DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb 12, 2011) – Greg Biffle finished fifth in Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout to lead the Roush Fenway effort in the all-star kickoff to the 2011 NASCAR season at Daytona International Speedway. The finish is Biffle’s fourth top-five finish in six career Shootout starts.
The race – the first for NASCAR on the newly paved surface at Daytona – saw 28 lead changes and was characterized by various two-car packs that worked together throughout the race to move through the field.
“It’s kind of different,” said Biffle. “We’ve never done this before, pushing like this, so it’s just something new. I think it would be more fun if it was a bigger pack, but the (Daytona) 500 is going to be different. There will be a lot more cars out there, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Matt Kenseth showed promise early, but could not find the essential dance partner late in the race and finished 13th.
“At the end there I was the odd man out because I couldn’t get with a group of two,” said Kenseth, who competed in his fifth Shootout. “Everybody was grouped up in twos and if you can’t get with one other car in a group, you’re pretty much done and you’re just going to fall back. It may be a little different next Sunday with more cars.”
Carl Edwards got caught up in a six-car accident on lap 27 and finished 21st in the event.
The teams return to action tomorrow (Sunday, Feb. 13) for Sprint Cup pole day. Qualifying is set for 1:10 p.m. and will be televised live on FOX. Matt Kenseth goes out first of the Roush Fenway cars at fifth.
