Biffle says new Darlington surface should lead to fun

The old girl has been called "too tough to tame." She's also known as the "Lady in Black." After a particularly rough race, Kyle Petty once said he'd like to see Darlington Raceway filled with water and used for bass fishing tournaments.

For Greg Biffle, a two-time winner at Darlington Raceway, it's simply a fun racetrack.

Fast facts

What	Dodge Challenger 500
When	Green, 7:20 p.m. ET Saturday
TV	FOX 7 p.m. ET
Radio	MRN (Sirius Ch. 28), 7 p.m. ET

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"I love racing at Darlington," Biffle said. "Obviously I've had some success there so that helps, but it's just a fun track."

Biffle did more than win in 2005 and 2006, he dominated. His average running position was 2.6 in 2005 and 2.5 in 2006. His driver rating for those races was 143.8 out of 150.0.

The conditions at Darlington have changed for Saturday night's Dodge Challenger 500, though, because the old lady has a new black dress. It's smoother, with far fewer ruffles.

"The new surface will make for an entirely different race there than we've ever had before, though, so we'll see how it goes," Biffle said.

What was once the most abrasive and bumpiest stretch of asphalt in NASCAR racing was removed in the offseason. The track's new surface, its first since 1995, is smooth and fast. At a recent tire test, Biffle reached speeds approaching 200 mph entering Darlington's narrow one-groove turns.

"We're going to be running so much faster there than we have in the past," Biffle said. "Passing will be difficult, but I think there should still be some good racing. Tire wear won't be nearly as much of a factor as it was before the repaving. We ran just as fast on Lap 30 at the tire test as we did on the first lap out."

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One of the worries drivers had when the track's improvement project was announced was the character of the famed track would be eliminated. Biffle and the other drivers who participated in the tire test confirmed the track was still the same old Darlington, the site of NASCAR's first 500-mile race in 1950.

But that hasn't stopped drivers from wondering what to expect.

"Now that it's been repaved, I'm interested to see what the racing will be like," said Matt Kenseth, a teammate of Biffle at Roush Fenway Racing. "We always worried about tire wear at Darlington in the past. Because the track was just so rough it was really important to have a good handling car because we slid around so much. With these new cars, this has been an issue every week. The cars really slide around a lot anyway, so it's going to be interesting because we really haven't had much luck with the handling on these cars yet."

Greg Erwin, Biffle's crew chief, acknowledges the tire test will give the No. 16 team an edge but only a small one.

"We will have a little bit of an advantage going into the first practice session after having tested there," Erwin said. "But we'll have so much practice time over the course of the weekend that I think everyone else will get a chance to catch up."

Biffle hopes the extra track time on the new asphalt pays off in qualifying Saturday night. He has started inside the top 10 only once this season, sixth at Las Vegas, when he posted his best finish of the season, third. He has started outside the top 10 at Darlington only twice in seven races.

"I hope what we learned at the tire test gets us off on the right foot this weekend," Biffle said. "A good run at Darlington would be exactly what we need."