By disclosing that Roush Fenway Racing is re-negotiating its contract with #16-Greg Biffle, team president Geoff Smith may have indirectly increased the driver’s value. Biffle told ESPN.com Friday that Smith’s comment has produced intrigue in the Nextel Cup garage regarding the driver’s contract status. He is an elite driving talent. Teams are calling. “The biggest thing that’s been a bit of a deterrent for me is that Geoff Smith put in the paper that we’re negotiating — Roush and Greg Biffle — an extension,” Biffle said. “And in my eyes there was no reason for that. I’m under contract.” Biffle is under contract with Roush Fenway through the end of the 2008 season. But when the sponsor of the #16 Ford, AmeriQuest, told Roush it would like to terminate its contract at the end of the year, and that Roush should seek alternative sponsorship, it created a bit of an issue for the team. Biffle described the difficulty in getting a three-year sponsor commitment based on a driver that has just one year left on his deal as all but impossible. Roush Fenway Racing wants to lock Biffle up to a longer-term contract, to ensure potential sponsors he’ll be there for the duration of the relationship. Biffle said that lead executives from some other teams to believe his contract was up at the end of the current season, rather than next year’s. “So now I’ve got all these teams that are looking to add a team or a driver calling me,” Biffle said. “Not every team, but there’s been a few because of that quote.” Biffle said he wants to remain at Roush Fenway, and echoed Smith’s sentiment that the team has its pick of potential sponsors.(ESPN.com)(4-29-2007) UPDATE: Roush Fenway Racing President Geoff Smith said Sunday that rumors that #16-Greg Biffle’s name would come up with Silly Season couldn’t be avoided, given that the team is simultaneously trying to sign a new sponsor to replace Ameriquest and at the same time sign Biffle beyond the end of 2008, when his current deal expires. The situation is a classic catch-22: Potential sponsors want drivers signed to long-term deals before they’ll commit, and drivers want to know a sponsor is in place to pay the bills before they sign on for another tour of duty. When you go out in public to request a sponsor, you have to tell the sponsor how long the term is, Smith said. And so it was inevitable, always inevitable, that the moment the word got out in any fashion that we were looking for a three-year deal for a sponsor, that it would trigger the questions back to the driver. The fact that it made it a little bit awkward for Greg ¦ it just puts him back into the marketplace again. There wasn’t anything I could do about that. It was inevitable. You just have to go say what is and move through it as fast as you can. Smith said he was optimistic about keeping Biffle in the Roush fold, though he was unsure if the deal would get done this year or next. Whether or not the contract is extended is Greg’s decision, and he’ll let us know, Smith said. If he wants to sit for another year, or wants to do it now ¦ we can have a sponsorship now without any issue. When Greg gets done reviewing the deal, we’ll see.(Ford Racing)(5-2-2007)
