Biffle gives his side of the Boris Said incident
Following is a transcript from host Steve Byrnes’ interview with Biffle:
On his team’s performance issues this year:
Biffle: “We’ve had a lot faster cars this year, which sounds ironic compared to all of our top 10s last year … but on top of that, we’ve had problems getting fuel in the car. We’ve had poor fuel mileage. We’ve had to stop short of the field – caution comes out. Michigan – we led the most laps and we stopped. Caution comes out. Last run of the day, we start 25th. We finish 18th or something like that, so all of our finishes are not conducive of where we’ve been running. That’s the biggest thing. I hate to say it – this engine’s got great, a lot of power. Doug (Yates) and the guys have done a great job. We’ve hurt on fuel mileage this year because of that new engine. For some reason, when you make a lot of power, it takes a lot of fuel. That’s been one thing. There have been some pit calls. I spun out at Pocono trying too hard, trying to make up track position from a bad pit stop or something, and spun out. There have been a lot of little things that have caused us not to get those top fives or wins."
On his response to Said’s post-race comments:
Biffle: “Several things to come mind. One – he wrecked me there last year. Never called me, never said anything about it. Number two – he ran me off in the carousel. That’s what ticked me off. Same place we saw the 24 and 31 in that huge wreck – ran me off the track there and that was why I was mad at Boris Said. Then he goes and hits the 6 car off the track. We just heard him say (on video replay) that he had no choice. Well, I disagree about having no choice of turning a guy the wrong way into the wall. And then after the race, not concerned about the safety of those guys (David Ragan and David Reutimann), he drives to my truck and parks behind my car. I was fine after the race and that just set me off. He pulled up behind my truck like he had a problem. I didn’t act properly there. I shouldn’t have been as aggravated as I was. He should have went and parked at his truck, took his gear off and talked to me or whatever he wanted to do."
On whether he was upset with Said that he seemed unconcerned about David Ragan and David Reutimann post-race:
Biffle: “Yeah. That was kind of what fired me up because I had kind of forgotten about Boris Said running me off in the carousel. Let’s face it – I could have turned him anywhere on that race track that I wanted to. I got more respect for our race cars and other competitors on the race track to do that. Did you see the video footage of his car (with damage) when they were putting it on the lift gate? That was the opposite side of the car that he had the scuffle with the 6 on. So, he had been in a lot more incidents in that race than that one. You can’t come and race in this series and race guys with no respect at all. Come race hard, do your thing. Boris has a lot of talent, a lot of skill. He’s just not showing it."
On his Tuesday phone conversation with Said:
Biffle: “He understands and he apologized for running me off in the carousel. He didn’t know he did. That was probably the whole thing that led to him coming up to my truck because he didn’t understand why I was so mad at him. He ran me off the race track in a very vulnerable spot, similar to what he did to the 6. We talked about it and I told him, ‘You can very well be where Marcos Ambrose was yesterday. You need to get in a fast car and show your talent, not be beating and banging and running guys off the race track at spots like that.’ We kind of said our peace and that’s that."
(jokingly) On whether Said is going to give him a black eye as promised Monday:
Biffle: “I don’t know (laughing). I felt like it was like fifth grade, right, which means after recess, 3 o’clock on Wednesday, we’re going to fight over by the fence."