Biffle changes engine, loses top starting spot

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Daytona 500 Bud Pole winner Greg Biffle will start from the back of the inside line on the grid Sunday due to changing his car's primary engine.

Biffle retains credit for the pole and his No. 16 National Guard Ford will roll off pit road from that position. He will drop back on the pace laps, along with three other teams that were forced to make engine changes.

	The No. 16 Ford will have a new engine in it for Sunday's race. Credit: AP

"Greg felt like the engine was soft right from the get-go in practice this morning," crew chief Doug Richert said. "He said it wouldn't pull up in the draft like the other one had done."

At Daytona, due to extended practice time and a Gatorade 125-mile qualifying race, teams are allowed to change engines for practice before switching back to their race engines.

In Saturday morning's practice, Biffle was only 36th out of 42 cars that tested. He completed 29 laps, but informed Richert and his crew of the possible problem on his first lap.

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"We checked the valve lash and compression and felt like we had enough of a problem that we had to change it," Richert said while supervising the swap. "On our dynamometer all our engines are only a couple horsepower apart, so this isn't a problem."

NASCAR records were inconclusive, but this is the first time in at least 10 years that the pole winner will have to start from the rear of the Daytona 500 grid.

The furthest back in the field a Daytona 500 winner has started was 33rd, by Bobby Allison in 1978.

From the outside line on the grid, Ryan Newman (20th), Ricky Craven (28th) and Derrike Cope (42nd) will also have to drop to the rear after making engine changes.