|
Greg Biffle, of Vancouver, Wash., won the 1998 Truck series Rookie of the Year Award despite tearing up an inordinate amount of equipment. Previously, Biffle had won the 1997 Raybestos Brakes Northwest Series Most Popular Driver Award.
He dominated Tucson Raceway Park's Winter Heat series for Late Model stock cars in 1996, 1997 and 1998, where he grabbed the attention of TV commentator Benny Parsons, who tipped Roush to hire Biffle.
Biffle came to the Nationwide Series after his second dominant year in the Camping World Truck Series, in which he won the 2000 Truck championship driving for Jack Roush. Biffle proved he had lost no momentum, winning the 2001 Raybestos Rookie of the Year Award in Nationwide.
He had arguably the best rookie season in Nationwide Series history. After an inauspicious two-race debut in 1996, Biffle started all 33 races. He won five times and scored two Bud Poles, 16 top-five and 21 top-10 finishes. He was a phenomenal qualifier, with 25 top-10 starting spots and an average starting position of 8.6.
Despite winning "just" four times in the 2002 Nationwide Series campaign, Biffle averaged a top-10 finish and garnered 20 top-five finishes in 34 starts. As a result, Biffle became the first driver to win both the Truck and Nationwide titles. He's also the first Roush Racing driver to win a major NASCAR title of any kind.
Biffle's inaugural Cup season in 2003 produced mixed results, highlighted by his first career Cup win in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Overall, he and the No. 16 Grainger Team recorded one win, three top-five and six top-10 finishes en route to a 20th-place finish in the final point standings.
In 2004, Biffle and the No. 16 car had new sponsorship from the National Guard and Subway. That season, he also scored victories at Michigan International Speedway and at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the season finale.
The 2005 campaign was by far Biffle's best in the NASCAR Cup Series, as he went on to score six victories, 15 top fives and 21 top-10s. It was enough to elevate him to the runner-up position in the championship, just 35 markers behind champion Tony Stewart. It also was the best amongst his four teammates at Roush Racing, all of whom qualified for the championship deciding Chase.
Not everything went to plan in 2006, however, as Biffle stumbled out of the gate and failed to make the Chase. Nonetheless, he finished the season with two wins, eight top fives and 15 top-10s en route to finishing 13th in the championship standings.
In 2007, he partnered up with a new crew chief, Pat Tryson, in the No. 16 Ameriquest Ford.
Despite that change, Biffle still came out of the 2007 season in 14th, with one win, one pole award, five top-fives, and 11 top-10s. For three consecutive years, Biffle won the Cup Series' season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, (2004, 2005, and 2006) but couldn't quite pull that off again in 2007 finishing 13th.
Biffle's 2008 season returned him to the ranks as one of the elite drivers in the Sprint Cup Series. After struggling the past two seasons, Biffle put together a solid campaign that included a return to the Chase field.
Biffle racked up 12 top-five finishes and scored a pair of poles to go along with his two victories, which he won in back-to-back fashion to open the Chase portion of the schedule in September.
Those wins moved Biffle into contention to win the championship, but he ultimately faded during the playoff run and finished 217 points behind Jimmie Johnson in the standings.
Greg Biffle Merchandise
|
