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Biffle Gains Relevance With Pole

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 27, 2007

HAMPTON, Ga. - Nearly forgotten after missing the Chase, Greg Biffle continued something of a late-season surge Friday by winning the pole for Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500. Biffle edged Kurt Busch - who is in the Chase - with a one-lap speed of 192.453 mph.

Dale Jarrett qualified a season-best third for Michael Waltrip Racing, but teammate David Reutimann of Zephyrhills failed to qualify for the first time in nine races.

'That was a lot of firsts - a first for Atlanta, a first for this season,' Biffle said of his pole. 'I'm kind of surprised we didn't have a pole here. We run very well at Atlanta.'

Biffle missed the Chase for the second consecutive year after finishing second to champion Tony Stewart in 2005, but he has had some decent runs of late. He finished second at Dover, won at Kansas and finished second last week at Martinsville.

'If you don't make the Chase, you're kind of left out; you're on the outside,' Biffle said. 'It seems we're a little more relevant now.'

Jimmie Johnson, who won the spring race at Atlanta, was the fastest of the three championship contenders, qualifying sixth. Jeff Gordon qualified eighth, and Clint Bowyer qualified a disappointing 26th.

Reutimann was 33rd-fastest in his Toyota, but with his team not in the top 35 in the car owners standings, he was not fast enough to secure one of the seven spots available on speed.

Three-time Indy Racing League champion Sam Hornish Jr. fell to 0-6 in attempts to qualify for his Nextel Cup debut.

HERE COMES LOGANO: Joey Logano, arguably the most heralded prospect in NASCAR since Gordon, will make his Nationwide (formerly Busch) Series debut with Joe Gibbs Racing on May 31 at Dover - a week after meeting the minimum age requirement of 18.
Logano has been on the national radar since 2005, when Mark Martin said he was ready to compete in Nextel Cup at age 15.

Motorsports Authentics has announced a licensing program for Logano, the first for a driver not competing in one of NASCAR's top three divisions. A running clock on goracing.com will tick off the time left before Logano's Nationwide debut.

MUSICAL CHAIRS: Steve Hmiel, who recently resigned as director of competition at Dale Earnhardt Inc., has resurfaced as manager of competition at Chip Ganassi Racing. He'll work alongside former Dodge director of motorsports John Fernandez.

In another move, Doug Richert, who won a championship with Dale Earnhardt Sr. in 1980, has resigned as Brian Vickers' crew chief at Red Bull Racing.

FIGHTING FIRE: Johnson said he'll donate his winnings from Sunday's race to the American Red Cross in support of the wildfire victims in his native Southern California. His sponsor, Lowe's, will match the contribution.

Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick said he also will make a contribution.

DEI, CHEVY RENEW: Dale Earnhardt Inc. has signed a new deal and will continue to field Chevrolets in NASCAR. The move was considered a foregone conclusion.

DEI will have four cars in Nextel Cup next year - for Regan Smith, Martin Truex Jr., Paul Menard, Mark Martin and Tampa's Aric Almirola. Martin and Almirola will share the No. 8 car.

QUOTABLE: Craftsman Truck Series driver Rick Crawford, when his cell phone rang Friday during a media center news conference: 'You might be a redneck if your phone has 'Sweet Home Alabama' as a ring tone.'

Tony Fabrizio

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