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Greg Biffle

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Greg Biffle
Awards1998 Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year

2000 Craftsman Truck Series Champion

2001 Busch Series Rookie of the Year

2002 Busch Series Champion
NASCAR Cup Series career
Car no., team16– Roush Fenway Racing
2010 position6th
Best finish2nd – 2005
First race2002 NAPA Auto Parts 500 (California)
First win2003 Pepsi 400 (Daytona)
Last win2010 Price Chopper 400 Presented by Kraft Foods (Kansas)
Wins Top tens Poles
16 113 6
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
2010 position35th
Best finish1st – 2002
First race1996 AC-Delco 200 (Rockingham)
First win2001 Pepsi 300 Presented by Mapco/Williams (Nashville)
Last win2009 Bashas' Supermarkets 200 (Phoenix)
Wins Top tens Poles
20 149 14
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
81 races run over 5 years
Best finish1st – 2000
First race1998 Chevy Trucks Challenge (Orlando)
Last race2004 Ford 200 (Homestead)
First win1999 Memphis 200 (Memphis)
Last win2001 Chevy Silverado 150 (Phoenix)
Wins Top tens Poles
16 54 12

Gregory Jack "Greg" Biffle (born December 23, 1969 in Vancouver, Washington.[1]) is a NASCAR driver who drives the No. 16 3M Ford Fusion for Roush Fenway Racing in the Sprint Cup Series. After racing in the NASCAR Winter Heat Series in the mid-90s, he was recommended to Jack Roush by former announcer Benny Parsons. He subsequently became champion in NASCAR's other two national touring divisions, the Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series.

Racing career

Biffle grew up in Vancouver, Washington and began his racing career driving on short tracks around the Pacific Northwest. He later took up racing open wheel cars in the Barber Pro Series beginning in 1990. Biffle continued driving in the Barber Pro Series in the early 90's, having moderate success with a best finish of 4th in Barber Saab Pro Series points in 1993. In 1994, Biffle moved to Europe and drove in the Formula Opel Lotus series and British Formula 3 the following year. Biffle, would move back to the United States again to race stock cars.

He first gained national attention as a driver when he raced in the nationally televised Winter Heat Series in the winter of 1995–1996. Biffle dominated the series championship that winter, leading former ESPN announcer and NASCAR champion, Benny Parsons, to recommend the driver to Jack Roush.[2]

Biffle entered the first two races of the 1996 Winston West Series, finishing 30th at Tucson and 4th at Altamont. His debut in one of NASCAR's national divisions came later that year when he ran the final two Busch Series races of the season. Driving a Chevrolet for Dick Bown, he finished 23rd at Rockingham but lost an engine the following race at Homestead and finished 36th.

In 1997, Biffle competed in the now-defunct NASCAR Northwest Series and won the Most Popular Driver Award.[3]

Truck Series

Roush Racing promoted Biffle to a full-time ride in the Craftsman Truck Series in 1998. Despite not winning a race that season, Biffle's four pole positions are the most by a Truck Series rookie to date and they helped him earn an 8th place finish in the final standings and the Rookie of the Year Award. He followed it up with a stellar 1999 season in which he recorded nine wins, a single-season Truck Series record that still stands as of 2009. He finished second in the final standings, just eight points behind champion Jack Sprague.

In 2000, Biffle won the Truck Series title with another five-win season, beating his Roush teammate Kurt Busch by 230 points. It was Biffle's first championship in one of NASCAR's three major series. It was announced that Biffle would move up to the Busch Series for 2001, however he ran four more Truck races for Roush that season and won at Phoenix. Biffle's last Truck Series start was in 2004 for another long-time Ford team, Circle Bar Racing, at Homestead.he finished 1st

Busch/Nationwide Series

Biffle joined the Busch Series full-time in 2001 and won the Rookie of the Year Award with five wins a fourth-place finish in the final standings. The following season, he won another four races and earned 20 top-five finishes out of 34 races en route to his first Busch Series title and the second NASCAR national championship of his career.

He ran only part-time in 2003 as Roush moved him up to a full-time ride in the Winston Cup Series for that season, but he returned to contend for the Busch Series championship again in 2004. He placed third in the standings behind Martin Truex, Jr. and Kyle Busch. Since 2005, Biffle has raced part-time for Roush in the Busch (now Nationwide Series) every year. He won twice in 2009, at Las Vegas and Phoenix, after going winless the previous two seasons.

Biffle will return to the Nationwide Series in 2010, driving the #27 Ford for Baker Curb Racing.[4]

Cup Series

2008 Cup racecar

Biffle attempted his Cup Series debut by trying to qualify a Roush Ford for the 2002 Daytona 500 but failed to make the race. He would make his first Cup start for Roush nine races later at California. His 13th place finish in that race was his best finish in seven 2002 races as he also drove four races in a Chevrolet for Andy Petree Racing and two in a Dodge for Petty Enterprises.

Biffle began competing full-time in NASCAR's top division in 2003, with sponsorship from Grainger, who had previously sponsored him in his Busch and Truck Series rides. He earned his first win in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona that season and finished second to Jamie McMurray (who would later join him as a teammate at Roush) for Raybestos Rookie of the Year. Biffle placed 20th in the final points standings.

Biffle made an immediate impact in his sophomore season in 2004, earning the pole in the Daytona 500. Despite missing NASCAR's first-ever Chase for the NEXTEL Cup, Biffle won twice that season, at Michigan and Homestead en route to a 17th place finish in the final points standings.

2005 was Biffle's breakout season. He won six races, the most of any driver that year, and qualified for the Chase for the first time in his career. He won the season finale at Homestead to finish second in the standings, 35 points behind champion Tony Stewart (Biffle tied with teammate Carl Edwards in points but won the tie-breaker based on race wins).

Biffle regressed in 2006, missing the Chase for the Cup despite winning twice, at Darlington Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway (both of which were tracks he had also won at the previous season). He finished 13th in the standings, third-best of the drivers not to qualify for the Chase. He also missed the Chase the following year, in a season marred by the #16 team's new primary sponsor Ameriquest Mortgage suffering financial difficulty and having to sell off a number of its race sponsorships. Biffle won just once in 2007, at Kansas Speedway, and finished 14th in the standings, second-best of the non-Chase drivers as the Chase expanded to a 12-driver format that year.

In June 2008, Biffle signed a 3-year contract extension with Roush Fenway Racing.[5] Despite going winless during the 26-race regular season, Biffle made for the Chase for the Sprint Cup that year and won the first two Chase races, at New Hampshire and Dover. In doing so, he became the first (and to date only) driver to win the first two Chase races in a season.

Biffle qualified for the Chase for the second year in a row in 2009 but, for the first time since 2002 (when he ran a limited schedule), failed to record a win. During a January 2009 test, Greg Biffle managed to reach 218 miles per hour (351 km/h) in a test for Roush Fenway Racing as part of evading NASCAR's testing ban. This became the fastest time ever achieved on this track by any competitor (amateur or professional).

In 2010 Biffle qualified for the third year in a row for the Chase despite spotty performance in the regular season.

Personal life

Greg Biffle signs autograph to loyal Ford Racing fans along pit lane of the Pocono International Raceway

Greg is married to Nicole (née Lunders) since October 17, 2007.[6] The couple were married in South Carolina and now live in Mooresville, North Carolina. Biffle and his wife are currently expecting their first child, a daughter on July 10.[7][8]

Greg is a fan of fishing and enjoys deep sea fishing in Mexico, where he keeps a factory sponsored Luhrs fishing boat. Greg formerly owned a pub venture in his hometown of Vancouver called "Biffle's Pub and Grill" located at 11500 NE 76th St. He is a private pilot and owns a Cessna 210.[9] Greg owns an 07 Ford GT and an 07 Shelby Mustang.

Appearances in media

Greg guest starred in a 2005 episode of CBS's situational comedy Yes, Dear, entitled, "On Your Marks, Get Set, Mow". Biffle portrayed himself as a NASCAR racer moonlighting in a small-time lawnmower racing series.

Greg appeared on a special features scene of the 2006 NASCAR-themed comedy film, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, but was not credited with appearing in the film itself.

On December 22, 2007 Greg appeared on the Food Network show Paula's Party with cook Paula Deen to cook steak,[10] and take Paula for a ride in his 2007 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500.[11]

Greg was a regular panelist on the Speed program, This Week in NASCAR which stopped airing at the end of the 2009 season.

Greg Biffle Foundation

Greg also has a foundation in his name that he and Nicole manage. Their primary goal is to create awareness and serve as an advocate to improve the well-being of animals by engaging the power and passion of the motorsports industry. The foundation donates to local Humane Societies, no-kill animal shelters, spay and neuter clinics, and the Animal Adoption League.

Races Won

Sprint Cup (16 career wins)

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2010

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

Busch/Nationwide Series (21 career wins)

2009

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Statistics

Year Races Wins Poles Top 5 Top 10 DNF Finish Start Winnings Season Rank Team(s)
2002 7 0 0 0 0 1 27.4 17.4 $394,773 48th Roush; Petree; Petty
2003 35 1 0 3 6 6 19.8 20.1 $2,805,673 20th Roush Racing
2004 36 2 1 4 8 5 19.2 14.2 $4,092,877 17th Roush Racing
2005 36 6 0 15 21 1 11.9 13.2 $8,354,052 2nd Roush Racing
2006 36 2 2 8 15 6 18.8 14.4 $5,347,623 13th Roush Racing
2007 36 1 1 5 11 5 18.5 19.3 $5,178,489 14th Roush Racing
2008 36 2 2 12 17 1 14.4 14.2 $7,244,488 3rd Roush Fenway Racing
2009 36 0 0 10 16 2 14.0 13.9 $6,245,882 7th Roush Fenway Racing
2010 36 2 0 8 17 2 13.8 17.1 $3,400,870 11th Roush Fenway Racing
Totals 282 15 6 62 108 29 16.5 15.7 $43,064,727 full season avg. 10.9

Data as of August 22, 2010[12]

References

  1. ^ http://nationwide.nascar.com/nationwide-series/drivers/dps/gbiffle00
  2. ^ Greg Biffle
  3. ^ RacingOne.com – Greg Biffle Profile
  4. ^ http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/headlines/bg/01/09/gbiffle.baker.curb/index.html
  5. ^ Biffle signs 3-year extension with Roush Fenway
  6. ^ http://www.mlive.com/autoracing/grpress/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/1200245106198940.xml&coll=6
  7. ^ [1]
  8. ^ [2]
  9. ^ http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2009/march/nascar0903.html?WT.mc_id=090220epilot&WT.mc_sect=gan
  10. ^ Greg Biffle cooks steak with Paula Deen.
  11. ^ Greg Biffle doing donuts with Paula Deen
  12. ^ Greg Biffle Career Statistics

External links

Preceded by NASCAR Busch Series Champion
2002 		Succeeded by
Preceded by NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion
2000 		Succeeded by

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