It’s an early spring in Greg Biffle’s world, where life is blooming.
“I’ve got to pinch myself,” Biffle said Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he won the pole for Sunday’s Food City 500 Sprint Cup race. “I think I’m dreaming. Everything’s going right, right now.”
Biffle has finished third in all three Sprint Cup races this year and has a 10-point lead atop the series point standings.
Biffle outran AJ Allmendinger by .001 of a second to claim his first Bristol pole. It’s his 10th career pole. Biffle’s speed was 125.215, while Allmendinger ran 125.207.
Following Biffle and Allmendinger in the top five were Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski.
Biffle has been praising his crew chief, Matt Puccia, all season and continued that refrain Friday.
“I’m going to quit mentioning his name and start talking about myself,” he said, smiling. “I just needed the right combination. You can ask a lot of these drivers. It’s not normally all the driver, all the team or anything. It’s the combination. All I ask for is to have the opportunity to compete and win.
“I know this isn’t going to last all season, but I’m enjoying the hell out of it right now.”
Biffle said Puccia and the other new members of the No. 16 team are devoted to the task.
“There isn’t a rock that’s not unturned on that car,” he said. “He won’t settle for everything not being perfect.”
Rookie Timmy Hill was the only driver who failed to qualify. Robby Gordon withdrew from the race after experiencing engine problems.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.