Biffle unloads fast at The Glen, paces practices

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Greg Biffle left a special gift for his hospital-bound car owner, Jack Roush, earlier this week -- and if Biffle fulfills the promise he showed in Friday afternoon's two Sprint Cup practices at Watkins Glen International, he might have another for the boss before long.

"You know, our race cars are really fast, these guys spend a lot of time working on these race cars and coming up with these packages and setups -- I feel like we are gaining on it now," Biffle said after Happy Hour. "I feel like our simulation is better and we are showing up closer when we unload at the race track. I am focused and trying hard. It is not like I have been asleep the whole time, but it is now or never."

Watkins Glen

Practice 1

Pos.	Driver	Speed	Time
1.	G. Biffle	122.152	72.205
2.	D. Hamlin	122.022	72.282
3.	P. Menard	121.882	72.365
4.	J. Burton	121.843	72.388
5.	Ku. Busch	121.682	72.484

• Complete Speeds

Happy Hour

Pos.	Driver	Speed	Time
1.	G. Biffle	124.065	71.092
2.	J. Montoya	123.807	71.240
3.	M. Ambrose	123.755	71.270
4.	Ku. Busch	123.614	71.351
5.	K. Harvick	123.607	71.355

• Complete Speeds

It's ironic that, after he won last Sunday at Pocono, Biffle was asked about his chances at this weekend's road-course event. Biffle said a top-five would be a reasonable finish for him, which seemed an odd prediction considering his fifth-place here last season is only Biffle's second top-10 finish in seven starts at the high-speed circuit in upstate New York.

But Biffle ran a whopping 29 laps in the opening practice and was on top of the board with a best lap of 72.205 seconds, an average speed of 122.152 mph in his No. 16 Ford. The unlikely top three included second man Denny Hamlin and third best Paul Menard, neither of whom has ever won a Cup road race.

Defending race winner Tony Stewart was only 22nd, which only reinforced Biffle's hope for a breakthrough victory, and a chance to reward Roush in person.

"I didn't think I would be at the top of this sheet," Biffle said after the first practice. "But I sure am happy about it."

In the 80-minute Happy Hour, Biffle backed up his earlier performance when ran 15 laps and his best, in 71.09 seconds at an average speed of 124.065 mph, was the best lap of the day.

"It is funny because after that win last week, I just felt like we were going to run well here," Biffle said. "I just felt we had a good opportunity to win at The Glen. I don't know why. We ran better at Sonoma and I knew we were bringing that car here. I just thought that in the right circumstances we would run well. I was thinking there would be a couple of cars faster than us and then we get here and that is not the case."

Happy Hour had a more reasonable assembly of road-course talent in the top five. Juan Montoya, the former Formula One winner whose only Cup victory came on the road course at Sonoma, had the second-best single lap and the best average lap time, 71.75 seconds, across five laps.

The rest of the top five included Marcos Ambrose, who's won the past two Nationwide Series races here, and the next four guys -- Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Stewart and Kyle Busch -- have all won races at WGI.

But at least on Friday, Biffle, who's won a Truck Series race here, took a back seat to no one -- including in the confidence department.

"I have been thinking about this race a lot," Biffle said. "I like to road race. It is fun to do a couple of times a year. I had been thinking about coming here and being able to challenge for the win.

"Before the last few weeks, I felt like there would be four or five guys that we would be able to run with at this race track and I would just have to hope that we could out-smart them on strategy. I don't think that is the case now. I think we can challenge the fastest cars for the win on Sunday."

And that apparently would be fine by Roush, who has been a patient at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., since last Wednesday, where he was transferred after suffering facial injuries when his own Beechcraft Premier jet crashed on landing July 27 in Oshkosh, Wis. (Continued)