UAW-GM Quality 500 - Ford Thursday Quotes

Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 National Guard/Subway Taurus, comes into the weekend third in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series point standings and trails leader Tony Stewart by 88 points. Biffle, who is tied for the series lead with five wins this season, spoke about some topical issues prior to Friday's first practice.

GREG BIFFLE - No. 16 National Guard/Subway Taurus - IF THEY REDUCE THE NUMBER OF TEAMS AN OWNER CAN HAVE FROM FIVE TO SAY THREE. HOW WOULD THAT AFFECT TESTING? "It's not gonna affect testing because they've already made a testing rule that you can only go test at the tracks they're gonna choose. They've already chosen them. So I can't go test Martinsville because that's the race track I need to test at or that we don't run well at, we can't test there anymore - or until it's on the schedule. The testing policy has changed next year to where NASCAR picks five race tracks and those are the only five race tracks you can go test at. Take your pick. They've cut out the I can go to Kansas, Kurt can go to Phoenix, Mark can go to Atlanta. That's not gonna happen anymore. The one thing I don't like about that - for instance - Las Vegas is on the schedule. We're gonna have a new car, so we're probably gonna go to Vegas, but there are race tracks on the test schedule that I wouldn't go test at. We can't go test road races - Sears Point or Watkins Glen. We always go test at least one of them to get the driver more than the car ready to road race, so that's gonna hurt because if a team needs to improve at a particular race track, they're not gonna be able to improve there until the selected year that that track might come on the test schedule. To go beyond what I think about the teams being divided up, you've got to remember that just until the beginning of this season we were three and two anyway (at Roush). The 97 and 17 are in their own building. The 6, 99 and 16 are in their own building, so we ran like separate teams anyway. They built all their own cars across the street. They were a completely independent facility to us other than the chassis, and anybody can go buy a chassis anywhere they want. So what difference is it gonna make or what's it gonna do? I don't believe it will do anything. Depending on what rules they make, can we not share information with the Yates cars? I would have to say that with how good our cars are and how good that our teams are, if we shared all of our information with an Evernham or a Childress or any other one of those deals out there, and work together, their teams would prospectively be similar to ours, I would have to say. It's a matter of sharing information and knowing what we're doing versus who owns them. And just because somebody else owns them does that mean we're not gonna share information? That's totally impossible." LIKE INSIDER TRADING, RIGHT? "Yeah. We could provide, and I'll just pick somebody out of the blue. We could provide Evernham - we have no ownership, no alliance, no anything - we could provide them with every bit of information that we gather. It's a totally separate owner and separate manufacturer. Obviously, we wouldn't do that, but what difference is it gonna make? I don't know. I understand what they're trying to do to make some of these other two car teams - Penske has both of their cars in the chase. Evernham has one in there. Childress doesn't have any in there. I suspect that next year he will. I don't think who owns the car has to do with it. And I said our five teams - we run like five individual teams sharing information. We build our own race cars. We don't have separate shops build our cars and put all the sheetmetal on them and all that. We do that ourselves. We have our own body guys. The 17 has their own body guys. The 6 has their own body guys. So we run like independent teams, we just share information." SOME PEOPLE SHARE ENGINES. SOME PEOPLE SHARE OTHER THINGS. "And you know what, it's not gonna make a difference two years from now anyway. One guy could own every team. NASCAR could own every car. They're gonna make them like IROC cars, so every car is identical. That's gonna be really bad. That's exactly when the sport will makes its turn (motions with his hand going down). Right now it's like this (hand pointing up). It's been like this with TV ratings, fan participation - audience - it's just straight up and it has been forever, and it's gonna stop at some point or level off. Our job is to maintain that intensity so those viewers that we have right now come back year after year, week after week and watch. IROC racing is boring." LETTING A TEAMMATE LEAD A LAP BECAME AN ISSUE LAST WEEK BETWEEN MATT AND KURT. IS THAT GOING TO BE A PROBLEM FROM HERE ON OUT OR DOES EVERYBODY UNDERSTAND? "Everybody understands, but another thing you've got to look at is what are the chances of two of us running first and second - and one guy being close enough to the other guy and it really being a factor. It may not happen the rest of the year." BUT YOU GUYS ARE STRONG ON THESE MILE AND A HALVES. IT COULD BE AN ISSUE AT SOME POINT. "It might be. We'll just work it out amongst ourselves when we get there. Like I told Mark. Mark called me and talked to me about it. Last week at the end of the race was a perfect example. That was as close as I could get to him. What was I, 15-20 car lengths behind him? That's as close as I could get. I could not get any closer. I was driving my butt off and he was driving his butt off. Now let's say that's lap 75 and I say, 'Mark, let me lead a lap.' Can he afford to slow down that much on the race track and let me lead one lap and then try to take off again? He can't do that. He cannot give up that much track position." HAS IT HAPPENED? "Sometimes, depending on when it is. We'll give up four or five car lengths to let a guy lead a lap, or one if a guy is right there maybe. But it's unrealistic to give up that much to let a guy lead a lap, and the way that we need to race is like Matt. Kurt couldn't pass Matt. I went up there and got beside Matt, and the minute I got my tire inside of Matt he let me go. He didn't race me anymore. That's what teammates are supposed to do right there. If I can get my nose alongside of him - he could have raced me down into the next corner and pulled the air off me and we could have raced side-by-side for nine laps, but he didn't. He let me go and just got back going about our business. Now if I'm two car lengths behind him, he's not gonna slow down and let me pass him for fun." THOSE FIVE POINTS COULD PLAY A ROLL AT THE END. "They do. If you want to lead a lap, you better have a good enough car to lead a lap."

Mark Martin, driver of the No. 6 Viagra Taurus, is coming off his first points win of the season after taking the checkered flag in last week's Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway. Martin, who tested here at Lowe's Motor Speedway last week, spoke about track conditions and his hopes for the race after Friday's first practice.

MARK MARTIN - No. 6 Viagra Taurus - YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE TRACK SURFACE NOW? "They've made a huge effort to try to make it better and it's a lot better than it was. It was in very poor shape when we came here to test. So far, so good. I really wish that we could go back before we ever touched it, but it is in good condition and, hopefully, we'll see. Hopefully, the drivers will be able to race without running over one another." WHAT DID THE RUBBER DO AS FAR AS THE FEEL? "It's a whole lot faster. The track was incredibly loose when we were here the first day. We only tested one day. Biffle and Stewart were here the second day and I don't think the track was a whole lot better, but the Busch cars came later and they liked it. They said the track was good and they didn't know what we were talking about, so we didn't wreck a race car. We were fast in the test. The car seems fast now. The track seems in great condition. We'll see what happens." IS IT HARD TO GET GRIP? "Right now it's not. Right now it's not hard to get a hold of. Right now it rolls the eyes back in your head it's so fast. I guess that's a good thing. That means there's a lot of grip there - way more than there was when the Cup cars tested." COULD THE SHEAR SPEED MAKE FOR A CRAZY RACE LIKE MAY? "It could. I don't know. I can't predict what the race is gonna be like. I predicted the May race was gonna be like it was, but I can't predict this one just yet. It's too early to draw a hard line about it, but the shame is that it was great before it was touched. Now it is what it is, and now they're talking about repaving it and it won't be great repaved for a few years. The sad thing is that I don't think there's a driver in the garage that would say they wished it was repaved versus the way it was. It's a great place to race." WHY DO YOU THINK HUMPY MESSED WITH A PLACE THAT EVERYBODY LIKED WHAT IT WAS? "He's looking for side-by-side racing, and there was some side-by-side racing but there was no Talladega racing. It was a great place to race. It was just fine. It was rough and everything else. Michael Waltrip and few of them - Kasey Kahne - did run high here, but, for the most part, people ran on the bottom. That's about all you're gonna see here under most conditions. They may change that if they change the banking, but anything with a heritage like this race track, I would have not messed with it. I would have saved my money." PLACES LIKE HERE AND ATLANTA WHERE SPEEDS ARE SO FAST, IS A MILE AND A HALF TRACK JUST TOO SMALL? "Atlanta is wonderful to race at, but it's been 10 years since it was paved. And if they won't pave it for another 10 years, it'll continue to be great to race at. Now it is not wicked fast as it was. They don't obviously have to be incredibly fast. You're talking to an old-timer here. I say if the race is too boring, stay home. That's not what Humpy would say. I don't own this race track. I'm not the one trying to fill the seats. I understand everybody has a view on this thing." IS THIS STILL A GOOD TRACK FOR YOU? "It is. We won the All-Star race here on it and it's better now than it was in the All-Star race. They've made improvements to it." SO COULD THIS BE FOR YOU WHERE MAYBE YOU MAKE UP FOR TALLADEGA. MAYBE YOU RUN WELL AND SOMEBODY ELSE GETS CAUGHT UP IN SOME BAD LUCK. "To answer your question, if I miss the wreck and they don't, then yes. But we don't even know if this is gonna be a crashfest or not yet. It's hard to say. I give the race track a good possibility of being fine for us to race on by Saturday night. Obviously, tomorrow night's race we'll know. We'll know after watching tomorrow night's race what we're gonna deal with Saturday night." WHAT WAS THE REACTION LIKE SUNDAY NIGHT WHEN YOU GOT HOME AND SAW MATT AND ARLENE? "It was pretty cool. They were here for the All-Star race and that was incredibly exciting. It wasn't as exciting obviously. Matt is pretty cool. He was like, 'Hey, you want to see what I'm working on up here? By the way, good race.' It wasn't like he was jumping up and down or balloons and everything. It was, 'Oh, by the way, good race.' Arlene is really happy because she knows how much effort goes in by how many people - not just me, but tons of people who are making sacrifices to get a little taste of that once in a while."

Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Scotts Taurus, has a streak of three straight top-10 finishes going into Saturday night's NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race and is currently sixth in the point standings. Edwards, who trails leader Tony Stewart by 95 points, held a Q&A session before qualifying.

CARL EDWARDS - No. 99 Scotts Taurus - YOU'RE SIXTH IN POINTS. HOW DID YOU GET THERE? "I remember Steve Myers you're talking about. He's a cool guy. They make this computer game I play and I saw him wearing a t-shirt down by the pool and I was like, 'Hey, do you guys work for that company?' He said he was scared, but it's amazing. I remember that weekend very vividly. I don't know. I'm just very fortunate. I've teamed up with Jack Roush and I couldn't be with a more dominant team than I am right now. I've had great crew chiefs. Doug Richert was my first crew chief when I came down here and I think I learned a lot of good things from him. Kevin Starland was awesome as well and now I've got Bob Osborne, who I think is the best crew chief in NASCAR. I just feel like I've really been in the right place at the right time. Other than that, as a competitor I try not to settle for anything less than perfection even though we don't achieve it most of the time. I'm just very lucky to be a part of the team I'm part of." DO YOU FEEL YOU'VE GAINED RESPECT FROM YOUR COMPETITORS AND YOU'RE NOT A ROOKIE ANYMORE? "I don't know. You'd have to ask my fellow competitors about that. It is a little odd that we were able to run for rookie of the year in the Busch Series and not the Cup Series, but that's the way the rules are written. Brad Parrott, if you'd have seen him when they told him we were gonna be able to run for rookie of the year how excited he was, you wouldn't have believed it because that meant we got more tests and things like that which have been helpful. I think Daytona was my second race in a Busch car - the Daytona race this year. As far as the rookie stripe, I still feel like I'm learning every week. I still make mistakes that sometimes rub guys the wrong way and I'm getting to learn how to race these cars a little bit better every week, but I think by the end of the year I'll be ready to take it off." SOME THINK YOU MIGHT BE JUST HAPPY TO BE IN THE CHASE, BUT IS WINNING THIS TITLE A REAL POSSIBILITY IN YOUR FIRST YEAR? "First of all, I am really just happy to be in the chase. That was a huge weight off my shoulders, but you hit it on the head. I've actually had people comment to me, they misunderstand the joy that I get out of racing. They misinterpret that and they think that I might not be as competitive as I could be. All you have to do is ask the people that are close to me how competitive I am. I do enjoy this. It's a wonderful opportunity to get to go race these cars, but we are focusing on winning this Nextel Cup Series championship. It would be the greatest thing in the world. I feel like we almost can't lose because nobody expected us to be in this position, but as cool as it is to be in the chase and as awesome as it has been to win two races, to win the championship would just be such an unbelievable accomplishment that how could you not go out there and chase it and fight for it, so that's what we're doing." WHAT IS YOUR THOUGHT ON GIVING A TEAMMATE THE CHANCE TO LEAD A LAP? "Honestly, I don't know what the best case is. Mark and I spoke about it a little bit. Greg and I talked about it. I haven't spoken with Matt or Kurt. I definitely wouldn't give anyone else other than my teammates five points, and I have a feeling that if we are in fact in a position to win this championship at the end of the year, we're gonna be racing one of our teammates so the competitor in me says there is no way I would give anybody five points. On the other side of that, we do have five Roush cars in the top 10 and there may be a little bit of a middle ground where maybe we could try to help one another as much as we could up until three races to go or up until we see who is actually in a position to win the championship. Or we could just decide not to help one another. I haven't decided yet. What I'm gonna try to do is make my decision on how I'm gonna race my teammates and whether we're gonna give up five points, I'm gonna try to do that before the race starts this weekend so we can just get on with it. Those are really hard decisions to make on the race track. It's better to get that aired out before you go racing. As far as I'm concerned, if all four of my teammates say, 'Carl, we're not giving you any points.' That's fine with me, I'll just reciprocate. I just haven't made a decision yet and that's something I've been thinking a lot about this week." POLE SPEED MIGHT BE 194 MPH TONIGHT. IS THAT TOO FAST? "The track is very fast. I was really nervous coming here because of everything I heard. I hadn't tested here. I didn't even come watch the testing. It is extremely fast. Casey Mears and I were talking about it the other day. He said, 'You know what, it doesn't matter to me how fast it is. We're here to race fast cars and if you don't want to race fast cars, don't race them.' And, in a way, I really kind of agree with that. It is fast, but we do our best. We've got SAFER barriers. I don't know what you can do other than make the cars slower. I don't know how you could make it slower. I don't know what the answer to that is, but, to me personally, I feel like it's extremely fast but I'm having fun with it. Until I hit something, like you say, I'll enjoy it. It's a tough call because as soon as you say that somebody goes and gets hurt, so I don't know what the answer to that is. But it is extremely fast. In the Busch car it was the first time I noticed I didn't have a right side net thing to hold my headrest. I said, 'Boy, my headrest looks awfully fragile today." CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE CNN SPECIAL COMING UP? HOW DID YOU DISPELL THE MYTH OF DRIVERS NOT BEING ATHLETES? WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS? "You're speaking about the CNN special that's gonna air Sunday night with Dr. Sonjay Gupta. We had a good time with that and, essentially, I've seen it and it's great. It's really interesting and it tells both sides of it. You've got guys like Mark Martin or even like myself - we try real hard to be as fit as we can, and you've got guys like Tony Stewart who admittedly exercises by changing the channels on his TV. Mark and Tony are both fast. They go about it different ways. I do believe for myself personally, I work out because I feel like it gives me an advantage sometimes. I feel like it's worth doing. It benefits racing and it benefits me in everyday life. As far as race car drivers not being athletes, some of the toughest people I know are race car drivers. It was an eye-opening experience for me the first time I drove a Craftsman Truck to realize how hot it was and just how draining the race was. I thought my truck was the only one that was that hot. Once I realized that's how it was gonna be, I knew I was gonna be in for a lot of work. Definitely it is a grueling sport sometimes. It's not always a grueling sport. As far as performance enhancing drugs, I don't know a lot about them but I don't see and kind of feel like most of them are geared - from what I understand - they gain in muscle mass and I don't know that that would inherently make you a better race car driver, having more muscle mass. I don't think there's anything, unless there's something that can make your neurons or something fire better in your brain, I don't know that there's a drug that would help you in a race car, really. I don't know." WHAT ABOUT BEING ABLE TO FOCUS? "For me personally I've been told that if I were to take something like Ridelin or something like that I would be a little focused more, but I don't know. I've never experimented with any of that. I don't know. It's a good question. I guess if you could go search something out like that and experiment with it and use it to your advantage that would be better, but I've never heard of anything like that." IS THERE ANY MYTH OUT THERE YOU'D LIKE TO DISPELL ABOUT YOURSELF? "That's a great question. I really appreciate the opportunity to respond to that. I wish there was something that ticked me off that I read about, but there's nothing. All of you guys have been awesome. I know after one of my wins I thanked you guys. All of you have done an awesome job of just relaying exactly what's going on. There really hasn't been anything. From the very beginning what I try to do is when somebody asks me a question try to tell them how I feel about it. Sometimes I sugarcoat it just a little too much, but, really, no. I think you guys have done an awesome job. You've got me pretty much pegged. This is what I am." ANY THOUGHTS ON THE TRACK TODAY COMPARED TO MAY? "I was surprised and pleasantly surprised. I think the track is really awesome right now and I say that because in May it seemed like there were spots on the race track that might have been real fast and some that didn't have a lot of grip. Right now the whole thing is fast. You can drive in the corner and screw up and slide eight feet up the race track and run the same lap time because it has the grip up there just like it does on the bottom. It's mostly in one and two, but the sun is beating on three and four right now, so I can't quite get a bearing on three and four just yet. But it seems like even though the track is faster it's easier for me to keep control of the race car at the speeds just because it's a more uniform surface. So, in that respect, they did an awesome job changing it. I was really nervous about it though, seriously."