could run four different lines here. Typically, if you’ve got a faster race car, you can make your way to the front here. I know I’ve won a Truck race where I had to start in the back here before. You can definitely pick your way through there, especially 400 miles. It’s a long race and sometimes pit strategy and things like that, fuel mileage, play out here. I’m excited about the race. We worked on qualifying this morning. I think we probably could’ve qualified better than 18th, but that’s going to be an okay starting spot for us with it getting rained out. And, I know we’ll have a good car for Sunday. I’m looking forward to it.”
ONE OF THE OTHER ELEMENTS TO QUALIFYING IS PIT SELECTION. HOW’S THIS TRACK FOR GETTING ON AND OFF PIT ROAD? “This is another track that’s not too bad. Pit boxes, you have quite a bit of room here. Pit lane is nice and wide, so you can run three-wide down pit road. But, it would’ve been nice had we qualified in those top four or five spots or something like that, to have an opening, either behind you or in front of you. Pit selection is critical, like any other track we go to, but, again, just like the multi-grooves on this track, pit selection is not as critical here as maybe a place like Martinsville.