Biffle hopes to put an end to struggles at Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- When Greg Biffle was told to report to the media center Friday he said, "I don't know where the media center is, I've never been there before."

When your average finish at Martinsville Speedway is 24.0, you won't have much reason to visit a media center, a place where the top-three finishers go for post-race media interviews as do Cup drivers in the top 12 in the point standings.

Fast facts

What	Goody's Cool Orange 500
When	Green, 2:15 p.m. ET Sunday
TV	FOX, 1:30 p.m. ET
Radio	MRN (Sirius Ch. 28), 2 p.m. ET

• Track Page | Tickets | Travel

Biffle and Martinsville Speedway aren't the best of friends and the Roush Fenway Racing driver certainly isn't referred to as Mr. Martinsville like Jeff Gordon. In fact, Biffle and the short, storied track don't get along at all; the track has treated the Biff unkindly in his career.

"I look forward to this race really, but I have a love-hate relationship with this track," Biffle said.

And the hate part only grew stronger before Friday's Cup qualifying session when Biffle's No. 16 Ford Fusion blew an engine relegating Biffle to the back in Sunday's Cup race.

On the bright side, Biffle, who is inside a contract renewal year at Roush, finished 14th in the point standings last season and is now sitting second this season. He is hoping his recent success will change his luck at the historic Martinsville track.

Biffle has finished inside the top 10 in four of the first five races this season -- results which have exceeded his expectations.

"I wouldn't have thought we'd be second in points, but I felt like we were capable of being in the top 10 for sure, so we're probably a little higher than I expected to be right at this point in the season," Biffle said.

But Sunday in Martinsville, remember, aren't ideal for Biffle and may break his stride.

Want more? Get inside the walls of Roush Fenway Racing.

• More

"We know that this race and Talladega are kind of our two wild card races a little bit for us," Biffle said. "Anything can kind of happen here. You've got to keep the brakes on the car and keep running well, but we look at Texas and all these other racetracks where I feel we can win in the next five races.

"I felt like that going to Bristol and Atlanta and all these other places. That's good confidence for our team to feel like we're right there every week."

Biffle and the entire Roush organization were forced to play catch-up during the off-season due in part to a lack of testing and preparation for the new car, which launched into the sport full time this season and partially last season.

Now Biffle and his teammates are producing better results and the comfort level is increasing.

"It's been a steady process. It's been up and down for sure. When we started out with this car, we were way off and then we've really honed in on it and gotten pretty good about it now," Biffle said. "I feel comfortable and confident that we're going to be fast every week; that we've gotten closer with our setups and we understand the car better engineering-wise and we start out closer on a race setup and bump stops and all those things."

All things now equal, Biffle is focused on improving his Martinsville record and hopefully build on last-season's one and only top-10.

"I remember beating on the back of the 48 car for the lead down here in [Turns] 3 and 4. I just had to bump him a few times," he said. "I just got a chance to get close enough to him, so that's kind of the highlight of my career as far as this racetrack, so we'll see."