Bass Pro Shops 500 * Atlanta Motor Speedway * Sunday, October 26, 2003
Greg Biffle
Team: Roush Racing
Car: No. 16
Sponsor: Grainger
Owner: Jack Roush
Driver: Greg Biffle
Crew Chief: Doug Richert
Chassis: JR-010: This is the same car the Grainger Team previously used
in the first Atlanta race (13th-place finish), Texas (28th), the first
Lowe's race (16th), Chicago (20th) and the second Darlington (10th).
Biffle led three different times with the car at Darlington for a total
of 70 laps.
Greg Biffle on racing at Atlanta:
"Atlanta is breathtaking, especially during your qualifying laps. If
your car is hooked up you can hold the throttle to the mat pretty much
all the way around. It's an extremely fast track and really fun to
race on. The surface promotes a lot of side-by-side racing because
there are multiple grooves. The fans always get a good show when the
circuit visits there.
"The Grainger Team put together two solid runs at Atlanta in the
Busch car and we posted a respectable finish in our first Cup race there
earlier this year. I really like the car we're taking this weekend
and it's probably my favorite of the fleet. We led a lot of laps with
it at Darlington and hopefully we'll be able to do the same this
weekend in Atlanta."
Crew Chief Doug Richert on racing at Atlanta:
"The most important
thing we can do is get Greg comfortable with the
car. Atlanta is super fast and I can only imagine that it's not too
fun for the driver if the car isn't handling that well. The track has
a few different racing grooves so it does allow for you to search around
and find something. Greg has done well there in the past and he likes
racing on the 1.5-mile tracks like Atlanta, Charlotte and Texas. I look
for us to have a solid weekend in Atlanta."
ROUSH RACING FAST FACTS:
· Mark Martin posted a pair of eighth-place finishes at Atlanta in
2002, but finished 42nd there in the spring after early mechanical
problems.
· Martin has scored 17 top-10 and nine top-five finishes in 35
starts at Atlanta.
· Martin has won twice at Atlanta, with both wins coming in the
fall ('91 and '94).
· Martin's lone pole at Atlanta came in 1992, but he has started
in the top four in three of the last five races there.
· Martin has started inside the top 10 in Atlanta in 22 of 35
races and inside the top five 16 times.
· Matt Kenseth now has 23 top-10 finishes in 32 starts, a
league-leading statistic. He also has 10 top-five finishes.
· Kenseth's 2003 Winston Cup point lead is now 240 points over
second place Kevin Harvick with just four races to go.
· If Kenseth wins the Aaron's 500 event, his Winston-leader
bonus payout would be a record $330,000.
· Kenseth took the point lead on his last trip to Atlanta Motor
Speedway. He has held it ever since.
· Kurt Busch sits 11th in the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series point
standings after 32 events, 576 points out of the fifth place and 882
points out of first.
· Busch is running his final special paint scheme of the year for
Rubbermaid Commercial Products.
· Busch is the defending champion of the event, winning the 2002
NAPA 500.
· Busch's crew chief Jimmy Fennig is tied for winningest active
crew chief in the Winston Cup Series with 24 wins.
· Jeff Burton has five top-five and eight top-10 finishes at
Atlanta Motor Speedway.
· Burton scored six top-10 finishes in the seven races at Atlanta
between November 1996 and March 2000.
· Jon Wood and Carl Edwards combined have five wins, three poles,
22 top-five and 32 top-10 finishes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck
Series.
