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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The Roush Fenway Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams of drivers Greg Biffle and Trevor Bayne will forfeit their original starting positions for Thursday night’s Can-Am Duel qualifying races due to rear gearing changes made Wednesday.
Both drivers are in the first of the two 60-lap (150 mile) qualifying races, which sets the lineup for Sunday’s 58th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
Biffle qualified 20th during Sunday’s Coors Light Pole qualifying and was scheduled to start 11th in Thursday’s first duel. The veteran racer, still searching for his first victory in the season-opening event, was third fastest in Wednesday’s opening practice.
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Bayne, a winner of the Daytona 500 in 2011 while with Wood Brothers Racing, was slated to start 17th in the first of Thursday’s qualifying races. He was second fastest in Wednesday’s opening practice.
Michael McDowell (Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing) was fastest in the opening session, topping the charts with a fast lap of 200.173 mph.
The first of the two Can-Am Duel qualifying races is scheduled to get underway at 7 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.)
“Unfortunately we had some issues in qualifying so we changed the rear gear and have to start in the back for the Duels,” Bayne said. “We got it fixed and now the car is running really good. It has a lot of speed and drives really good.
“Hopefully on old tires it will keep that handling because right now it drives great.”
Teammate Ricky Stenhouse was fourth quickest in Wednesday’s opening session.
“This is good. It is good for Ford,” Biffle said. “It looks like the (Team) Penske guys are fast as well. There are a lot of fast cars out there. We are happy with the speed of the car. It feels good.
“It has been eight years since I had a fast car down here. I feel good about it. I don’t know if it is fast enough to win yet, but it is definitely fast enough to run up front and that is what counts.”
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Bayne was the only RFR driver to take part in the final practice, and the driver of the No. 6 Ford turned only four laps (winding up 19th fastest) before calling it a night.
The rookie Brian Scott (Richard Petty Motorsports) was fastest in the final session.
Three drivers, Brian Vickers, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. will also start at the rear of their respective qualifying races, the result of issues prior to the start of qualifying on Sunday.
The No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team of Truex failed to make a qualifying attempt after the team was unable to correct an issue with one of the car’s roof flaps in the allotted time. The team is making its debut with Toyota after switching from Chevrolet during the offseason.
Vickers, serving in a relief-driver role for the injured Tony Stewart, and Harvick had their qualifying times disallowed for what officials described as the track bars on the two Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolets being “out of compliance.”
Harvick’s No. 4 team also had to go to the rear of the field two years ago, this time for the Daytona 500, when the car failed post-race inspection with a track bar issue following the opening Duel race.
A multi-car accident that began when the entry of Ty Dillon put oil down on the track interrupted the final practice Wednesday. Damage to the entries of Michael Waltrip (BK Racing) and Kyle Larson (Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates) was extensive enough to require those teams to go to back-up cars.
MORE: Wreck in practice could send more cars to the rear for Duels