Biffle looks to make up Chase points

With the 2005 NASCAR Chase for the Nextel Cup winding down pundits have sized up this year's championship as a two man battle between Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson. Well. Greg Biffle has something to say about that.

Biffle trails Stewart by just 75 points with three races to go to determine this year's winner. Biffle hopes that at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend he can make-up valuable ground on the top-two.

During the spring race at TMS Biffle and the No. 16 Roush Ford team dominated; leading 219 of 334 laps on his way to his second win of the season. Biffle will run the same chassis this weekend that he won the spring event at TMS and at California.

"I've had some success there in all three NASCAR Series and we're taking the car that we won with in the spring," commented Biffle. "I look for this weekend to be a good race for us and hopefully we'll gain some more ground on Tony (Stewart). We're testing for Phoenix this weekend and some of our teammates will be in Homestead doing the same.

"Roush is putting everything into a third championship and the National Guard team is more focused that I've ever seen them. It's an exciting position to be in right now."

Biffle at points this season looked like the frontrunner for this year's championship scoring five wins in the first fifteen events. Since his last win at Michigan, however, the No.16 Ford has been spotty on consistency. From Michigan to Richmond they had five finishes of 14th or worse.

Although they have scored four top-ten results in the Chase, three finished of 13th or worse have prevented Biffle from being a threat for the Nextel Cup.

"We're attacking these final tracks with 120% of our effort and we're going there with the plan to win and lead every lap," said crew chief Doug Richert.

If history is any indication this may be the perfect weekend for Biffle to narrow the gap between himself and Stewart and Johnson. Stewart has never won at TMS and finished 31rst in the spring race.

"Texas hasn't been a good track for us historically," Stewart said. "It just seems like Texas is one of those places where we haven't figured out how to be a top-flight car. It's one of the places we have to try to pick up our performance. For me, it comes down to just 'feel' more than anything.

"A driver has to like the feel of his race car and the feel of the track. If one of those things doesn't mesh right, then you're probably not going to be as successful as you want to be."

Johnson, however, was third here in the spring, and has never finished outside of the top ten in four starts at Texas Motor Speedway.

Biffle just hopes he can keep digging and making up points on the leaders so that when the green flag flies at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the last Chase race, that Team 16 is still in the mix.

"We just have to make up points on the 20," said Biffle post race in Atlanta. "We made up a little bit on the 48 today and a little bit on the 12, but we've got to finish more than one spot ahead of the 20 to gain anything on him. But those guys are doing a good job. They're in a point's mode and that's what they're doing."