Biffle sets high-water mark for Fords at NHIS

LOUDON, N.H. -- The Ford brand took a beating in Bud Pole Qualifying Friday at New Hampshire International Speedway, save for rookie Greg Biffle.

Biffle placed his No. 16 Ford fourth in the 43-car field, with a lap in 28.857 seconds, an average speed of 131.989 seconds around NHIS's 1.058-mile oval. He cited the Taurus' alleged aerodynamic deficiencies for Ford's poor showing.

Ryan Newman won his series leading seventh pole of the season in his No. 12 Dodge, .124 seconds better than Terry Labonte's No. 5 Chevrolet.

And while Biffle was pleased to earn his third top-five qualifying effort of the season, he wasn't thrilled about his make's prospects in Sunday's Sylvania 300. The only Fords to qualify in the top-20 were Roush Racing products, driven by Biffle (fourth), four-time NHIS winner Jeff Burton (15th) and Winston Cup point leader Matt Kenseth (19th).

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Biffle was virtually the only Ford driver that did not complain about a radical change in his car's handling characteristics from practice to qualifying, and a general lack of grip.

"That's where we need to start is up in the top five," Biffle said. "I'm pretty happy with that lap. There was probably just a hair left on the table, but what the heck, that's all we had for today."

Biffle's run was the best any Ford had, by a fair bit. Burton was almost half a second off Newman's pace and Kenseth, nearly six tenths back.

New Hampshire's low-banked, 12-degree corners and long straightaways, Biffle said, only made what he called Ford's body deficiencies stand out.

"I don't think it's a coincidence," Biffle said of eight Dodges and eight Chevrolets in the top 20. "I don't think we've got as good a body as the Dodge and Chevy. Yeah, sure -- on flatter racetracks that will show up.

"It takes a lot of downforce and a lot of side force to get these cars to turn around the corners and it's going to make a difference. We've got the oldest body in the garage, out of all of them.

"They (other manufacturers) can say they're pretty close in the wind tunnel, but we know that they're not."

Biffle said that, more than anything in his third race weekend with new crew chief Doug Richert, he was glad to see the momentum that he'd started building with former crew chief Randy Goss was continuing.

"We got a lucky lap is what I call it," Biffle said. "It was just right. I got down in the corner good, got back in the throttle real early and the car stuck.

"The guys did a good job preparing this racecar for me and they are building me some great race cars right now."

Biffle said that not only would the up-front starting position be critical for track position, he also needed to work harder with his crew to maintain an efficient racecar.

"It's not hard to do one lap in qualifying," Biffle said. "What's hard is to do 300 laps, and that's where we're struggling right now."

Biffle led the rookie of the year standings as little as four races ago, but is 13 points behind Jamie McMurray coming into Sunday's race after sandwiching a 10th place finish around results of 22nd and 20th.

"(Starting up front) is gonna make a difference here, hopefully, on Sunday," Biffle said. "We just need to finish in the top five.

"What we need to do is finish up there (because) we've got cars that have been close to that, but I think we can do it with this car."

In the same period of time that Biffle hit his mini slump, McMurray has finished third, fourth and 19th; and he qualified third Friday.