Being fifth not a problem for rookie Biffle

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Greg Biffle is a lot like a middle child. Or maybe he's like a third wheel on a date.

He's a rookie on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, and he's the fifth of five Roush Racing teams. While all the resources of Roush Racing are at his disposal, it's up to Biffle and crew chief Randy Goss to figure them out.

And as busy as the other four Roush teams are, no one is running to Biffle's aid.

GREG BIFFLE  •  Driver Page  •  2003 Stats  •  Message Board  •  Crew chief Randy Goss

What? You want help? Sure, I'll help. Call me back in three weeks.

Biffle and Goss moved up from the Busch Series, where they were champions in 2002. That'll get you some pats on the back, but otherwise, no one in Winston Cup cares.

What have you done for me lately?

For Biffle, he's done nothing. He's got the "new race team blues," he said.

"We're not an established team," Biffle said. "We've got all new guys working together and all kinds of things. It was a wake-up call for us to say, 'Hey, these guys need some help over here. They're behind, they don't have any cars, and maybe they need some extra help.'

"We haven't gotten any of that yet. We've just refocused ourselves."

Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway seemed to prove the focus is becoming sharper. Despite a damaged front end, Biffle posted the best finish of his 12-race career by coming home fifth.

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"We're really excited about our program right now," Biffle said. "It's come a long way since missing the race at Las Vegas. The guys are doing the best job they can to get the Grainger Ford working good."

Biffle, one of the top contenders for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year Award, qualified for the first two races of 2003, but then was too slow to make the field at Las Vegas.

It's never good to miss a race, especially one so far away from home. But to Biffle, failing to qualify there might have been a blessing in disguise.

"Missing the Vegas race really helped our race team, more than if we qualified 36th at Vegas," Biffle said. "We knew that we were behind. Here's the jist of it: We're behind on race cars, we're behind on people, we're behind on the building, we're behind on technology. At Roush, our cars aren't built by all the same people. Our bodies aren't hung by all the same people."

Roush Racing is like five individual teams under one roof, Biffle said. Each team is responsible for building its own race cars, and while Biffle has good role-models in Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton, that doesn't help when it comes time to put together a race car.

"It's tough to get a group of guys together and say, 'Copy them. Make everything the same,'" Biffle said. "That's a tough chore. We're third in line or whatever in line getting chassis out of the chassis shop. Everybody's got to wait their turn. The 99's building a bunch of new cars."

Slowly, though, Biffle and Goss are making progress. Sunday, they made a lot of progress. Before the halfway point, Biffle made a mistake and rammed the rear of another car. It caved in the nose, but didn't damage the radiator.

	Credit: Autostock

"I got my nose knocked in on one of those restarts," Biffle said. "That really hurt the car. We had to take all the tape off, so we lost a lot of downforce off the front. Aerodynamics means a little bit here, but not a whole lot. When you have to un-tape the bottom, the cars don't drive nearly the same."

The body damage wasn't Biffle's only trouble, as the engine briefly overheated, Biffle was caught speeding on pit road and he had to make numerous pit stops to make repairs.

"It's kind of frustrating from the driver's seat all the things that are going on," Biffle said. "You keep getting put back and keep having to come in the pits. I kept my cool and just worked my way up."

Eventually, Biffle was in the top five and moving up. He closed in on Kenseth, who was running fourth at the time, and had one of the fastest cars on the track.

Then came a late caution. While Kenseth moved up to second, Biffle was a sitting duck. Ricky Rudd pitted for tires and easily caught and passed Biffle for fourth.

Still, being fifth isn't so bad. Especially for a third wheel.