FORT WORTH - Greg Biffle is looking forward to a do-over in the new NASCAR Sprint Cup car.
Texas Motor Speedway is an ideal spot since Biffle and the entire Roush Fenway Racing team have had so much success there. Biffle is the defending champion, too, and he can’t wait for tonight.
There is admittedly an extra emphasis and a different sense of urgency this weekend for Biffle, who struggled to a 17th-place finish last month at Las Vegas. That track is similar to Texas and the only 1½ -mile track NASCAR visited the first six races this season.
“We plain and simply screwed up at Vegas and I take most of the blame for that. We were just way off with the new car,” Biffle said. “This track feels good. I had really good speed here. … I think we have a good chance at winning. Right place, right time.”
While the struggles at Las Vegas were surprising for Biffle, so was his ninth-place finish last week at Martinsville, the half-mile track that is the shortest on the circuit.
“I just never thought that would happen to us, but that is just the way it works,” Biffle said.
The 25th Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway, which opened in 1997 and started hosting two races a year in 2005, will be the first night race this season - and for the new Gen-6 cars.
While Biffle won at Texas last April, Jimmie Johnson held off Brad Keselowski in a 1-2 finish last November. Johnson and Keselowski slammed together near the start-finish line after a late restart, but managed to maintain control in a wild few closing laps when they stayed in close proximity.
“Yeah, it was awesome. I enjoyed it in the car. Thought I was going to get turned around in [turns] one and two one of the restarts we had, but we didn’t,” Johnson said Friday, recalling that race. “We raced right to that ragged edge and pulled it off. Of course I had a good perspective of it after the race when I watched the video and I smiled. That is just good hard racing.”
The fall victory kept Johnson ahead in points with two races to go, but Keselowski went on to win the championship. After winning last week at Martinsville and leading a career-high 346 laps, Johnson has the series points lead. Right behind him is Keselowski, who has five finishes in the top six this season. He was asked if the Texas race last fall was a defining moment.
“Yes and no. I would say it would be a defining moment if we had won the race. I think it was a defining moment for me knowing that we could run competitively at tracks others didn’t feel like we could I felt like we could,” Keselowski said. “Coming back here, while we might not have gotten the win we wanted last fall, I feel like we can get it done this spring.”
Roush drivers certainly know how to get it done at on the high-banked Texas track, where Jack Roush’s nine victories are the most by any owner. Johnson’s victory last fall was the fourth for Rick Hendrick, the second-most among owners.
Sports, Pages 23 on 04/13/2013