Michigan offers Biffle chance to end drought
BROOKLYN, Mich. — With time running out on his bid to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Greg Biffle is back at the site of his most recent NASCAR victory.
It was more than three years ago.
In June 2013, Biffle won at Michigan International Speedway, earning his fourth victory at the track and second in a row. In 116 Cup races since, he has come up empty everywhere. He missed the Chase last year and is in danger of falling short again unless he can pull out a victory in one of the last three races of the regular season, a stretch that starts today at Michigan.
“This sport is very humbling,” Biffle said. “When you think you’ve got it figured out, for sure you don’t, and it reminds you of that every week.”
Biffle is the active leader in wins at Michigan, but he finished 19th at the track earlier this season. Shortly after that, he ran off a streak of three straight top-10 finishes at Daytona, Kentucky and Loudon, but he’s been outside the top 15 in each of the four races since.
Biffle and Roush Fenway Racing teammates Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would all miss the Chase if the regular season ended now. None of them has a win this year. Stenhouse started 25th and finished second last weekend at Bristol.
“Our qualifying efforts lately haven’t been as good, but our racing package has been better,” Stenhouse said. “Earlier in the year I felt like we qualified really well and then wouldn’t race as good. For whatever reason we haven’t been able to get them both dialed in together.”
Since his last win in 2013, Biffle has finished in the top 10 twice in six races at Michigan.
“You have to have a car that gets around this place good. Each end is different, and what I like about the race track is no matter how your car is driving, you can adjust your line around the race track,” Biffle said. “Maybe run a little bit higher on one end than the other to compensate if your car is a little too loose or is doing something that you don’t like.”
There’s always a lot of drama in the last few races before the Chase, and that’s when the season’s second race at Michigan falls on the schedule. A dozen drivers have won this year, solidifying their spots in the Chase as long as they stay in the top 30. Rookie Chris Buescher is cutting it close. He’s currently 30th and has only two top-10 finishes, but one was a win at Pocono.