|
|
| Busch Grand National Series |
|
|
In-Car Radios | Silly Season | Forum | Photo Gallery | Newsletter | In the Pits
Pepsi 300 - Rookie Quotes RAYBESTOS ROOKIE CONTENDER GREG BIFFLE LEADS THE ROOKIE POINT STANDINGS BY 35 POINTS (98-63) OVER TIM SAUTER AND SCOTT WIMMER. HE HAS BEEN THE HIGHEST FINISHING ROOKIE IN FIVE OF THE SEVEN BUSCH RACES ENTERING THE PEPSI 300 AT NASHVILLE. HE HAS MORE TOP-FIVES (THREE) AND MORE TOP-10S (FOUR) THAN ANY OTHER ROOKIE AND IS THE ONLY ROOKIE TO WIN A POLE. HE NABBED THE TOP STARTING SPOT FOR THE ALLTEL 200 AT ROCKINGHAM. BIFFLE IS THIRD IN BUSCH SERIES POINTS ENTERING THIS WEEKEND'S RACE, 126 BEHIND LEADER KEVIN HARVICK. Biffle on his background before competing in the Busch Series "As everybody knows I ran the Craftsman Truck Series for three years and won the rookie of the year in 1998 my first year in the truck series. I came up eight points short my second year and won the championship last year that's what I did leading up to the Busch Series. Before that, I did pretty much what everybody else did. I raced Late Models, Northwest Tour and I did some Winston West races. I hadn't really run any Busch races before. I've been in a Busch car once or twice, back around 1996. I'm really excited about coming over here and do this." What would it mean to you to win the Raybestos Rookie of the Year Championship? "It would mean a lot, because of the fact I won it in the Truck Series, and then what would be icing on the cake would able to go do it in Winston Cup. It depends on how tough the competition is going to be when I get there. It would be neat to win it in all three series. That's something that nobody has done, obviously, and what would be even better than that is to win the points championship in all three. I'm going to try my hardest to focus on winning the Raybestos Rookie of the Year Championship this year and finishing as high in the points as I can and get myself lined up to maybe win the championship next year." What do you and the team want to accomplish this season? "My goal was to win a couple of races, finish in the top-10 in points and win Raybestos Rookie of the Year. That was my focus starting out but I've raised those expectations a little bit because of how the season has started and how well I've adapted to these cars. They drive a lot better and a lot easier than the trucks did. The competition is tougher than I thought it was (in the Busch Series) but the way I'm adapting to the cars has been a lot easier than I expected. Now, I'm shooting for a top-five in the points. The point championship isn't out of the question. I'd still like to win a couple of races and the Raybestos Rookie of the Year." What has been the hardest thing for you to adjust to? "All the new racetracks, a lot of new places that I haven't seen before. That's been difficult. Superspeedway racing in these cars is pretty hard for me. So far we haven't run that well. Fords predominately don't have a great superspeedway package. I knew we were going to struggle in the beginning. We're dreading going to Talladega. It's like a ticking time bomb for me. There's really no fun in it. What I've done growing up and what I've done to this day restrictor plate racing resembles racing the least. I saw Mark Martin talking about it on TV and he said if there were nine restrictor plate races a year he'd quit racing and all that. Now I know why. It's no fun and there's no challenge involved in it. It's high risk racing; an accident can happen and you can get involved in something so easy. That's been the hardest thing for me to adapt to because it's not really racing to me. It's how well the body of the car is and how you can maneuver on the racetrack and stay out of trouble." As well as this team has performed, are you disappointed that you haven't won a race? "Maybe a little bit. Our team is doing a great job getting us good cars prepared. The guys back at the fab shop and the guys painting them and getting them to the racetrack. What we've suffered on so far is pit stops. We haven't been able to match our competition yet as far as pit stops go. It's really kind of hurt us, and that's part of being a rookie and part of being a new team and those are the growing pains. There isn't one team that's not had those things happen to them. When that's what's causing you not to win, it's frustrating. A lot of times you'll wreck from inexperience, miss the setup from not racing at the track before or you'll get a flat tire. But when you have a good days and all those things go right and your pit stops get you behind it's frustrating. We have to be patient with all aspects. It's a team effort, a team sport, and I've been participating in the calls as well. I decided at Daytona that I wanted to come and get tires. We were running ninth and we finished 22nd. It was a bad decision. At Atlanta, we decided to stay out longer than Nemechek and got too far behind because he was making up more on his lap times and we have a 25 second stop under green and I hit the wall trying to catch up from seven seconds behind and we had a four second lead. We were clearly way faster than he was and we should have won the race. So that was frustrating. It looks like I ran into the wall trying to catch him but I wouldn't have been trying to catch him if we had done what we should have done. At Bristol we were running sixth and came in felt like we had a good enough car to win there and went out 25th because we had a fender pushed in. I felt like they spent a little too much time working on it because aero wasn't a factor there. It's not anybody's fault; it's just a lack of experience that we're going through. It is kind of frustrating that we haven't won any yet because we have been so close but on the other hand we're real fortunate to be in position to win. We'll just keep working through it." This team won a lot of races with Mark Martin. Have you or the team felt any pressure from high expectations? "I don't pay much attention to it. From the outside, people don't know what we have. We've got about 60 pieces of paper from the 60 team. That's what we have. That's it. We have a new transporter. We're in a new building; we've got all new people, and new cars. Everything is new. There's nothing that is the 60 except for the decal on the door and Mark's notes. That's why I really wanted the 50 number because then it wouldn't appear to the general public that I'm driving Mark Martin's stuff and that I took over his team and all that. That's fine; it gives them something to pinpoint the success on, which is fine with me. Hopefully when I get to Winston Cup they won't have anything to pinpoint the success on. I felt pressure at the beginning of the season but I don't now. Mark has definitely made us what we are, as far as his knowledge. Without Mark's knowledge, we wouldn't be here. They're right. But it's not the same guys, the same team, and the same cars. All that stuff is new. Mark has been a definite asset and so has Jeff Burton. Jeff Burton has looked after our program as far as equipment goes. He has made sure we had cars and has given me one of his cars when we were short and he has pointed us in the right direction. Matt Kenseth has helped me a lot, too. I can go bounce ideas off him." RAYBESTOS ROOKIE CONTENDER TIM SAUTER DRIVES THE STOOPS FREIGHTLINER CHEVROLET FOR CAR OWNER STEVE COULTER. HE HAS BEEN HIGHEST FINISHING ROOKIE TWICE THIS SEASON (AT DAYTONA AND AT BRISTOL). HIS BEST FINISH OF THE 2001 SEASON CAME AT BRISTOL WHERE HE PLACED NINTH AT THE CHECKERED FLAG. ENTERING SATURDAY RACE AT NASHVILLE, HE AND BIFFLE ARE THE ONLY ROOKIES TO SCORE TOP-10 FINISHES. SAUTER IS 18th IN BUSCH SERIES POINTS AND IS TIED WITH SCOTT WIMMER FOR SECOND IN THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE STANDINGS. What was your racing background before you came to the Busch Series? "For years I ran the weekly racing series back in Wisconsin and battled along like everybody else trying to get to that next level. I won my weekly track championships back home and won a bunch of races. I finally got the opportunity to go ASA racing which was the next step for us in the Midwest. I hung around there for three years and we won the ASA championship in 1999 and six races. It's been a steady progression. You've got to earn it as you go. I've always had my Dad in the background as being a successful racer but he's the type of guy that if you're going to do it you're going to do it on your own you're going to open your own doors. Consequently it's taken a little longer for me to get here because I've had to open my own doors. Now I'm just trying to make the most of the opportunity." If you had a mentor who would that be? Sauter says he admires Dave Marcis, Dick Trickle and his father, Jim Sauter. "I respect everything that they've done and their ability to adapt and keep learning. That's the amazing part. Trickle was always kind of my idle because it was amazing he could win all of those races. The other guy that was an inspiration to me was Alan Kulwicki. A lot of people said you've got to be lucky to win races and do this and do that. He taught me something early on that it's more about preparation before you get to the racetrack. That's where your luck is really made. If you're right when you get there, it's a heck of a lot easier than throwing everything at it when you're at the racetrack because nine times out of 10 it's not going to work." Comment about your 2001 season thus far. "The way that I looked at the beginning of the year is if I could just go run in the top 15 and make the car so it's a top-15 car and get up there with those guys. If you are running 30th, you not going to learn anything. You'll learn how to run 30th. So we worked on being in the top-15. The cars preparation has been good. I'm trying to learn Dave Fuge (crew chief) and he's trying to learn me. At Rockingham if we hadn't had a plug wire to fall off and if we hadn't been in the wreck at Atlanta, we would have been solidly in the top-10 in points right now. We've got two top-10s. It's a big learning curve. I was really off at Texas, probably the farthest since I came to the Busch Series. It takes a little more time to learn the track and I'm still learning the characteristics of the car and struggling to give them good information to make it better." Realistically, what would you like for this team to accomplish this season? "My initial plan and the plan at Xpress Motorsports was to do exactly what we're doing for the first half of the season. If we can be in the top-15, all of a sudden we're going to be in the top-10. Once we learn to race in the top-10, then we can go after the top-five. But before we get goofy, we've got be realistic. I think the second half of the season we should be a little better, if everything stays together and the people stay with us. People management is another big issue that I'm not used to dealing with. With the ASA program, you had three key people. In the Busch Series, you better have 10 key people or you're going to be in trouble." What would it mean to Tim Sauter to win the Raybestos Rookie Championship? "I don't have a very good track record winning rookie of the year in anything. I want to be in the hunt for it and let people know 'Hey, he is capable of doing it.' Right now, it's too early to be worried about that." What do you think it's going to take for someone to come out of the pack and catch Biffle? "I think Biffle has a big head start and I think they've got an advantage with their organization. They've got a better notebook and so on and so forth. It's going to depend on how they hold up. I know what they're doing, I know what I expected them to do, and they're doing exactly what I expected them to do. I knew before the season started that Scott, Jamie and myself were going to have our work cut out for us to stay with them. That's what is happening. It's going to depend on how strong they are and how good they're people are." RAYBESTOS ROOKIE CONTENDER SCOTT WIMMER DRIVES THE JANI-KING PONTIAC FOR CAR OWNER BILL DAVIS. HE IS TIED FOR SECOND IN RAYBESTOS ROOKIE POINTS WITH TIM SAUTER. ENTERING THE PEPSI 300 AT NASHVILLE, WIMMER IS 14th IN BUSCH SERIES POINTS. HE HAS LED 60.00 MILES IN 2001 AND HAS BEEN THE HIGHEST QUALIFYING RAYBESTOS ROOKIE TWICE (DAYTONA AND ATLANTA). Tell us a little bit about Scott Wimmer's background before you came to the Busch Series. "I came from the short tracks of Wisconsin. I've raced short tracks my whole life. I started running down south a little bit, ran Speedweeks in Florida over at New Smyrna and ran some Hooters Pro Cup races, then started racing ASA last year. We had good success in that then we moved up to Busch this year." Who did you look up to back when you first started racing? "My uncle raced back in the 70's and early 80's. I looked up to him and Dick Trickle, Tom Refner, just a lot of old legends from our place. I grew up with them. My dad was in racing with my uncle for a long time and the Sauter family. We all saw each other at the racetrack all the time. I had a lot of role models because they're so many good racers up there. It would be hard to pick just one favorite because I had so many." How did this opportunity come about for you to compete in the Busch Series? "Bill Davis was in-between drivers at his Busch team. I think he saw that I won a couple of ASA races. He called me down and had me do some testing for them. Everything went good with testing and I went to my first race and I didn't make it (qualify). He gave me the opportunity to run four races at the end of the year for him which I think if I did good in them he was going to let me race this year. I ended up running good in the Busch races. Really what I think happened was when I went to the ARCA race in Atlanta and we made the Cup race that sealed the deal for me. I'm very fortunate he gave me this opportunity. I'm just happy to be here." What's the one thing that you can point to that's been the most challenging about competing in the Busch Series? "The weight and the tracks. ASA cars are really down on horsepower. You are talking about a 150 to 200 horsepower difference. I really haven't been on anything over a mile. I raced the Milwaukee Mile was about the biggest track I've been on until I got to Daytona this year. I'm still getting adjusted to new people. It's been me and my dad for my whole career. You start getting into a deal where you're working with people and everybody has to be thinking on the same page if you're going to do good. That's been the biggest problem right now. The team and I are communicating real well. We've just got to hammer down and get more consistent." What are some of the goals that you and the team would like to accomplish? "I think we just want to be more consistent than anything. Right now, we're not where we want to be. We want to be in the top-10 every week. We want to have qualifying runs in the top-10 and finish in the top-10 every week. Our qualifying hasn't been near the top-10. Our finishes have been consistently just out of the top-10 so that's one good point. If we can run in the top-10 every week, I think then the wins will come to you. You get in those deals where if you run there every week it's going to happen sooner or later." What would it mean to you to win the Raybestos Rookie of the Year title? "It would be huge. The Busch Series is somewhere you want to get and to get here and win Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors in your first year would be something else. It's going to be real tough with Greg Biffle and (Tim) Sauter and all the rookies. I think they're doing a great job this year and have run up front in a lot of races. We'll keep hammering it. Hopefully we can get all our bad luck out of the way early." Are you happy with your season so far? "I'm really happy. You would always like to be doing better. The guys and I get along great. We're having a blast. We're going to try hard." What kind of input does Dave Blaney and Ward Burton give you? Can they transfer anything from the Winston Cup side to the Busch Series? "They help us a lot. Dave Blaney helps me a ton on my driving style. Anywhere new that I go he's the first one over helping me out, trying to get the line figured out and stuff like that. I'm pretty fortunate to have teammates like that because not a lot guys can rely on people like that to help you get around the track."
In-Car Radios | Silly Season | Forum | Photo Gallery | Newsletter | In the Pits
©Copyright 2001 Race 2 Win |