It's no fun not having the same toys as everyone else. Just ask Greg Biffle.
The Jack Roush-Robert Yates engine-building partnership has been rushing to produce the new cylinder head NASCAR approved for Ford this year, but has been struggling to outfit all of its teams. Elliott Sadler used one May 15 at the Richmond race and finished 12th.
Five more teams had them for the all-star race on Saturday in Concord, N.C., including race-winner Matt Kenseth.
Roush and Yates have been distributing the heads by order of driver points. That meant Kenseth (fourth), Kurt Busch (ninth), Mark Martin (12th), Sadler (10th) and Dale Jarrett (17th) had it. Biffle, who is 21st entering Sunday'sCoca-Cola 600 at Lowes Motor Speedway, did not.
Biffle had little time to rue his poor equipment, however, as he was wrecked out of contention early by Roush teammate Busch.
He can just ask Kenseth how well it worked.
"I don't know what everybody had, but I know mine ran like Jack the Bear," Kenseth told the Charlotte Observer. "That's just the way it is.
"You can't build 12 engines the first week and have them all done. It takes time to get research and development done."
COMING SOON: According to the Winston-Salem Journal, Toyota, which made its NASCAR debut this season in the Truck series, is preparing to enter Nextel Cup in 2006.
Current manufacturers Dodge, Ford and General Motors would be allowed new engine designs for that season, according to the report.
BROKEN UP: Zephyrhills native David Reutimann had his worst NASCAR Truck finish of the season Friday when the engine blew in his No. 17 Toyota at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He finished last of 36.
Reutimann was running fifth on Lap 68 of 134 when the failure forced the rookie behind the wall and dropped him from third to 10th, 184 points off the lead of Dennis Setzer, in the standings.
"I can't complain because (Toyota Research and Development) has been giving us awesome motors all year," said Reutimann, who had top 10s in his first three races. "In a new program you are going to have failures, but I didn't want to be that guy."
According to Toyota, the failure was the manufacturer's first in more than 8,000 racing miles logged by eight drivers.
Team manager Bobby Kennedy remained pleased with Reutimann's performance this year.
"He's awesome," Kennedy said. "It's just bad luck that the motor let go. It's a shame because we all live in this area and we wanted to shine here at home."
The next Truck series race is the MBNA America 200 on June 4 at Dover International Speedway.
BAD END: Michael Schumacher was none too pleased with the way his bid for a sixth straight Formula One win ended on Sunday at Monte Carlo, with Juan Pablo Montoya sending him into a barrier in a tunnel after crashing into him from behind.
Schumacher led eventual winner Jarno Trulli during a safety-car period (but needed to pit) when the crash left a wheel dangling on his Ferrari. The accident occurred when Schumacher, a six-time world champion, braked sharply, but he still blamed Montoya, who drives a Williams-BMW.
"We were doing what you normally do when you run behind a safety car. You warm up your tires. You warm up your brakes. You accelerate and slow down," Schumacher said. "It's the same of what we do when we go to the grid and nobody crashed there."
DOUBLE DUTY: Robby Gordon will pull a "double" this weekend, racing in the Indianapolis 500 in the early afternoon and Coca-Cola 600 in Concord, N.C., in the early evening. Tony Stewart wanted to, but his Nextel Cup commitments would not allow it.
And why not? Stewart, the 1997 Indy Racing League champion, has had the most success among the three recent drivers who have attempted the feat (the other being repeated Stewart foil John Andretti).
Stewart was sixth at the 2001 Indy 500 and third at Concord; in 1999 he was ninth at Indy and fourth at Concord.
