DAYTONA BEACH - Dale Earnhardt Jr. will require less time than expected to lead today's Daytona 500.
Pole-sitter Greg Biffle's No. 16 Ford had a leaky cylinder after morning practice Saturday, leading to an engine change that sends it to the back of the 43-car field.
Cars in odd positions (comprising the inside column) will slide a row ahead. So Earnhardt, third on the grid after winning his 125-mile qualifying race, will take the front row once the five cars that made engine or body changes move to the back on the final pace lap.
Biffle will be joined by Ryan Newman, Ricky Craven, Derrike Cope (engine) and Scott Riggs (car) in the back.
Biffle's crew chief, Doug Richert, said car owner Jack Roush and co-engine builder Doug Yates deemed the change a "no-brainer." Biffle complained about a lack of horsepower during a practice that started late because of rain.
"It would not have made the whole race," Richert said. "Doug and Jack said we're here to win championships, we can't start with something that is unquestionably wrong."
Richert was philosophical about a situation that would have frazzled many in his position.
"It's a two-sided coin," he said. "It's disappointing we have to start at the back. It does open you up for a melee or a misfortune of a wreck more so than if you were up front, but if this rain would have come a little earlier, we would not have had the opportunity to run this motor 30 laps and (we) probably would have fallen out of the Daytona 500.
"You can still win from the back."
Biffle was driving in the Busch race, which wound up being postponed until Monday, when the decision was made and crewman began to change the motor.
Biffle is the first pole-sitter to relinquish his spot in the 500 for a change since Dale Jarrett in 2000. Jarrett went to a backup car after an accident.
Ironically, Biffle foretold the problem after practice on Saturday, saying, "It might be nice to run this engine just to make sure we don't have any leaks and everything's good on it. But we're pretty happy with the way it's handling."
Biffle's engine problems are the first bad news this week for a Roush-Yates engine-building cooperative that had a victory in the Bud Shootout with Jarrett, a pole with Biffle and a second-best qualifying effort and qualifying race victory by Elliott Sadler.
"We've had great motors off the truck all week," Richert said. "That's why we won the pole, everything was this good this week."
The engine problem on Newman's No. 12 Dodge started with a cut tire. The motor spun backward after a left rear blowout caused Newman to lose control in practice. Crew chief Matt Borland elected to switch rather than discover an undetected problem during the race today.
