Pole-sitter Biffle anticipating possible Kansas win

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- As far as Greg Biffle's concerned, Kansas Speedway isn't the most likely place for him and 11-race crew chief Matt Puccia to win in the stretch run of this season, it's the latest in a series of opportunities.

And while the stats might not exactly support that belief, Biffle's history at this 1.5-mile venue -- two wins and six top-fives in 10 starts and an average finish of 8.3 -- definitely does. Biffle's the defending champion of this event and both his Kansas wins have come in the fall.

"I thought Michigan, Chicago, Dover -- all of those I thought were places that we could have won at," Biffle said. "Unfortunately, the two speedway races, Michigan and Chicago, we had items break on the race car. That took us out of contention. We had OK finishes but I think here we're back in the saddle again.

"This is a mile-and-a-half and our cars are fast and run good on those. I have some wins here and this is obviously a place that we are very capable of winning. I feel the same way about Texas and Phoenix, Charlotte and Homestead. I feel like those are race tracks we can definitely win at. We could win at all of them or none of them. We just have to wait and see."

And the one place where Biffle most seriously threatened to win, Michigan in August, is similar to Kansas in at least one critical respect. Biffle qualified on the pole at Michigan's 2-mile venue and then led 86 of 200 laps. It's the only place he's led an appreciable number of laps since he and Puccia were paired in mid-July.

But that potential aside, it's what the young crew chief and his men did Friday that has Biffle the most enthused.

"I unloaded off the truck and tried to make a lap and I said we were in big trouble," Biffle said. "We went from there to being the fastest car [and] it wasn't in one run. I think that says something about the team, how we started there and ended up [with the pole], how we worked on the car and didn't lose our patience, confidence and focus on getting the car to go. It was quite amazing.

"Never would have guessed that we would be on the pole. They went back and looked at the data and worked on it. I have to pat myself on the back a little bit because I must have drove a pretty good lap in order to get it up there, but they did a lot of work and really studied it. That says a lot for our team and a lot for Matt. That is what a championship team is made of, someone that can make something out of nothing. That is what we did [Friday]. We started out without very much and we are on the pole for Sunday's race."

* Related: Biffle edges teammate Edwards for Kansas pole

In Saturday's two practices, as far as potential winners among the non-Chase for the Sprint Cup crowd, outgoing Richard Childress Racing driver Clint Bowyer, a local hero at Kansas, appeared to be the front-runner. Bowyer had the second-best 10-lap average in both the opening 45-minute morning practice and the caution-free Happy Hour. Bowyer had the best individual lap and the best overall average for more than half of Happy Hour.

But Biffle's Roush Fenway Racing team's work Saturday didn't completely shoot down his optimism. In the opening practice, Biffle came out of the gate in the top five on his first run and ended up there as the initial leaders: Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards -- all Chase contenders -- and David Ragan and Biffle remained in that order at the end.

Biffle had a top-three overall average lap time for most of the first session until he fell into a tie for 11th late in the caution-free practice. Denny Hamlin ran 18 laps and had the best overall average, 32.44 seconds.

Kyle Busch projected himself into an optimistic position in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after the first practice with the eighth-best single lap and overall average and fourth-best 10-lap average behind category leader Ragan. He backed up those numbers in Happy Hour with the sixth-best 10-lap average.

But for Biffle, as it is for other non-Chasers Bowyer, Ragan and Marcos Ambrose, Mark Martin and Jamie McMurray, who all practiced well, they're faced with a stark reality -- not only this weekend but for the six that follow it.

"There is one thing you can do when you don't make the Chase and that is win races," Biffle said. "They are not going to talk about you if you finish second, third, fourth or fifth. If you win, they are forced to talk about you when you aren't in the Chase. We know we need to do that and need to win races.

"We are capable of winning races and have proved it time and time again. We are certainly capable of winning at this level and at these mile-and-a-half race tracks. We felt that way going into Chicago and had problems and we felt that way going into Dover and I messed that one up single-handedly. So here we are with a fast car and ready for Sunday."

But for Biffle, who had only the 21st-best single lap in Happy Hour but a top-10 overall average lap and the seventh-best 10-lap average, to potentially win there's one more thing to do. It's one that, despite all their potential in the past 11 races, he and Puccia have not been able to achieve.

"Not having any issues, whether it be in the pits or me spinning out on the race track or something breaking on the race car," Biffle said of the key to completing a race and getting a deserved finish. "We did that at Loudon and nothing happened. We had a great race and pit stops were good. The worst we ran was sixth all day. We were on our way to have that kind of finish at Dover and I missed pit road and ran over the commitment line, which I didn't see.

"That kind of set off a little bit of a chain of events where we lost some track position and had a bad pit stop at the end of the day. I was frustrated and over-driving the car because I knew we had 25 laps to go and I was eighth and was fourth a minute ago. I spun out. If we come [to Kansas on Sunday] and have regular pit stops I think we will be right there."

* Video: Biffle with Miss Coors Light | Puccia on Garage Expert