DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Despite a slow pit stop in the second race of the Bluegreen Vacations Duel No. 2, Greg Biffle was confident that he was safe to make the starting lineup for Sunday’s 64th Daytona 500.
For Kaz Grala, however, he didn’t assure his spot in the starting lineup until the very last possible moment.
Grala, who was penalized for speeding on pit road, tracked down J.J. Yeley and passed him on the final lap of Thursday night’s first Duel.
That knocked Yeley out of the Daytona 500.
For Biffle, he was in better shape because he had to stay ahead of Timmy Hill, who finished the race four laps down. Biffle finished 13th.
Winners and losers from Thursday night, and according to Grala and Biffle, just making the starting lineup for the Daytona 500 is a lot more fun than being one of the two drivers to go home.
“I thought for a while there that we weren’t going to make it and squeaked by just on the last lap,” Grala said. “I made a mistake early, sped on pit road, shouldn’t have had that happen. Barely came back.
“We were running some fast lap times in that line towards the end and I knew we were going to be close. I thought we might have a chance at catching him and the timing was just right. Right on the last lap we got to him, got by him and that’s what we needed to do to make the 500.”
Grala underwent a huge swing of emotions, from the pit road speeding penalty, until he snatched away the starting position from Yeley on the final lap.
“It went from puke to puke, puking nervous to puking excited at the end,” Grala said. “I was worried as we rode by him on that last lap, I didn’t know if he was going to try something, try to block, shoot down in front of us. There wasn’t a hole for him, but I was worried about whatever he might try because you’ve got to try. That’s all we did.
“That was a relief. When we were catching him, I could see with like two laps to go, I was like, I think we are going to get there, I really think we’re going to get there. I couldn’t even believe it, but it worked out.
“Huge relief. I was still asking on the radio even after the checkered, I’m like, are we in? Are we sure? Was that definitely the last lap? Are we definitely squared ahead? And luckily, we were.”
As for Biffle, he had a bit more of a cushion. Hill’s car was way off the pace and ultimately finished four laps down. Biffle was running competitive laps, despite a slow pit stop that gave him momentary cause for concern.
“I knew that we had gone by Timmy a couple times, so I knew he was two laps down I thought,” Biffle said. “My biggest fear all night and these last couple days was losing the draft. So, we come down to pit, and we’ve got some new guys there, and we had an issue getting fuel in it, and I knew we lost the draft.
“We were lucky enough that some other guys had issues. I don’t know what happened, but the 48 car (Alex Bowman) was in the middle there, so he picked us up and pushed us for a while, and then we were actually able to get back together with some other guys.”
Biffle had one more moment of high anxiety when the fuel light came on with two laps to go. He had to move over on the white flag lap.
“I don’t know how the fuel system works in these cars yet, but it kept running all the way back to the checkered flag and then of course around on the cool-down lap it kept running,” Biffle said.
“I guess there’s some hidden fuel in there somewhere.”
Biffle made the Daytona 500 starting lineup after walking away from NASCAR following the 2016 season.
“In 2016 when I walked away is to be honest with you, I was tired of running in the position we were running,” Biffle said, referring to some dismal seasons at what is now RFK Racing. “I didn’t want to try and stay on the lead lap. It wasn’t my goal in racing was show up at each race and try and be on the lead lap at the end of it. I didn’t want to do that anymore.
“I want to win, and if I don’t feel like I have the opportunity, if that truck inside that trailer going to the race track, I don’t think I can win with it, then — we knew we were beat before we left the shop, and I’d had enough of that.
“Unfortunately, that’s when I decided to walk away.
“I always said with the right opportunity I’d come back, or a situation like this where a guy needs a hand up and they want to start a new team, and if I feel like I can help them, I would come back and see if I can.
“It makes me feel good for the 500 on Sunday that I’ve got a competitive car that I can challenge for the win.”