No repeat of Vegas mistake from Biffle.

Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender Greg Biffle avoided a repeat of last week's calamitous failure to qualify by safely placing his #16 Grainger Roush Racing Ford into the starting field for Sunday's Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500.

As the fourth round of this year's Winston Cup points chase, the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at the 1.54-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway is the final race where Provisional status is decided on the final 2002 Owners standings. Last weekend at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway that scenario burnt reigning NASCAR Busch Series Champ Greg Biffle and he was going to make sure it wouldn't happen again.

"There were so many things involved with why we didn't make it," recalled Biffle after qualifying in 20th spot for Sunday's 325-lap tear around the high banks of AMS. "For one, I didn't know if I didn't qualify in the top 36 that I wouldn't have got in because the numbers changed over with the points that other teams brought to that number. So I never imagined that I'd go home."

If nothing else Biffle learned a valuable lesson that he put into good practice on Friday during Bud Pole qualifying. Whereas the old racing adage 'in order to finish first, first you must finish' always applies, in Biffle's case it is a case of ''n order to finish first you must qualify'.

"The first lap (at LVMS) I did a 32-flat and I thought, 'Dang, I need to go a lot faster than that,' and I kind of overdrove it the second lap and got loose down in one and two," he continued. "If I knew I needed to do a .90 to get in the show, I was trying for a .60 - not just a .90 to get in the race. That's what I did here today, just try to get something good to get in because we were a lot faster than that."

Even though a 20th place qualifying effort gave Biffle top rookie status in qualifying on Friday, his 29.373secs Bud Pole lap was some four tenths of a second slower than his fastest time from Friday morning's practice session.

"You saw we were a lot faster in practice," he stated. "I don't know if I could have won the pole, but I might have been in the top 10. But if I spun out, I'd be going to the house again and I couldn't take that chance."