Mountain Dew Southern 500 * Darlington Raceway * Sunday, August 31,
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 Grainer Team has used at
Atlanta (13th-place finish), Texas (28th), Charlotte (16th) and Chicago
(20th).
Greg Biffle on racing at Darlington:
"Darlington is definitely one of the more challenging race tracks on
the circuit. Both ends are different and it can be hard to get the
perfect setup under the car. You almost have to shoot for getting the
car hooked up for one end of the track and then just deal
with the
other. Everyone has heard it time and again, but you have to race the
track and not the competitors at Darlington. If you start racing hard
against another guy you'll wear the tires out or find yourself riding
up against the wall. The key to Darlington is survival, and if you're
still in contention with about 50 or so to go, then you can get after
it.
"The Grainger team has had really strong race cars the last few weeks
but at times luck hasn't been on our side. The guys aren't giving
up and they're working so hard to improve the program. It's showing
with our on track performance and it's exciting to go to the track
each week knowing you're going to have a competitive race car.
We're getting there as a team and I believe this final stretch of
races is going to be prosperous for the No.16."
Crew Chief Doug Richert on racing at Darlington:
"Greg tends to excel on the tracks that pose unique challenges.
Darlington is probably the most difficult on the drivers, because you
have to constantly stay focused. One slip at that place and you're in
big trouble. The key for us will be to get a good handling car under
Greg so he doesn't have to overdrive it and wear the tires out.
Ultimately, the guys that take the best care of their equipment will be
the ones running up front at the end of the race."
ROUSH RACING FAST FACTS:
Mark Martin has won once at the Southern 500 on 9/5/93.
Martin has captured two poles at the 'track too tough to
tame' (4/3/89 and 3/22/98).
Martin had one of the cars to beat in the spring race at
Darlington, leading 89 laps in route to a fourth-place finish. A dropped
lug nut late in the race forced Martin to come back into the pits and
ended his shot at the victory.
Martin won a track record seven times at Darlington in the Busch
series.
Martin won a record seven Darlington poles in the Busch Series
as well.
Martin has finished inside the top 10 in 21 of 35 races at
Darlington and inside the top five 14 times.
Matt Kenseth now has 19 top-10 finishes in 24 starts, a
league-leading statistic. He also has ten top-five finishes; tied with
Bobby Labonte's 10 top-five finishes.
Kenseth's 2003 Winston Cup point lead is now 351 points over
second place Dale Earnhardt, Jr. It is the widest margin of the entire
year for Kenseth.
If Matt wins the Mountain Dew Southern 500 event, his
Winston-leader bonus payout would be a record $250,000.
Kenseth has completed all but two laps of competition in the
2003 season.
With Kurt Busch's win at Bristol, only Ryan Newman has won
more Winston Cup races this year. Newman has five and Busch has four.
Busch's crew chief Jimmy Fennig is the winningest active crew
chief in the Winston Cup Series with 24 wins.
Jeff Burton is the most recent driver to have back to back wins
at Darlington in the Winston Cup Series (1999) and Busch Series (2002).
Burton has eight top-five and 12 top-10 finishes at Darlington.
Burton's average finish at Darlington is 9.5.
The No. 99 CITGO Ford will don a red, white and blue MDA paint
scheme in conjunction with the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon. This
will be the third year CITGO and Burton have teamed up on the track for
this great cause.
