May 18, 2005

By Rebecca Gladden

Several times in the past few weeks, Fox TV's NASCAR Broadcast Analyst Darrell Waltrip has described Greg Biffle as a wheel man.

In NASCAR-speak, that's a high compliment, especially from a driver with Waltrip's racing resume'.

Some racers get where they are through relentless, pedal-to-the-metal, chrome horn tactics.

A wheel man handles his vehicle with the finesse of a surgeon performing a delicate operation. His car flows through traffic as a stream of water rolls downhill. While not above using the bumper from time to time, a wheel man would rather race cleanly than combatively. He drives smart, but is up on the wheel as if each lap was the last lap of the race.

Greg Biffle is a wheel man.

Biffle was the first - and so far the only - driver to win championships in both the Craftsman Truck and Busch series. Now in his third full season as a Nextel Cup driver, he is looking to add a Nextel Cup championship to his list of accomplishments.

The driver of the #16 Roush Racing Ford currently finds himself second in the points standings, just 41 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson. He is tied with Jeff Gordon for three wins on the season after 11 races, and also has seven top-10 finishes.

The man Biffle trails in the points standings has plenty of respect for his closest competitor: "He's always been fast," Johnson observed. "He's always been hard on the gas. When you're in a race with him, he's definitely going to be very aggressive. And that's not a bad thing. I'm not saying that in a negative way at all. There are certain guys that are reckless and aggressive, and other guys (who) aren't."

A wheel man carefully walks the fine line between aggressive and reckless, but rarely crosses it.

Greg Biffle got his start in NASCAR after catching the eye of another veteran driver, Hall-of-Famer Benny Parsons. In 1996, Parsons saw Biffle driving in the Winter Heat series and was so impressed with what he observed that he told NASCAR team owner Jack Roush about the Washington State native.

Roush Racing president Geoff Smith told USA today about the decision to hire Biffle, sight unseen. "We did something that no prudent human resources group would do. All we knew is that Benny said, of all the guys he had seen lately, Greg Biffle was a cut above everyone else."

Accepting Parsons' recommendation proved to be a wise decision. Biffle won Rookie of the Year in the Craftsman Truck Series in 1998 and followed that up with a record nine CTS victories the following year. In 2000, Biffle brought home Roush Racing's first championship, taking the top prize in the truck series. He was named Busch Series Rookie of the Year in 2001, and while it may have seemed difficult to improve on his 21 top-10 finishes that year, the 2002 season was even more impressive, with 25 top-10's and the Busch series title.

In his first two Cup seasons, Greg Biffle finished 20th and 17th respectively, but at Daytona this year, he was clearly looking forward to improving on that record. "I'm hoping it's going to be really easy to carry our momentum from late last year into this season," Biffle remarked, "even though I know it's going to be tough. I just hope we can pick up where we left off. I know this team is ready to be competitive right out of the gate. I can't wait to get back to Daytona and get the new season underway."

With nearly one-third of the season now behind him, Greg Biffle continues to rack up points with wheel-man manners. In a 2004 interview, Biffle was asked about his ability to drive smart versus drive angry. "What would you do on the highway every day if someone high-beamed you or cut you off?" he asked rhetorically. "You can't just wreck people because you're having a bad day. We get frustrated easily, but the fact is that you just can't do that."

Staying out of trouble on the track is a skill unto itself. Combined with talent and experience, it is a trait likely to carry Greg Biffle far along on the road to future victories.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN. Although we may not always agree with what is said, we do feel it's our duty to give a voice to those who have something relevant to say about the sport of auto racing.