Sun Nov 08 2009
From staff and wire reports
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Sam Hornish Jr.'s 30th birthday wasn't so happy on Thursday.
Hornish and Greg Biffle wrecked during practice for Saturday night's NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway.
Neither driver was injured.
Biffle and Hornish got together between Turn 1 and Turn 2 with only minutes remaining in Thurday's nighttime "Happy Hour," the second of two Sprint Cup practices. Both cars hit the wall and sustained major damage. Biffle's crew unloaded a backup car and started getting it ready for Friday's qualifying session. Hornish and the No. 77 crew was also believed to be breaking out their backup car.
Qualifying will begin today at 4 p.m. and can be seen on SPEED TV while the green flag will drop for the Coke Zero 400 Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on TNT.
Biffle, ninth in the points standings, was 17th fastest in the practice session at 188.636 mph. Hornish, 25th in points, was ninth-fastest at 189.306 mph.
Hornish's car headed into this weekend with a new chassis and crew chief Travis Geisler told NASCAR.com that it was "just as good as any we have."
Hornish explained the accident this way to NASCAR.com: "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. 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 appeared unhurt after sustaining damage to both the right and left sides of the No. 77 Penske Racing Dodge, still took time to sign autographs after the incident.
"It was kind of a shame that it occurred before the race even starts," Hornish added when asked by the league's official website. "But we'll see what happens. 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."
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