The NY Racing team with the Grambling paint scheme officially raced its way into the Daytona 500 on Thursday night. Greg Biffle drove the no. 44 car, owned by Grambling alum John Cohen, to a thirteenth place finish in the second of NASCAR’s duel qualifying races.
Biffle didn’t qualify for the race on speed during Wednesday’s qualifying run. So instead his only way to make it in was to finish ahead of driver Timmy Hill. It was a race within the race for the final spot in Sunday’s Great American Race.
“The car drove so good, this was a last minute deal, this team got thrown together. We had trouble getting fuel in the car, I ran out of gas with two laps to go. But we finished (thirteenth), I’m glad maybe that fuel stop wasn’t perfect, because I might have been in that wreck,” Biffle said after the race.
Bad pit stop may have been a blessing
Prior to the only pit stop in the 60 lap qualifying race Biffle had raced his way as high as seventh place in the 20 car field. The no. 44 car was able to keep up with the leaders as Biffle showed his experience behind the wheel. But the pitstop was an elongated one when the crew had trouble getting gas into the car. Biffle lost touch with the cars he pitted with and was racing without the draft. Which is an aerodynamic kiss of death at a track like Daytona.
Fortunately the one car that Biffle needed to beat to gain entry into the race was already more than a lap down at that point. Biffle eventually went a lap down himself but still finished three laps ahead of Hill. What might have also been good fortune in disguise was the fact that Biffle was no where near a last lap crash after losing touch with the lead pack. Leader Joey Logano crashed on the final lap, bringing out a race finishing caution allowing Chris Buescher to take the win.
The Daytona 500 airs on Sunday at 2:30pm on Fox Television and MRN Radio.