Driver Spotlight: Greg Biffle

2014 Driver Spotlight on Greg Biffle

By Richard Tix

News broke Monday 5/5 this week that Clint Bowyer has reach a contract extension with Michael Waltrip racing and also with 5 Hour Energy. Bowyer got a multi, 3 year deal with both team and sponsor, so who did that leave in the contract spotlight?

The obvious answer is Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle. Both Roush Fenway Racing drivers are in the last years of there contracts and could be moving after the season. Most would think that RFR would not want to lose both drivers in the same season, but so far in the 2014 season we have only heard rumors of the two side working on a new deal.

Biffle has been with the team his whole career and this could be a key season for him with the contract talks on the line. Should he look to see if another opportunity would open up that could give him one last shot at a title, or should he stay with the stable option that he knows?

One thing is for sure, his 2014 season has started to turn around after a slow start. Biffle left Daytona confident finishing 8th but for the next 5 races he rolled downhill, at one point finding himself 20th in points.  After hitting that low the Biff has turned his season around.

In his last 4 races he has 3 top 10's and two top 5's (2nd, 5th, and 6th) with Talladega being one of his best races. Biffle lead 58 laps on Sunday and looked like one of the cars to beat down the stretch. In the end, a late caution came out to end his chances and he finished 2nd. 

In that four race stretch his lone non top 10 was a 15th place finish at Richmond. After 10 races in the 2014 season Greg Biffle has climbed all the way back to 8th in the Cup Standings. A lot of this is due to just how much better he is running. 

In his last 5 races his average running position during races is 11.4 which is much better than the 20th average during his first 5 races. So he isn't just finishing better but as a whole he is running closer to the front for more of each race. More proof of this? During the last 5 races he has run 1,209 laps in the top 15 (of 1,802 total laps in those 5 races) compared to 611 laps in the first 5 races (1,472). This includes the Texas race where he ran all 340 laps in the top 15.

So, the next step for Biffle is getting a win in 2014 so he can know he will be in the Chase at least one more time with RFR. After that, it will be a waiting game while both sides decide if a deal can be done or if the two party's will move there separate ways.


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