TALLADEGA, Ala. -- With a glimmer of hope during a tough season, Greg Biffle paced the final practice session for Sunday’s Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, posting a 197.929 mph in his No. 16 Ford.
Biffle made 28 laps, more than any of the other 37 drivers who participated in the second of two practices Friday. Speeds dropped significantly from the first session (which Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led as one of three to top 200 mph) as drivers focused on taking laps by themselves rather than drafting in large groups.
Biffle said he posted his fast lap by briefly running in a draft early in the session.
“It looks like we’re about top five in qualifying trim, so we’re excited about a top-10 starting spot,” said the Roush Fenway Racing driver, who is 21st in points with one top 10 -- a 10th in the season-opening Daytona 500. “This is the first time we’ve been fastest in practice all year and have a decent qualifying speed. That’s a little confidence-builder for us this weekend, but we would certainly like to find that kind of speed every week. This is a little bit different because it’s restrictor plates. These cars haven’t changed in four years. It’s the same car, and we’re pretty decent at it.”
Saturday’s qualifying (which will take place at 1:15 p.m. ET) will mark the return of a mostly single-car format after group qualifying at restrictor-plate tracks prompted a chorus of groans from drivers and teams about its unfair nature.
“I’m really happy with the way they changed qualifying because it’s the speed of the car,” Biffle said. “It’s not who got the lucky lane or who got a draft or who laid back so far and got sucked up on a big run. For this type of racing, we need to probably do this kind of qualifying.”
Results from Friday’s final practice:
1 Greg Biffle … 197.929 mph … 22 laps
2 Tony Stewart … 197.859 … 20 laps
3 Aric Almirola … 197.696 … 10 laps
4 Jimmie Johnson … 197.175 … 18 laps
5 Austin Dillon … 197.122 … 18 laps
6 Matt Kenseth … 196.839 … 18 laps
7 David Ragan … 196.669 … 14 laps
8 Sam Hornish Jr. … 194.603 … 11 laps
9 Casey Mears … 194.456 … 8 laps
10 Brian Scott … 193.881 … 8 laps
11 Ryan Blaney … 193.541 … 14 laps
12 Jeff Gordon … 193.322 … 2 laps
13 Dale Earnhardt Jr. … 193.135 … 13 laps
14 Brad Keselowski … 192.858 … 17 laps
15 Jamie McMurray … 192.796 … 7 laps
16 Kevin Harvick … 192.719 … 11 laps
17 Kyle Larson … 192.502 … 8 laps
18 Danica Patrick … 192.440 … 14 laps
19 Kurt Busch … 192.085 … 17 laps
20 Paul Menard … 192.027 … 10 laps
21 Trevor Bayne … 191.965 … 8 laps
22 Joey Logano … 191.631 … 7 laps
23 Landon Cassill … 191.290 … 5 laps
24 David Gilliland … 191.210 … 8 laps
25 Kasey Kahne … 190.974 … 2 laps
26 Chris Buescher … 190.666 … 8 laps
27 Michael Annett … 190.393 … 11 laps
28 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. … 190.249 … 13 laps
29 Cole Whitt … 190.196 … 5 laps
30 Michael McDowell … 190.008 … 8 laps
31 Justin Allgaier … 189.815 … 8 laps
32 Josh Wise … 189.597 … 8 laps
33 Bobby Labonte … 189.567 … 11 laps
34 Alex Bowman … 189.522 … 2 laps
35 Brendan Gaughan … 189.185 … 5 laps
36 Matt DiBenedetto … 189.081 … 5 laps
37 JJ Yeley … 188.500 … 5 laps
38 Jeb Burton … 187.335 … 5 laps
Best 10 consecutive laps average:
1 Greg Biffle … 195.312
2 Tony Stewart … 195.259
3 Matt Kenseth … 195.098
4 Austin Dillon … 195.051
5 Jimmie Johnson … 195.045
6 David Ragan … 182.432
7 Aric Almirola ... 176.804