CUP: Biffle Talks Championship, Daytona 500 In Part Two Of Hub Interview

Sprint Cup

CUP: Biffle Talks Championship, Daytona 500 In Part Two Of Hub Interview

Greg Biffle continues his conversation with Steve Byrnes on NASCAR Race Hub...

David Harris | Posted March 07, 2012 Charlotte, NC

SPEED.com - The Online Motor Sports Authority (Image: SPEED)

GREG BIFFLE GIVES PART TWO of HIS NASCAR RACE HUB INTERVIEW on SPEED™

CHAMPIONSHIP HOPES FOR 2012? WOULD BIFFLE BE SATISFIED IF HE NEVER WINS a TITLE?

On the Tuesday edition of SPEED’s NASCAR Race Hub, Sprint Cup Series driver Greg Biffle spoke to host Steve Byrnes in Part II of their ‘All Access’ conversation.

Biffle, driver of Roush Racing’s No. 16 3MWraps.com Ford, talked about the limited time he feels he now has to compete for a championship, and by extension, win the Daytona 500. Here’s a part of what he said.

Byrnes: How difficult was it in the offseason? We’re you of the mindset, for example, Jimmie Johnson said that (he) disengaged from racing. (He) just didn’t want to deal with it for a while after winning the championship five years in a row. He said that he didn’t realize just how much pressure he had put on himself. How did you approach your offseason?

Biffle: I didn’t disengage. I stayed in it because I want to win a championship, and I want to win races in this sport. This is my life. This is my livelihood. I knew that big, big changes were coming with our company (Roush Racing) at the end of the season. Laying off a bunch of people, closing a team down is motivation to say, ‘how long is my job going to last?’ That right there is motivation. Now, I’m not in jeopardy in losing my job. Never was. But just saying…

Byrnes: That was the No. 6 car - Jack’s flagship car…

Biffle: Right. This doesn’t last forever. I have a contract until 2014. Let’s win races. Let’s win a championship between now and 2014. We’re watching the sport suffer. We’re watching teams shut down a car or two. It wasn’t a wake-up call. It was me just saying, ‘I’m going to try even harder.’ I’m going to go even harder. Before the holiday break, I took my brand new team to lunch. I went through everybody, wrote their names down… This team is dedicated to winning races and to winning championships.

Byrnes: You touched on something, speaking of the No. 6 car. Mark Martin drove that car for so long. He said, you get to a point Steve and you realize that wins and opportunities to win, and opportunities to win the championship, they aren’t near as often (now) as when you first start your career. He said that hits you like a ton of bricks.

Biffle: It does. How many opportunities are you going to have to win the Daytona 500? If I race for six more years or seven, or 10 more years, that’s only 10 more opportunities to win the Daytona 500. And how many of those are you going to have a fast enough car? How many of those are you not going to be caught up in a wreck? How many opportunities are going to come down to the green-white-checkers and you’re second, on the front row? You can count them on one or two hands how many chances you’re going to have. Mark Martin is right.

Byrnes: In this country, we judge athletes and teams based on the championships they’ve won…

Biffle: Yep.

Byrnes: You’ve won a championship in the Truck Series. You’ve won a championship in the Nationwide Series, and could become the only man to win a championship in all three series. How will you judge yourself if you can’t win a Cup championship? Will your career be fulfilled, or will there be emptiness there?

Biffle: There will be an emptiness if I don’t win a Cup title. But, I will be very proud of my career at however many wins I get in the Cup Series. At being competitive at every level, and then, comparing myself to Mark Martin on not winning a title, but in coming so close.