For the first time since opening the season with a 10th-place finish in the Daytona 500, Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle had his chance to finish in the top 10 Saturday night at Kansas Speedway.
Biffle finished 12th in the SpongeBob SquarePants 400 for his best non-restrictor plate race finish of the season.
After starting a season-best seventh, Biffle spent most of the night in the middle of the pack, running an average of 20th and racing as low as 36th. At the midway point, Biffle had his Ford 24th and with 27 laps to go in the 267-lap race, he had made it to 16th.
“It was a bit of an up-and-down night for us,” Biffle said afterward. “I am really proud of the 16 team. We kept adjusting on the car as the night went on and we were able to come home 12th. We just missed out on the top 10, which is an improvement from where we have been lately, so that is a good sign. We just have to keep working on it and I know the guys will. It is a little bit of momentum in the right direction.”
If any major Sprint Cup team needs momentum, it’s Roush Fenway Racing.
This season has been rough as Biffle, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor Bayne have earned only two top 10 finishes through 11 races.
Stenhouse earned one at Bristol Motor Speedway with a fourth-place finish, and Biffle claimed the other at Daytona.
Bayne’s best finish through 11 races is 18th at Texas Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway.
Before Saturday night, Biffle’s best non-plate finish was 14th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, another 1.5-mile track.
The Sprint Cup’s next points race is the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Roush hasn’t won since 2011 with Matt Kenseth.
