Biffle moved to the rear after rain washes out quals

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Greg Biffle might have been the most disappointed man at Daytona International Speedway Friday evening, considering his ninth-place starting spot in Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 earned via his Cup owners' points position turned into 41st, since he hadn't made a lap in his backup car.

Biffle's primary No. 16 Ford was wrecked with less than 15 minutes left in Thursday night's final practice. When Friday's qualifying session was canceled after a 90-minute rain delay, Biffle was doomed, sort of.

"With the rainout, we've got to start in the back because we didn't make a lap with this car," Biffle said. "If we would've made one lap with this car, we could start in our starting spot of ninth. The only reason we can't start in our spot is because we didn't make any laps in it and they don't want us to start up there if the transmission sticks in gear, or the brakes don't work, or we're leaking oil or the steering locks up."

But Biffle, who won the 2003 summer race at Daytona, said he had no concerns whatsoever.

Daytona damage

As practice was in its final minutes, Greg Biffle and Sam Hornish Jr. got together putting both drivers into the wall and into their back-up cars.

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"Really, in the old days, it used to be tire rubs -- do you smell smoke?" Biffle said of his lack of worry. "Nowadays, with the bodies being templated all the same and the suspension and all that, that kind of stuff is out of the question.

"So really, as long as everything feels right -- and these cars, we've been doing this so long, we unload cars all the time, they're brand-new, and test all day -- like at Indy. We unloaded the car, tested all day and then put it back on the truck and we had no issues. So I feel confident.

"And really, the cars are brand new and have never turned a lap at every race we bring them to -- because all of the parts come off of them, and they're all put back on -- engines and everything else. So technically, they're all brand new every time we unload them for the day."

Daytona's vast dimensions caused Biffle a lot less worry, he said.

"We have little issues we have to fix," Biffle said. "But we have a big race track, two and a half miles, so you can do a lot of stuff under caution, as long as it's not major. If you have little issues you need to fix or address or work on -- here you have plenty of time. Track position, here, is not that important until the fifth hour."

Biffle said the only thing he regretted was not having a chance to try this car, which has never turned a lap anywhere. The wrecked car sat on the outside of the front row at Talladega and finished seventh there, and was also used in the Daytona 500, where it finished 20th.

"It would've been nice for [qualifying] not to rain out, we qualify in the top 20, we start there and then we could've gotten a feel for it right out of the gate. But, there's a part of me that doesn't mind starting in the back so I can figure it out on my own and then start working through traffic.

"Inevitably, sometime during the night, you've lost some track position, you got out of line and get shuffled out and end up 30th, you get back in there and race your way back to 10th. So, you're back and forth anyway. So, really, it's a non-issue."

Sam Hornish Jr., who was involved in the Thursday night accident with Biffle, must forfeit his 25th starting position for the same reason and his No. 77 Dodge will end up 43rd at the start, one row behind Biffle.