Greg Biffle has set his expectations for his return to Tri-City Raceway, a track where he won the track championships in 1995-96. He believes he can contend for a solid finish, although he wants to add to his collection of trophies.
Biffle will compete in Saturday night's NAPA Auto Care 150 ARCA Menards Series West race (7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET, FloRacing). As he explained, it will be sentimental to make his return to a track where he competed early in his career.
"Now, this is a longshot," Biffle said in a video posted to his YouTube channel, "is standing on the roof of that car at the end of 150 laps, hoisting up a trophy. ... If we run clean, run up in the top five, I'm going to be extremely happy.
"Obviously, I want to win, but I'm not going to be disappointed."
As Biffle explained, he doesn't really have experience in the ARCA West cars. Granted, they have similarities to the Xfinity Series cars and the old Cup Series cars, so it won't be a foreign experience. However, he will go up against drivers who have numerous starts in the ARCA cars.
Biffle will have some ground to make up in terms of car experience, but he does have decades of racing on his resume. He will have another advantage considering that he has completed races at the tri-oval track in Washington.
Tri-City Raceway opened to the public in 1968, and it hosted numerous races over the decades. However, it ceased operations in 2004 and remained idle for nearly 20 years.
This isn't a track that has hosted ARCA West races in recent years. According to the ARCA website, the last ARCA West race at Tri-City Raceway was in 2003. Jason Jefferson won.
The ARCA West will now return to Tri-City Raceway, and the lineup will feature Biffle. Interestingly enough, the veteran NASCAR driver did not initially have plans to compete in the race. The original request focused on a role as a dignitary.
"Tri-Cities was reaching out, contacted me -- or NASCAR -- to potentially come and be the grand marshal," Biffle said. "And I'm like, 'If I'm going to go all the way to Tri-Cities...
"The ARCA West hasn't run there in 15 years, guys don't have a lot of experience on that race track. I might level the playing field a little bit considering I haven't ever driven an ARCA West car."
Biffle reached out to NASCAR and asked if there were any potential cars in the lineup that could use a veteran driver. They put him in contact with Sigma Performance Services owner Joe Farré.
Now he has an opportunity to go out and meet -- or even exceed -- his expectations at a potentially sold-out venue.