Biffle Dedicates Pocono victory to Ford and Roush
Greg Biffle’s victory in the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway Monday ended his 64 start win-less streak, and was a momentous victory for his entire Roush Fenway Racing team.
In addition to the victory being Biffle’s first since 2008, it was also the first win for Ford as a manufacturer. The company hadn’t seen the inside of Victory Lane all season, so they had much to celebrate about too. But no one was happier than Biffle, who dedicated the victory to good friend and team owner Jack Roush.
"This one's for Jack!" he called over the radio as his No.16 car crossed the finish line. Roush is still recovering from eye and facial injuries he sustained in a plane crash a couple of weeks ago. He is being treated at the Mayo Clinic where he was able to watch the race on television.
The Roush Fenway Racing outfit had gone more than half the season without any of their drivers winning a race, so Biffle’s victory came as a relief as much as it was an inspirational triumph. The last driver to win a race for Roush Fenway was Jamie McMurray at Talladega at the end of the 2009 season, so it’s been just about a year since they’ve had anything to celebrate.
Roush's other driver Carl Edwards was in third place after Tony Stewart took second, and last year’s Pocono winners Kevin Havrick and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five. Edwards had spoken with Roush Sunday morning before the races took place, and said that the boss sounded good and gave him the usual pep talk. "He was Jack," Edwards said."Don't mess anything up. Don't wreck. He's been through a lot this last week. He really needed that victory. That's pretty cool. I'm sure he's really hard to handle for all those nurses in the hospital."
Despite how long it took him to win another race, Biffle never doubted that he could and would win a Cup race again; even it took him two years to finally do it. "I have to tell you, when it got to be five to go, I started thinking about it. I started thinking, this race is meant to be," Biffle recalled afterwards. “"It's for Jack -- and then I thought about all the time I've spent with the Ford people and how desperate they are to prove that they've got a good product. They've got great cars and trucks, but they want to improve on the race track; they want to win. ... I just thought, 'This is gonna be a great day if I can complete this thing.’”
And it was. The victory was also the first for the Roush Fenway team in a car using the FR9 engine. The engine was introduced in a press conference in January 2009 by Roush himself but hadn’t been used regularly. Roush hyped it up upon unveiling it as the engine of the future, at least for his team. Though it took longer than anticipated for the engine to win a race, better late than never.
There are only five more races until the regular season ends and the 2010 Chase begins. Biffle remains within the crucial top 12 in the points standings; Biffle is at 11th, Edwards is 10th, and fellow Roush driver Matt Kenseth is ninth.
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