Biffle: It's pit road, mistakes happen

Friday, Feb. 27, 2009

Greg Biffle said it was Tuesday before he was able to forgive himself for the pit road mistake he believes cost his No. 16 Ford team an opportunity to win at Auto Club Speedway.

"After a couple of days I quit thinking about it," said Biffle, who got into his pit box too deep on Sunday and ran over the air hose used by his front-tire changer. That set him back and he could only rally to finish fourth.

"We had a really good car and it's tough when you have to go home after not winning a race like that."

Biffle said fans need to understand when drivers make mistakes on pit road is how important it is to get as much as they can in that circumstance.

"We're racing on pit road as hard or harder than we do on the track," Biffle said. "We're doing 55 miles an hour on pit road, which is the speed you drive on the freeway, and we're pulling into a parking space and coming to a complete stop. At the other end, when we cross the line the difference is in tenths of a second. If I count 'one thousand one' before I get on the gas, that can make the difference whether I beat another car out.

"We're trying to get that last millisecond of speed. Last week I turned off the 24's bumper (Jeff Gordon) and gave it a little gas. I held it just a little bit longer because I knew it was the last stop and I got about three feet deeper in the box than I needed to be.

"If you give up and ease down into the pits, you can lose three or four positions. You go as fast as you can and sometimes you make a mistake."

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