Greg Biffle Ready for New Truck Season

Greg Biffle, driver of one of Jack Roush's two trucks on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, got a new teammate, went fishing, took a businessman's holiday and tested during the off-season. Now he's ready to go racing.

GREG BIFFLE -50-W.W. Grainger Ford F-150 -- HOW DID YOUR TEST AT HOMESTEAD GO? "The test was good. We were struggling just a little bit the first day for speed as far as like longer runs, a race run. It turned out that we were probably looking for a little more speed than what we needed for a race set up. So the second day, Mike (Bliss) did a qualifying run, and we kind of evaluated what he did, and he went really well. Then we attempted a qualifying run, and went really fast. I certainly didn't think the truck was that fast, but obviously it was. It was a really good lap, a really good two laps in fact. And we were just ecstatic with that. So we immediately went back and started working on our race set up and longer runs. I think the truck is really good, really good. We tried some different aero stuff with moving the spoiler around and the front spoiler and found some things that helped it a little bit and it liked. I liked the way it drove. It drove a little better and easier. It was a really good test. I think we learned a lot. We learned a lot down there. I'm excited to get the year started. That (Homestead) is our first race of course."

WITH A YEAR UNDER YOUR BELT IN THE TRUCKS, WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR '99? "Obviously, the number one goal is to win a race. That's not going to be my primary goal. My primary goal is to get us in the top-three in points. That's really where we need to be. I'd like to achieve that and stay there. That's where we started the season last year, and I'd like to start the season like we did last year. And then skip the middle part, and go like we did at the end of the year. So that's what we're going to try to achieve. If I can win some races along the way, it's just a bonus to the program. The whole thing is, if you are running in the top three in the race, or the top five, and if you're in the top three in points, or the top five, you stand a chance to win the championship. The door is always open if you are there. And you have to be up there for that opportunity to come about."

HOW ARE THINGS COMING ALONG WITH MIKE BLISS? "Good. We communicate fairly well. It seems like our set ups are a little closer than (former teammate) Joe (Ruttman) and I were. It seems like we like the same truck. What I found was weird before, Joe didn't really like my truck a lot of times, and Joe's truck felt okay to me. Whereas now, I like the way Mike has his truck set up. It works both ways. He likes the way my truck is, so maybe the information traded between the teams now will be more beneficial. If they find speed, it's almost a guarantee that we'll get speed out of that. Where before, when Joe did this or that, well it wasn't really our problem. So it may help having a different teammate. I guess our driving styles are similar or the feel we want is similar. I certainly learned a lot off of Joe last year. Tons of patience. The guy is smooth. I think it was good to be teamed up with him my first year. I learned a lot. And I'm excited to have somebody new too, to come up with new ideas."

WHAT DID YOU DO DURING THE OFF SEASON? "Not a whole lot. I ran that Tucson Winter Heat Series. I put the Ford Taurus together." HOW MANY OF THE RACES DID YOU RUN? "I ran three races. I didn't do too hot even though I ran well in all of them. The first race we were running second a good portion of the race. A guy broke an engine and the leader and I crashed. It was just one of those things, a victim of circumstance. The second race we had some mechanical trouble. I picked up some debris off the race track, and broke the fan off the radiator. It got hot and melted the ignition wires. That was just terrible luck. The third race we didn't really have any problems. We led most of the race, and then on the last caution we had a tire going down, and I got passed with about five laps to go. I finished the race, but I only had eight pounds of air in the tire. It was just bad luck."

DID YOU DO ANYTHING JUST FOR YOU - SKI? OR -- "Yes I did. I took my boat to Mexico and went fishing. I went down two times, and I'm going to go a third before the race."

WHAT KIND OF BOAT HAVE YOU GOT, AND WHAT WERE YOU FISHING FOR? "I've got a 30 foot Bayliner with a flying bridge. I have it moored in Mexico in a slip. We caught a bunch of yellow tail. It's not part of the tuna family. People get yellow finned tuna confused with it. It is an excellent, very white meat. It's an excellent eating fish. They fight like mad. You have to wear the belt, the whole deal. They weigh about 35 pounds. They're a pretty good size fish. It's a lot of fun. This is the second year I've gone down and done it. I've just moved up into a bigger boat this year. Next year I think I'm going to do the same thing. I went with five of my friends including my dad. It was a little cramped, but we still had a great time. And then I've been doing some flying. I'm getting close to my pilot's license."

DO YOU HAVE YOUR OWN PLANE? "No, not yet. I'm going to buy a plane soon. Probably in April or May I'm going to look into buying a plane, and fly to all the races I can get to from Detroit."