Daytona International Speedway hasn't been kind to Greg Biffle as of late, but the driver of the No. 16 Ford is looking to return to Gatorade Victory Lane at "The World Center of Racing" with a strong run in Saturday night's Coke Zero 400.
Since winning his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in the 2003 Coke Zero 400, Biffle has gone on to post an average finish of 22.6. His sixth-place run in this event in 2007 is his best finish in the 12-race span.
Biffle currently sits ninth in the series standings after dropping two spots in the last two races with respective finishes of 28th and 18th. Going into Daytona, Biffle has a 57-point cushion over 12th-place Juan Pablo Montoya.
"We'll keep chugging away at it and hopefully have a good run at Daytona and then we won't be many races away from the cutoff," Biffle said.
This season Biffle is still winless, but he's posted five top fives and eight top 10s in 17 starts.
"I'm pretty happy with the way the season's gone so far," said Biffle, who last won at Dover last fall. "Certainly we want to win a race. We've been working hard at that and we've come close. Our main thing is to get in the 'Chase' and continue to run well. Get in the 'Chase', that's all we care about right now. We know our season could be better but we know it could be worse too."
Biffle finished 20th in the season-opening Daytona 500 that was shortened by rain, but this time the track conditions will be much different in the heat and under the lights.
"It's a little slicker in July," Biffle said. "It would just be a miserable race I think in the daytime because the grip would be so horrible and it would be so hot. I kind of like the night race. It's sort of fun to be there under the lights."
The slick conditions and the new double-file restarts should provide for some more fireworks in the annual Fourth of July race.
"I think it will be great," Biffle said. "I think restrictor plate racing will be the biggest beneficiary of double-file restarts because we're already racing two-wide all the time, three-wide all the time already, why not start them two-wide. It totally makes sense."
As Biffle gets ready to make his 14th Cup Series start at Daytona he looked back on the win in 2003.
"It was big," Biffle said. "It was really, really big. Kind of a dream come true. I won in the Truck Series, Nationwide and Cup. To win a race at that level was pretty exciting. Rodger (Biffle's longtime friend) was there, he was the gas guy, and that was pretty fun for us to be able to do that together, win there together.
"It's a huge race, you have to go up in the press box and do all these things, your there half the night. I celebrated, that's for sure."
