Marshall's mind ~ Biffle vs Johnson
If you are a NASCAR fan, unless you’ve been living under a rock, then you have heard about the altercation which took place between Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle after the race at Martinsville last weekend. The rear bumper of Greg Biffle’s No. 16 Ford‘s was sliced off from its moorings by the front bumper of Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet. Biffle was forced to pit to remedy the situation, and took issue. After the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500, Biffle addressed the episode with Johnson.
“Hey, you tore my rear bumper off, you (expletive),” Biffle told Johnson.
After the on-track incident the “Biff” was forced to come to the attention of his Roush Fenway crew to fix the bumper; luckily during a caution. When Biffle returned to the “paperclip” track he started picking them off and knocking them down. In less than 50 laps Greg had moved up to 9th in the running order, which is where he would ultimately
finish.
Most of the drama, however, was the face to face meeting they had off of the track. Biffle sent a stern message to Johnson.
“When I was walking over there, I was furious because we had a great car,” the driver reiterated. “Nobody knows this, but we had the fastest car the last 65 laps of that race.”
After Biffle’s initial charge, Johnson said: “I was inside of you,” to which Biffle responded: “You (expletive) ran into the back of me.”
Johnson again told Biffle he was beside him, and Biffle pointed his finger at Johnson and said: “You better watch it.”
Later, after tempers cooled a bit, Biffle and Johnson had a different perspective on the situation.
“We were racing earlier in the day and he’s upset about something,” Johnson said. “We seemed to talk about it and kind of get through it, so we’ll see how things go.”
“It was just Martinsville stuff,” Biffle said. “Like he said, he didn’t do it on purpose. But the fact of the matter is he got me hard enough to rip the bumper off.”
“I probably should have grabbed him by the arm maybe and voiced my displeasure,” Biffle said later in the week. “I wasn’t gonna do the old patented Jeff Gordon two arms to the chest. He’s kind of got that one, but I was upset that I had to start at the back … I should have handled that a little differently with Jimmie. I didn’t realize he was in the middle of his interview. I thought he was talking to some print reporters when I first went over there. I didn’t know he was on
camera, so I apologize for that. I should have acted a little different. I should have maybe waited until he was done and then had my conversation with him in private with no cameras or media around.”
What that leaves me questioning isn’t the fact of Biffle losing the rear bumper or losing a chance to win, but more so the question of will we see pay back? Martinsville was the last short track on the year, and we all know short tracks are where rivalries either build or end.
After contemplating and evaluating the situation a bit more later on Sunday night, I came to the conclusion that the “Biff” probably won’t do anything, but if he did it would be at Phoenix Raceway in two weeks.
“It was multi-layered,” said Biffle of his long-term reaction once both sides calmed down. “I think the biggest thing was I was getting a lot of hate mail on Twitter from all the 48 fans about the way I reacted, so I was apologizing to the fans, not Jimmie Johnson at that point.”
Biffle went on to explain that he contacted Johnson directly afterwards. “My apology to Jimmie Johnson was on the telephone. I don’t text. I do the old-fashioned telephone. I know a lot of people don’t do that anymore, so I was apologizing for probably the way I handled it.”
As for the rest of 2013, I doubt Greg Biffle and the No. 16 team are worried about Jimmie Johnson. They should be focused on getting back to victory lane. However, with a little adrenaline pumping through the veins after Martinsville’s activity, I’d watch for Biffle this weekend in Texas as we hit his career specialty, the mile-and-a-half speedways.
Feel free to leave your comments below
@gabell_racing
[email protected]
“Hey, you tore my rear bumper off, you (expletive),” Biffle told Johnson.
After the on-track incident the “Biff” was forced to come to the attention of his Roush Fenway crew to fix the bumper; luckily during a caution. When Biffle returned to the “paperclip” track he started picking them off and knocking them down. In less than 50 laps Greg had moved up to 9th in the running order, which is where he would ultimately
finish.
Most of the drama, however, was the face to face meeting they had off of the track. Biffle sent a stern message to Johnson.
“When I was walking over there, I was furious because we had a great car,” the driver reiterated. “Nobody knows this, but we had the fastest car the last 65 laps of that race.”
After Biffle’s initial charge, Johnson said: “I was inside of you,” to which Biffle responded: “You (expletive) ran into the back of me.”
Johnson again told Biffle he was beside him, and Biffle pointed his finger at Johnson and said: “You better watch it.”
Later, after tempers cooled a bit, Biffle and Johnson had a different perspective on the situation.
“We were racing earlier in the day and he’s upset about something,” Johnson said. “We seemed to talk about it and kind of get through it, so we’ll see how things go.”
“It was just Martinsville stuff,” Biffle said. “Like he said, he didn’t do it on purpose. But the fact of the matter is he got me hard enough to rip the bumper off.”
“I probably should have grabbed him by the arm maybe and voiced my displeasure,” Biffle said later in the week. “I wasn’t gonna do the old patented Jeff Gordon two arms to the chest. He’s kind of got that one, but I was upset that I had to start at the back … I should have handled that a little differently with Jimmie. I didn’t realize he was in the middle of his interview. I thought he was talking to some print reporters when I first went over there. I didn’t know he was on
camera, so I apologize for that. I should have acted a little different. I should have maybe waited until he was done and then had my conversation with him in private with no cameras or media around.”
What that leaves me questioning isn’t the fact of Biffle losing the rear bumper or losing a chance to win, but more so the question of will we see pay back? Martinsville was the last short track on the year, and we all know short tracks are where rivalries either build or end.
After contemplating and evaluating the situation a bit more later on Sunday night, I came to the conclusion that the “Biff” probably won’t do anything, but if he did it would be at Phoenix Raceway in two weeks.
“It was multi-layered,” said Biffle of his long-term reaction once both sides calmed down. “I think the biggest thing was I was getting a lot of hate mail on Twitter from all the 48 fans about the way I reacted, so I was apologizing to the fans, not Jimmie Johnson at that point.”
Biffle went on to explain that he contacted Johnson directly afterwards. “My apology to Jimmie Johnson was on the telephone. I don’t text. I do the old-fashioned telephone. I know a lot of people don’t do that anymore, so I was apologizing for probably the way I handled it.”
As for the rest of 2013, I doubt Greg Biffle and the No. 16 team are worried about Jimmie Johnson. They should be focused on getting back to victory lane. However, with a little adrenaline pumping through the veins after Martinsville’s activity, I’d watch for Biffle this weekend in Texas as we hit his career specialty, the mile-and-a-half speedways.
Feel free to leave your comments below
@gabell_racing
[email protected]
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