GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – HOW MUCH DO TIMES AND SPEEDS FROM HAPPY HOUR ON SATURDAY TRANSLATE TO THE RACE ON SUNDAY? “A lot of it – unless the track changes dramatically, but we think the track is going to be pretty similar tomorrow, maybe a little slicker than it is now. So, I really feel like these times are really going to translate over to tomorrow. And, then guys are pretty happy with the lap times – I haven’t had a chance to look at them, but they think we have a top-five car, and that’s good for us here. The car’s handling decent. We’ll look and see if we can improve it at all for tomorrow, and be ready to go.”
THE FASTEST TIME GETS RECORDED ON THE TIME SHEET, BUT THE TEAM IS LOOKING MORE AT RUNS, CORRECT? “Right. And there is something to be said for the fastest time, too, because if a car won’t run a fast time, normally it’s not real racy. Even if it’ll run a consistent run for a period of time, if you can’t run a semi-fast lap, you’ve probably got problems overall. So, I’m happy that it runs a relatively fast lap. You know, there are guys that are better than us, but I guess it looks pretty good. You know, to run the third-fastest overall lap and the laps we were running, I think we’re pretty good.”
JAMIE McMURRAY – No. 26 Crown Royal Ford Fusion – WITH THE LONG STRAIGHTAWAYS, EVERYONE THINKS OF HORSEPOWER HERE, BUT BECAUSE OF THE WAY THE CORNERS ARE SET UP, ISN’T HANDLING IMPORTANT, TOO? “I think that the power is more important in qualifying, to try and make you car drive good in qualifying trim, but, certainly, you have to have your car driving well here for the race.”
THERE ARE TWO PRACTICES TODAY AFTER NOT BEING ON THE TRACK AT ALL YESTERDAY. WILL YOU APPROACH THE PRACTICE SESSIONS ANY DIFFERENTLY FROM A USUAL SATURDAY? “No, it’s kind of a typical weekend for us, even though we missed out on a lot of stuff yesterday. We kind of use Friday as our test day to try things that you usually don’t have time to try on Saturday. So, today is just a full-blown, getting your car driving all right now.”
HOW’S YOUR CAR RIGHT NOW? “We have to make it drive better. It has good speed, but it’s really, really loose, and we’re going to have to get it tightened up in order to make it good for a long distance.”
SUNDAY’S RACE WILL BE THE FIRST WITH THE NEW DOUBLE-FILE RE-START RULE. SOME HAVE SUGGESTED THAT THE NEW RULE MAY CAUSE SOME ALTERATIONS IN STRATEGY. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? “There could be something there, but the guys might out-smart themselves. I’ve listened to all these scenarios, and everyone is talking about it. But, if you have a fast car you don’t have to do all the strategy stuff. If you’re struggling to stay on the lead lap, then maybe there’s something you can do there to work to your benefit.”
BUT, AS FAR AS THE FANS ARE CONCERNED, THIS SHOULD BE A GOOD THING. “It’s going to be very, very exciting, I think, for the fans. Our sport is based on putting a good show on, and that is going to put a better show on for the fans.”