Biffle, Hornish hit wall in final practice at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- After 130 minutes of practice Thursday at Daytona International Speedway, 45 Sprint Cup teams were left with a lot of uncertainty looking ahead to Saturday night's Coke Zero 400, including the fastest men from both practices.

Things will come into better focus in the only Cup track session Friday, qualifying for the 18th race of the season, which is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. ET.

Biffle

An accident with less than 10 minutes left in the nighttime Happy Hour definitely sent 2003 Daytona summer winner Greg Biffle and Sam Hornish Jr. to backup cars; but neither was exactly sure what had happened.

Before he hurried away from the race track, Biffle told his PR representative that he thought Hornish had gotten loose underneath the No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford that Biffle used in the Daytona 500 and qualified on the outside of the front row with this spring at Talladega before he finished seventh.

Crew chief Greg Erwin said the team's backup car had yet to turn a lap on the race track.

Hornish had a slightly better view from his No. 77 Penske Racing Dodge, which he said was a brand new chassis that was replaced, crew chief Travis Geisler said, by a car that was "just as good as any we have" that was last used at Talladega, where Hornish finished 34th after being involved in an accident.

"We had just put some new tires on there and made a couple adjustments and were gonna make a couple more laps to see where we were at," Hornish said. "I think Greg said he just got loose and I was just trying not to run him over at that point in time, so there wasn't enough room. I went into the corner and I was only half a car-length behind him, so by the time he got corrected I thought he must've lost a tire with how quick it came around on him. You can't do anything."

Hornish, who was 14th in the first practice, was ninth on the time sheet when the accident occurred. His car was pinched into the wall between Turns 1 and 2 by Biffle's and it suffered damage on the left front and along the entire right side. When he returned to the garage, he spent five minutes signing autographs through the fence for fans in Daytona's "Fan Zone."

"It was kind of a shame that it occurred before the race even starts, but we'll see what happens," Hornish said. "The backup is not as good as what we had. It's unfortunate because it was brand-new and it was a pretty good piece."

Before that accident broke out, Thursday had been a typical July day at the World Center of Racing, from the heat and humidity to a rain shower that prematurely ended Nationwide Series Happy Hour and delayed the start of Cup final practice 83 minutes to an early tire problem.

A quick check after a wide patch of rubber came off the inside shoulder of the right rear tire on Jeff Gordon's No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the afternoon practice proved an equal amount of uncertainty was brewing in that corner.

"We have a new car here and it seems to be performing well, especially down the straightaway," No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver Denny Hamlin said. "Handling-wise it seems like it's real bad but I think everyone's is. We ran more laps [31] than anyone [but Biffle] that [first] practice.

"We didn't have any tire issues. I know a lot of guys ran half the laps and did have tire issues. I'm pretty excited about that. We at least have a car that's balanced enough where we're not going to rip the tires off. I saw a bunch of guys having right rear problems and I think that's pretty common here.

• Speeds: Practice 1 | Practice 2 (Continued)