By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In Saturday’s final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice for the Daytona 500 (on FOX at 1 p.m. ET), it was time for Greg Biffle to turn a few laps with his new race engine.
Biffle and new crew chief Brian Pattie opted out of Friday’s two practice sessions, preferring to wait until Saturday for their final shakedown.
“This is our first laps on our race engine and race gear and race driveshaft – all of our driveline components – so we needed to check for leaks, make sure the temperatures are correct and give the guys a chance to check everything over,” said Biffle, who was seventh fastest among 25 drivers in happy Hour.
“No vibrations. We needed to do all those things in this practice because we didn’t go out (on Friday). We just elected to wait until today to get everything checked and make sure that everything is good. We gave the guys a lot of time yesterday to check over the car and prep it for the 500, so this was a necessity for us. We just ran a few laps and went out twice to make sure everything is good, and we’re real happy with it.”
As a group, the Fords have shown excellent pace throughout Speedweeks.
“We’re going to try to run up front most of the day and keep out of trouble,” Biffle said of his strategy for the Sunday’s Daytona 500. “That’s the most important thing, because we have to be there at the end, and working with your teammates is important.
“A lot of the Fords are fast down here. The 2 (Brad Keselowski), 22 (Joey Logano) and 21 (Ryan Blaney) are fast, and so are the 17 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) and the 6 (Trevor Bayne), so we’ll work with those guys when the opportunity presents itself, and I think when it comes down to the end, it’s going to be every man for himself.”
Image: NASCAR Media Group
