Happily forgotten
Most drivers near the top of the Sprint Cup points standings get more attention than Greg Biffle these days.
Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards are having magical seasons, and Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth are more in danger of missing NASCAR’s soon-to-start 10-race playoffs. Everything Dale Earnhardt Jr. does is news, Jimmie Johnson is trying to win his third championship in a row, Tony Stewart is hoping to win one as a parting gift to Joe Gibbs Racing, and Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick are among the best drivers never to win one.
Biffle doesn’t mind at all, and is content to lurk in the shadows, at least for now.
“That’s the way it’s been, predominantly, a lot of the time,” the veteran for Roush Fenway Racing said from Bristol, Tenn. “I think they kind of skip over me. I like that because it’s less pressure for me. We just do the best we can, stay under the radar, I guess, and see what we can do.”
So far, that’s been a lot, especially since he remains winless this year.
Biffle will head into this weekend’s race at California seventh in the point standings, 141 points ahead of teammate David Ragan, who is 13th with two races to go before the top 12 advance into the Chase for the championship. Kenseth, another teammate, stands 10th.
Jack Roush, who could wind up with four drivers in the Chase field if Ragan moves up one spot, thinks Biffle’s team is close to putting it all together at the best time possible.
“We still just haven’t got the chemistry between he and the crew chief and the team that we rebuilt to be where it’s at its absolute best, but they’re very close to being able to do the deal,” Roush said before Biffle finished 11th at Bristol on Saturday night. “If we could just win a race and get that behind us, I think everybody would be a little bit more relaxed.”
While Edwards, Roush’s top driver this year, picked up his sixth victory of the season at Bristol, Biffle never contended for the victory despite being solid all race long.
“The reason he hasn’t won is just because we haven’t had our cars fast enough, but he’s been close,” Roush said. “He should have won two or three times this year. Maybe he can be a contender for a championship and have the best part of his year after the Chase starts.”
That would clearly be just fine with Biffle, who has finished just outside the top 12 in each of the last two seasons after bad luck snatched the title from his grasp in 2005.
Logano dives right in
Joey Logano will drive in seven Sprint Cup races this fall as a tuneup before the 18-year-old star begins his full-time ride at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Logano, who will replace two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart in the No. 20 Toyota in 2009, will make his Sprint Cup debut Sept. 6 at Richmond International Raceway in the No. 02 Toyota prepared by Gibbs. JGR will also field a car for Logano at Atlanta in October.