Greg Biffle Inks 3-Year Contract Extension With Roush Fenway

[DebWilliams-GFN]

By: Deb Williams

LOUDON, N.H. (June 27, 2008) – Citing Roush Fenway Racing's commitment to competition, Greg Biffle announced Friday he had signed a three-year contract extension that will keep him in the NASCAR team's No. 16 Ford through 2011.

In a press conference at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Biffle said 3M would remain as his team's primary sponsor, and he would compete in the Nationwide Series next year with sponsorship from Citifinancial group. He said the Nationwide schedule hadn't been decided, but it would be between
15 to 20 races.

“It was a long process,” Biffle said about the contract negotiations.

“I weighed certainly all of my options out and it felt like the 16 car is where I really wanted to spend my next three years driving. A lot of things went into making a decision on where I was gonna be. One was Ford’s commitment to the racing program and supporting us technologically, and Roush Fenway’s commitment to put Robbie Reiser in the position that they did. I just feel like we’re making all the right decisions at our company right now to win championships and races, and I like all the guys on the 16 team. We’ve developed a pretty good relationship.”

Biffle has driven for Jack Roush's operation since moving to NASCAR. The Vancouver, Wash., native won the 2000 Craftsman Truck Series championship and the 2002 Busch Series title [now Nationwide] for Roush to become the only ever to win the crown in both those series. He also is the only driver to win rookie honors in those series. Biffle moved to the Cup circuit full-time in 2003 after making his debut in NASCAR's premier series in 2002 at California Speedway. The 38-year-old Biffle's best finish in the Cup point standings came in 2005 when he placed second.

Entering Sunday's LENOX Industrial Tools 301, Biffle is seventh in the standings. Even though he has yet to win a race this season, he has earned two poles, and posted five top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in 16 races.

Biffle has failed to finish only one race this year.

“I feel like if we can continue to run like we are, we can make the Chase and we’ll be a threat in the Chase,” Biffle said.

Biffle said it was Roush Fenway's commitment to competition that resulted in his decision to extend his contract with the Concord, N.C.-based team.

“This sport has really, really shifted from put the car in the transporter and let’s go to the race track and test for the day. We learn so much at the shop now with some of the simulation stuff we do and, of course, the seven-post, which everybody has now,” Biffle continued. “It was Roush Fenway’s commitment to keep that going forward and I saw that with our group and how hard we’re working on that. I think that’s what’s made our difference from a year ago today.

“I’m not saying that any other organization hasn’t made that commitment because, obviously, they have. I just see the commitment that they’ve made to getting our cars running good and winning races, and I have to admit one of the key elements was the addition we made with Robbie Reiser. That’s one of the things I liked and I felt like we were making steps in the right direction by continuing to add engineers and people to go beyond just the crew chief and the nuts and bolts of the car, technically.

“We were behind last season, dramatically behind, and we made the commitment to try and catch up, and it’s so hard to play catch up, but we’ve been able to close that gap, I feel, to the Hendrick cars for sure.

But we’re still maybe chasing the Gibbs cars by just a razor of a margin, probably not much, but on top of that we’re looking further ahead and that’s what we need to do. We want to be the innovator for a while. We want people chasing us and that was one of the decisions I made.”

Biffle, who has been with Roush for 10 years, said he believed his voice was being heard within he organization, even though he and team co-owner Jack Roush have had their differences.

“I told him last Wednesday night at the ballpark that he had to put up with me for another three years and he laughed and told me the same thing, because we’ve had shouting matches in the conference room and everything else about what we’re doing, but I think it makes us stronger as a group and makes us better,” Biffle said “We’re both that passionate about winning races and championships and that’s good.”

Biffle said he didn't pursue the other options open to him to a “contract state”, but rather he talked with other people in the sport.

“I respect all the guys in the garage area so much,” he said. “There are a lot of great team owners and a lot of great people that are coming into this sport; there are a lot of opportunities out there. There were a huge amount of opportunities for me and I’m very lucky and blessed to have those opportunities presented to me. I just felt like my primary thing was to figure out whether I wanted to be at Roush Fenway going into the future, first, and then if that wasn’t gonna happen, then I was gonna figure out where I was gonna end up, and I never got to that process. I’d made the commitment to try and get the extension with Roush Fenway first, and if we weren’t able to reach common ground there, then I would have to go and figure out where I was gonna be instead of there.”

Biffle said he thought Dale Earnhardt Jr. handled his situation last year the correct way and he followed that example.

“He negotiated with DEI to the point that he wasn’t able to negotiate a deal,” Biffle explained. “I was gonna work with our organization until I felt like I wanted to go somewhere else and that never really crossed my mind through the whole process.”