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30th
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The second biggest story, after Jeff Gordon's win at Martinsville on Sunday, was Gregg Biffle's post-race confrontation with Jimmie Johnson in the pits.
Biffle was angry with the five-time champion for tearing off his rear bumper, or so he thought. After the race he caught up with Johnson who was in the middle of doing a radio interview. In the last two days Biffle has been on a damage control mission.
“It was multi‑layer,” Biffle said. “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. My apology to Jimmie Johnson was on the telephone. I know that's old‑fashioned, a lot of people don't do that anymore.
I was apologizing for probably the way I handled it. When I was walking over there, I was furious. We had a great car. Nobody knows this, but we had the fastest car the last 65 laps of that race. We closed in on the leader by five seconds from the start of that run to the end of it. We closed in on the 24 (Gordon) car by that much. I had to start to the back and drove to ninth.
The other misconception was that everybody said, ‘You should be mad at the 88 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.), he ripped your bumper off.' We came in and fixed it and started at the back. The 48 (Johnson) car ran square in the back of my car, not inside of me, like his claim when I came up and talked to him about it.
I probably should have grabbed him by the arm maybe and voiced my displeasure. I wasn't going to 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 had a good opportunity to get a top‑three finish at Martinsville for the first time. Quite honestly after that thing was over, maybe a chance to battle for the win.
It just didn't transpire and I was a little upset about that. So 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 realize he was on camera. I apologize for that. I should have maybe waited till he was done and then had my conversation with him in private with no cameras or media around.”
Biffle was angry with the five-time champion for tearing off his rear bumper, or so he thought. After the race he caught up with Johnson who was in the middle of doing a radio interview. In the last two days Biffle has been on a damage control mission.
“It was multi‑layer,” Biffle said. “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. My apology to Jimmie Johnson was on the telephone. I know that's old‑fashioned, a lot of people don't do that anymore.
I was apologizing for probably the way I handled it. When I was walking over there, I was furious. We had a great car. Nobody knows this, but we had the fastest car the last 65 laps of that race. We closed in on the leader by five seconds from the start of that run to the end of it. We closed in on the 24 (Gordon) car by that much. I had to start to the back and drove to ninth.
The other misconception was that everybody said, ‘You should be mad at the 88 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.), he ripped your bumper off.' We came in and fixed it and started at the back. The 48 (Johnson) car ran square in the back of my car, not inside of me, like his claim when I came up and talked to him about it.
I probably should have grabbed him by the arm maybe and voiced my displeasure. I wasn't going to 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 had a good opportunity to get a top‑three finish at Martinsville for the first time. Quite honestly after that thing was over, maybe a chance to battle for the win.
It just didn't transpire and I was a little upset about that. So 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 realize he was on camera. I apologize for that. I should have maybe waited till he was done and then had my conversation with him in private with no cameras or media around.”
