Greg Biffle explains what it takes to win restrictor plate races

Greg Biffle explained what it takes to win restrictor plate races during a media session on Friday morning. Biffle won the 2003 summer Daytona race and finished third in last season’s Daytona 500. While a little bit of luck is certainly a factor, Biffle thinks there’s more to winning at Daytona and Talladega.

“I wouldn’t say it comes down to luck,” Biffle said. “At the end of these things, people are pushing and shoving and someone gets sideways and comes out of the gas and your lane slows down, guys get broke up at the end. It is just so hard to predict what is going to happen.”

Biffle says that drivers continually think about when they should make their move towards the front, all the while at turning laps at over 200 mph.

“When is the right time to pass?” Biffle hypothetically asked. “In the final restart of (last year’s Daytona 500) I debated whether to try to pass Matt (Kenseth) at that point but I felt like I wanted to wait to the white flag to make my move… You don’t want to make your move too soon. Then Tony (Stewart) and those guys got a big run and broke us apart. We were split up and coming down the backstretch to the white. You just never know. You can look back at that and think that you should have gone around him then, but you just don’t know what is going to happen.”

Even so, the draft changes from year-to-year with altering rule packages and the new Generation Six race car. The car is 160 pounds lighter, has less downforce and a slightly smaller spoiler. Biffle expects this combination to change pack racing even more.

“A lot of us are skeptical of how the car will drive,” Biffle said. “With the weather being warm it will make it closer to the track conditions that we will see for the 500. Normally you are testing in 50 degree weather. It will be nice that it is a little warmer. I think we want to see how the car drives around other cars. I think we know what to expect but there may be something we are missing.”