Rain forced postponement of the 54th Daytona 500 to Monday at noon. Ford drivers Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards, who hold the front row positions, spoke about having to wait another day for the Great American Race.
GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 3M Ford Fusion – WHAT’S THIS LIKE HAVING TO WAIT ANOTHER DAY? “I don’t know. I just tweeted that I guess I’m gonna have to win the first Monday Daytona 500. As you can tell, I’m still in my uniform because I was optimistic that this weather was gonna get out of here and we were gonna get this thing going, but I’ll just have to save my energy for tomorrow. I got all of the hard work done today. I did all the hospitality and that stuff, so I’m ready to go. I just can’t wait. I guess I’ll have to wait until 12 o’clock tomorrow and take that green flag. I’m just excited. I’m still on the front row. Hopefully, the weather is better tomorrow. I know a lot of race fans are disappointed and a lot of people at home on TV, but we just hope they tune in tomorrow. It’ll be a great race.”
IS IT MORE FRUSTRATING KNOWING YOU’VE GOT A GREAT CAR THAT CAN WIN THIS RACE? “That does make it even more frustrating, knowing that we have a good car, starting on the front row of the Daytona 500 and I feel like we can win this race. There’s just so much anxiety. I’ve watched all the programming leading up to this with all the interviews and then to just put it on hold makes it tough for a driver because there’s all kinds of adrenaline, and then you have to try to sleep tonight. It’s still a big race, so you try to stay hydrated for tomorrow.”
THE FORECAST ISN’T GREAT FOR MONDAY EITHER. AND THEN YOU HAVE TO GET OUT TO PHOENIX FOR THE NEXT RACE. WHAT KIND OF POSITION IS NASCAR IN? “This is a tough situation and this is something that we don’t ever wish on any sport or any person is to have inclement weather because our activities are outside. It can always happen. It can snow. It can rain. It can freeze. Anything can happen, but, unfortunately, we’re just gonna have to hurry up and wait. It’s like watching paint dry because you look out the window and it’s still raining, but we’ve waited until Tuesday before – not for the Daytona 500 – but I have a good feeling we’ll have a good enough window tomorrow to get it in.”
THE RAIN WILL WASH THE RUBBER OFF. HOW WILL THE TRACK CHANGE? “I think this race track, because of the grip and the downforce the race cars have, I think that you won’t see a big difference with the track rubbering up. The speeds will be a little bit faster because the track will be green, but I think for that first run the track is gonna get some rubber on it. NASCAR will probably do a competition caution just to make sure that everything is going OK – probably lap 30 or 25 – so I think it’ll be OK. It’ll just be fast at 12 when we start, but then it’ll be the same game after the first pit stop.”
