(Photo Credit: Getty
Images for NASCAR)
GREG BIFFLE
(Photo Credit: Getty
Images for NASCAR)
Early
career
In 1996 Biffle gained national
attention when he raced in the NASCAR Winter Heat series on ESPN2 in the
winter of 1995/1996. Former ESPN announcer and NASCAR champion Benny
Parsons told Jack Roush that there was no way he could pass up the chance
to hire Biffle, and that if he did he would regret it while watching
Biffle win races for another team owner.
Craftsman
Truck Series
Starting in the NASCAR Craftsman
Truck Series, Biffle first won Rookie of the Year in 1998 for Roush Fenway
Racing. In 2000, he won the series title in the #50 Grainger Ford F-150,
which was his first championship in one of NASCAR's three major series. In
2001, he ran four more races for Jack Roush in the #99 Eldon Ford F-150.
His last truck start was in 2004 for Tom Mitchell in the #44 Ford Racing
Ford F-150 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Busch/Nationwide
Series
Biffle first drove two races in 1996
for Dick Bown in the #51 Barbasol Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Biffle joined the
NASCAR Busch Series full-time in 2001. He won the series rookie of the
year award. He had five wins and finished fourth in points. In 2001 Biffle
brought Roush another championship, this time in the NASCAR Busch Series.
His four wins, 20-top-fives and 25-top-tens earned him the championship
victory over fellow Busch Series regulars Jason Keller and Scott Wimmer.
Biffle has continued to drive in the Busch Series every season since then.
Biffle ran only part-time in 2003, but contended for the NASCAR Busch
Series championship again in 2004, finishing third behind future Sprint
Cup Series regulars Martin Truex, Jr. and Kyle Busch. Running part-time
again in 2005, Biffle again placed in the top ten in NASCAR Busch Series
points standings, despite running only 27 races, eight races fewer than
the full season.
Sprint
Cup Series
In 2002, Biffle drove his first
NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now Sprint Cup Series) race at California
Speedway in the #16 Volvo Trucks Ford Taurus for Roush Fenway Racing. He
also drove for Andy Petree Racing in the #55 Schneider Electric Chevrolet
Monte Carlo and for Petty Enterprises in the #44 Georgia Pacific Dodge
Intrepid. In total, Biffle ran seven races with three-top-five starts and
a best finish of 13th.
Biffle started competing full time in
NASCAR's top circuit in 2003, and he finished in 20th place in the final
Winston Cup Series points. He earned his first win at the Daytona
International Speedway in the Pepsi 400. He finished second to Jamie
McMurray for Raybestos Rookie of the Year. His car was sponsored by
Grainger Industrial Supply, Co., who had previously sponsored him in his
Busch and truck series efforts.
Greg Biffle showed steady improvement
over the 2004 season as he earned two more race wins en route to a 17th
place finish in the points.
2005 was Biffle's breakout season. He
finished the season tied with teammate Carl Edwards for second in the
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup championship, thirty-five points behind champion Tony
Stewart. Biffle won the tie-breaker for second because of his six race
victories, the most of any driver in the Nextel Cup Series that season.
In 2006, Biffle won twice, at
Darlington Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. Biffle struggled
considerably during the year, finishing 24th at Pocono Raceway, 33rd at
the Brickyard and 38th at Watkins Glen International.
The Army National Guard served as the
primary sponsor from 2004-2006. Ameriquest served as a primary sponsor for
most of 2007 before selling off a lot of its sponsorship to other
companies due to financial difficulty and is no longer a sponsor of the
#16 Ford. Other sponsors included Post-it/3M, Jackson Hewitt Tax Services,
Subway, Charter Communications and Prism Guard Shield.
For 2008, Biffle will drive the #16
3M Ford Fusion for Roush Fenway Racing. Biffle signed a contract extension
with Roush Fenway Racing for 3 additional years in June 2008. With a
strong start in the Chase, Biffle looks to become the first driver in
NASCAR history to win a championship in all three of NASCARs national
series.Biffle is the only driver win the first two races in the chase for
the sprint cup.
Personal
life
Greg is a fan of fishing and enjoys
deep sea fishing in Mexico, where he keeps his factory sponsored Luhrs
fishing boat. Greg formerly owned a pub venture in his hometown of
Vancouver, WA called "Biffles Pub and Grill" located at 11500 NE
76th St Vancouver, WA. Greg was married on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007
in South Carolina to his longtime girlfriend Nicole Lunders. He is a
private pilot and owns a Cessna 210.
Greg guest starred in CBS's
situational comedy Yes, Dear. The episode, On Your Marks, Get Set, Mow,
featured a riding lawn mower racing subplot which interloped with the
greater "Father fights for respect of his son" theme. Biffle
portrays himself as a NASCAR racer moonlighting in the small time mower
racing series.
Greg also appeared on a special
features scene of the Will Ferrell comedy film about NASCAR, Talladega
Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
On December 22, 2007 Greg appeared on
the Food Network show Paula's Party with cook Paula Deen to cook steak,
and take Paula for a ride in his 2007 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500.
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.
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