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Mark Martin waits for his car to be readied for the practice session at Richmond. He qualified second for tonight's race.
Greg Biffle looks at race data with crew chief Doug Richert after winning the pole |
By JIM McCONNELL
RICHMOND--Greg Biffle could be excused for thinking some unseen force is out to get him.
Six months after finishing second to Tony Stewart in the 2005 Nextel Cup standings, Biffle has endured a run of bad luck that is unprecedented in recent NASCAR history.
He led the most laps at California before a blown engine left him with a 42nd-place finish. Kurt Busch wrecked him at Texas and he wound up 42nd again. He ran in the top 10 all night at Phoenix, but ran out of gas and settled for 15th. Another blown engine led to a 38th-place effort at Talladega.
Nine races into the 2006 season, a driver most expected to challenge for his first Cup title sits 23rd in the point standings. But Biffle isn't about to let the early adversity get him down.
"I've really got a great level head," Biffle said yesterday after earning the pole position for tonight's Nextel Cup Series Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway.
"The only thing I can do is just be excited about tomorrow night and look forward to this. I've got to put that big shield up from what happened last week, what woulda, shoulda, coulda and might have happened. The best remedy for me is being in the race car because then I'm not thinking about it."
In what has become a theme for Biffle's No. 16 team this season, even winning the pole became a struggle yesterday. His car wasn't running well early in yesterday's final practice session and his crew had a problem with a jack, causing them to be late for inspection.
But the car eventually came around--Biffle's fastest practice lap was his 49th of 50--and he nipped Roush Racing teammate Mark Martin for the pole near the end of yesterday's time trials.
Biffle's best lap was 127.395 mph. Martin clocked in at 127.029.
Casey Mears, Brian Vickers and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top five qualifiers. Defending champion Kasey Kahne will start sixth.
"Being a one-day show, these guys have a lot of pressure on them, especially with the races we've had leading up to this," Biffle said of his crew. "There's just a lot of pressure to perform perfectly and not make any mistakes and they did it for me."
True to form, the notoriously pessimistic Martin wasn't thinking about ending his five-year pole drought--even after all but a few drivers had completed qualifying laps and failed to beat his time.
"I'll be honest with you, when I found out that Biffle hadn't gone yet, I knew I was had because nobody gets on the wheel like Greg Biffle," Martin said. "Every driver's nightmare is to wake up every day knowing he has to race against Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and now Jamie McMurray in the same stuff."
Roush drivers claimed four of the top 11 starting spots for tonight's race. Carl Edwards posted the ninth-best qualifying time and Matt Kenseth was 11th-fastest.
"This year has been pretty good so far, but there's a long way to go. It's easy to get things turned around and go the wrong way," said Kenseth, who is second to Johnson in points.
Biffle insists it's not too late for his team to turn around its bad luck and put itself right back in the thick of the championship picture.
Earlier this week, he told reporters he had received a long voice message from Dan Davis, the head of Ford Racing, offering support during his early-season struggles.
Biffle, one of NASCAR's most determined drivers, said he appreciated the gesture but doesn't need anyone to pick up his spirits.
"I'm doing the same things that I've always done. If that's going to mess around at my shop on Monday, go to the race shop on Tuesday, fly my helicopter on Wednesday or mow the grass or whatever, I'm trying to do the same thing and not panic about it," he said.
"When we show up at the race track we're doing the right things. We're not doing anything stupid to put ourselves in those positions. I don't know what else to do."
To reach JIM McCONNELL:
Email: jmcconnell@freelancestar.com
CROWN ROYAL 400 Tonight, 7:30 p.m. |
