HAMPTON, GA - OCTOBER 26: Greg Biffle, driver of the #16 Lumber Liquidators Ford, poses with the Bud pole award after qualifying first position for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Pepboys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on October 26, 2007 in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Marc Serota/Getty Images)
October 26, 2007
By Bruce Martin
PA SportsTicker Contributing Editor
HAMPTON, Georgia (Ticker) - On a day when Carl Edwards' fit of rage earned him the nickname "The Carl" the pole for Sunday's NASCAR Nextel Cup Pep Boys 500 went to a driver known as "The Biff."
Greg Biffle, Edwards' teammate at Roush Fenway Racing, scored his first pole of the season and the fourth of his career Friday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He put his Ford Fusion on the pole with a fast lap at 192.453 miles per hour.
"I'm kind of surprised we haven't won a pole here before because we have run very well at Atlanta," Biffle said. "Nobody else seemed to pick up speed after Kurt Busch ran and was on the pole. I knew when I went out that turns 3 and 4 were the key.
"Once I took the green flag, I knew the track was good and the car stuck in turns 3 and 4 so I kept the throttle down. It was just a great lap. The car handled so well."
Biffle scored his first victory of the season at Kansas Speedway earlier this month and is ready to take away some of the spotlight from the drivers in NASCAR's "Chase."
"I love it," Biffle said. "We all know that the story is `The Chase' but I've said before if you don't make `The Chase' you are left out on the outside. Last week, I finished seventh at Martinsville and that was a win for me. I didn't burn the brakes on the car and I was happier than Jimmie Johnson, who won the race.
"It's fun to come up here and mess with these guys because we have the cars and the teams to be in `The Chase.' It seems more relevant now. We feel like we're coming into our own right now."
Biffle, however, could not dodge the question of the day when asked about the episode between his Roush Fenway teammates, Matt Kenseth and Edwards after last Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway.
"The moral of the story was that Carl was a little bit out of line and Carl knows that," Biffle said. "We just need to mend that relationship between him and Matt and they need to run better on the race track, that's what it boils down to. We've all been taught treat people how you want to be treated.
"At Martinsville, I had a front row seat, they both went into the corner and Carl went into the corner too hot. They got together and got together again on corner exit. I think that upset Matt. In my eyes, I don't see anything out of the ordinary. Carl was really upset about that but if you bump into a guy you expect Carl to bump you back."
A former driver at Roush, Kurt Busch, had a fast qualifying run for Penske Racing, putting his Dodge on the outside of the front row with a lap at 192.426 mph.
"It was a great lap the car drove," Busch said. "I was ecstatic with that lap. I was able to go out and hope for the best. Congratulations to `The Biff' he put a great lap together.
"Starting second gives us a great opportunity to be outside in clean air and gives us a great pit location. That first pit box is the key. We'll be looking for an opening in the car and then go from there. The car has been turning very well for me."
Busch believes the 1.54-mile oval is one of the best on the schedule in terms of creating competitive racing.
"This track is in its prime," Busch said. "Any groove the car runs in makes it different whether it's tight or loose you can find a place on the track where the car can have a good run. You have to have the balance of best worlds to have a good run. Wether it be long green flag runs or short green flag runs. You have to be ready for both."
A big surprise in qualifications was Dale Jarrett, who qualified third in a Toyota Camry at 191.655 mph. It was by far Jarrett's best qualifying effort of the season.
"We just took over the upset of the year from Appalachian State over Michigan," Jarrett said, referring to this year's big upset in college football on Labor Day Weekend. "It was just a perfect car."
Jarrett will run five Cup events next year and two non-points races before retiring as a driver after next May's All-Star Race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He's glad to know he can still be fast before hanging it up.
"It makes it more fun to know that I can still do this and getting the team up and running," Jarrett said. "I'm completely happy with the situation and scenario that I have for next year.
"Since I haven't finished better than 22nd all year that would be better but that's not a very lofty goal. I miss seeing those guys up front other than when they lap me. This gives us another chance and it couldn't be in a better place. What is a good run any more has changed tremendously because of the level of competition. If we could finish in the top 15 that would be great. We're still fighting and battling hard."
Kasey Kahne was fourth in Dodge at 191.595 mph with Dale Earnhardt Jr's Chevrolet rounding out the top five at 191.489 mph.
Jimmie Johnson, who trails Cup points leader Jeff Gordon by 53 points, qualified sixth at 191.199 mph. Gordon was eighth at 190.719 mph.
This race is being promoted as a celebration of Gordon's 15th year since he made his first Cup start in 1992. That was also the final race for Richard Petty.
Jarrett competed in that pivotal race and he won the very next race, the 1993 Daytona 500, which catapulted his career in the sport.
"It's been a really good 15 years for me, too," Jarrett said. "I was honored to be in that race with Richard going out and Jeff coming in. It was a tremendous 15 years for myself and my family. The sport has taken on a whole another level since that time and Jeff has been a reason for that.
"Hopefully I'm not through making a little bit of news and on Sunday I'd like to make some more."
Biffle earns first pole of season
Congrats to the Biff
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