Biffle’s wins shouldn’t shock fans

Where did Greg Biffle come from? That’s a question a lot of people are asking after the Roush Fenway Racing driver won the first two races in NASCAR’s final 10-race championship playoff.

The answer is simple, yet complex for the driver who is tied for second in points with two-time champion Jimmie Johnson, 10 behind teammate Carl Edwards.

“They’ve talked at length about me being the dark horse or people thought we were capable of it but weren’t really expecting it,” Biffle told Ford Racing. “If you look at our history, we’ve been really, really close to winning this year several times – as close as California.

“You take Jimmie out of the picture and we clearly had a dominant car — faster than third, fourth, fifth – all of those cars, but yet we couldn’t beat Jimmie. So we had an excellent run there and we actually had a fairly good run at Richmond. Our results didn’t show it, finishing 14th, but we’ve been right on the verge of winning and I think it was just focus and effort and we executed those two (playoff) races perfectly so far, and we’ve been able to capitalize.”

Even more people could be talking about Biffle on Sunday since the circus’ next step is Kansas, where Biffle won – albeit controversially – last September.

“One thing that gives me a lot of confidence is we’re going to Kansas where we won last year, so I feel really good about going there and defending our win,” Biffle said. “We were talking about it … and we’re really ready. The whole team is ready to go to Kansas.”

That Biffle is contending for a championship – OK, there are still eight races to go, but he has a much better shot than a bunch of the other 11 eligible drivers – shouldn’t come as a surprise. He won a championship in the Craftsman Truck Series (2000) and the Busch Series (2002). He should have and could have outscored Tony Stewart for the Cup championship in 2005, coming up 35 markers short because, in large part, to a loose lug nut on a pit stop at Texas that cost him priceless points.

But that was then and this is now, and while Biffle admits 2005 is still on his mind, he’s focused on 2008.

“I’ve changed the way I live completely – just what I do every day and what I eat, when I work out,” he said. “I’ve made a reason to change my focus … I’ve changed that routine some so I can stay mentally focused … and think about every race I’ve got to go to right now. You can want it as bad as you can, but that’s not gonna will you into a win. I think just staying focused on what I need to do and concentrating really hard on it, I think, is helping me.”

That being said, all the positive focus and even hocus pocus is not going to help when it comes to one particular race, the wildcard at Talladega on Oct. 5. That’s where in reality the driver is just along for the ride and his fate rests as far from his hands as his hands are from his feet.

To a man, drivers are not fond of the crapshoot that is the 2.66-mile, restrictor-plate track and those feelings are exacerbated for the championship contenders.

“Yeah, I mean, everybody is a little worried about Talladega,” Biffle said. “We know that’s kind of our wildcard race, sort of. Everybody has deemed it that way.”