DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Greg Biffle was the last driver to take to the track for the first practice—with 15 minutes left in the session.
But Biffle, driving for the newly-formed NY Racing Team, teamed up in a two-car draft with another driver who isn‘t guaranteed a spot in Sunday‘s race. He and Noah Gragson were 17th and 18th, respectively, in the opening practice session.
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Biffle and Gragson, both driving Chevrolets, are two of the six drivers fighting for four starting spots in The Great American Race. The other four occupied the following spots on the initial speed chart: Timmy Hill (27th), JJ Yeley (34th), Jacques Villeneuve (40th) and Kaz Grala (41st).
Hill, Yeley, Villeneuve and Grala confined their activity in practice to single-car runs.
Biffle hasn‘t raced in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2016, but he ran—and won—a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event for Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2019, one of two NASCAR starts for the 52-year-old driver since leaving full-time racing.
“I can‘t forget about 2019—I ran a truck race—and that‘s been luring me back,” Biffle said. “I‘ve been talking to (team owner) John (Cohen) for a couple of years now, and I told him, ‘If you get a program put together, I‘ll come help you,‘ and here we are. So I‘m glad to be back.”
In the day’s second practice session, Grala was the top car among the open teams in 22nd, followed by Gragson (32nd), Biffle (36th), Hill (40th), Villeneuve (41st) and Yeley (42nd).