Greg Biffle broke a 24-race winless NASCAR Sprint Cup streak for Ford Racing on Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
For Biffle and the No. 16 3M team, however, it was a 64-race drought since their dramatic victory at Dover. That win came after Biffle’s victorious dogfight with Jimmie Johnson in Loudon to kick-off the 2008 Chase.
Still, 64 races?
In real time, that’s one year, 10 months and 11 days. In race time, particularly for Biffle and a team as driven as his Pit Bulls, those 679 days felt like an eternity.
“This team is all about fight,” said crew chief Greg Erwin. “The 16 guys have been up and down, and this core group of people that we’ve had with us now since about the end of 2007 all the way through the 2008 season we’ve hung at each other’s backs.
“Being able to come out and over the last three weeks show the improvement that the team has shown — the qualifying efforts have been significantly better. The results have been better and it means a lot to finally capitalize. We feel like we’ve been just this far off for quite a while. We were on the fortunate end today, so we are very grateful.”
It’s been a rough year for Erwin and his crew. But a turnaround began in July. Biffle qualified fourth at Chicagoland Speedway, but an engine failure ended the team’s night 42 laps before the finish. Last week at Indy, Biffle had a rocket ship — a new car built on a platform with shared technology from the Richard Petty Motorsports camp. On the last stop, Erwin called for four tires.Biffle cruised from eighth to third over the remaining 20 laps, but with Jamie McMurray in clean air, the No. 1 car was unstoppable.
On Sunday night, Erwin’s call for a two-tire pit stop finally paid off.
“No one is harder on themselves than Greg is,” said Rodney Fetters, jackman for the Pit Bulls and assistant pit crew coach. “Sometimes we have to keep sharp objects away from Erwin. As smart as he is, sometimes he lacks the confidence to make that call. When Todd Parrott was on the box last year, his experience in calling a race helped Greg a lot.
“But you won’t find a better motivator. We’re like the 25 musketeers. We stick together. We’re all about each other. And that all starts with Erwin.”
It’s not surprising that Biffle and the No. 16 crew delivered Jack Roush his first victory since former teammate McMurray at Talladega last fall. While all the elite Roush drivers have been critical about the equipment during their struggles over the past year, Biffle has not disparaged his team.
Biffle has not experienced the upheaval in team structure Matt Kenseth has with two new crew chiefs since February. He’s not had major changes to his pit crew such as Carl Edwards. And unlike Edwards, who remains in his hometown of Columbia, Mo., Biffle calls North Carolina home. The veteran driver at Roush Fenway Racing spends a couple of days in the shop each week and takes his team out for regular get-togethers with teammates and their spouses.
Biffle’s commitment to the team has allowed Erwin to maintain a sense of promise with his men.
“Just picture yourself working 60, 70, 100 hours a week, 40-50 weeks out of the year and coming up short and watching these guys kick your butt every week and bask in the glory, and being able to walk in front of those guys at 6 o’clock every Monday morning, look them in the eye and tell them, ‘Hey, we’ll go get ‘em next week,’ Erwin said. “That’s what you’ve got to do and there’s not many doubters on that team. They’ll do anything I ask them to do. Anybody in that company will do anything we ask them to do. They’ll build us whatever we ask them to build us, and they’ll come in here and they’ll fight until they throw the checkered flag.
“Whether you’re fifth, 10th, 12th, wherever you’re at, there is really no quit in any of those guys that are with me and work around us in that 3M 16 shop. It’s gonna be a lot easier (Monday) morning to stand in front of them, I can tell you that. It’s a big momentum boost and perfect timing.”
Over the last few years, team owner Jack Roush spent most of his time in the No. 16 hauler. He would smile as he spoke of Erwin’s contributions to the team. Roush’s chief engineer Chris Andrews sits on the No. 16 pit box on race days.
And though still hospitalized from his Tuesday plane crash, Roush continued to inspire what has become the flagship team at RFR. For Biffle, the sentiment kicked in with five laps remaining in the race.
“I started thinking that this race was meant to be,” Biffle said. “It’s for Jack. Then I thought spending all the time I’ve spent with the Ford people and how desperate they are to prove that they’ve got good product. They’ve got great cars and trucks, but they want to improve on the race track, they want to win. And then I thought about all the 3M guys, but Jack mostly. I just thought, ‘This is gonna be a great day if I can complete this thing.’
“In Victory Lane he told me that he had never met somebody that had the will to win like I do. He didn’t say that because I drive for him, he said he feels that out of any of the drivers. That kind of put goose bumps on my arms. I’m glad that he thinks of me like that. I give 110 percent all the time. I’ll never give up. No matter how grim the outcome can be, I’ll still be digging no matter what.”
And with Erwin and the No. 16 crew supporting Biffle, it will be a fight until the season's end.
