I Really Want To Like Greg Biffle

Greg Biffle loves animals. His dogs are as well known to his fans as he himself is. He spends much time and money benefiting animal welfare organizations, such as the Humane Society and Dream Power. It’s difficult to not like a guy who loves puppies and kittens.
And then there’s his crew chief, Doug Richert, who is probably, in my opinion, one of the best of the active crew chiefs in NASCAR today, if not the best. His first job as crew chief came when he was a child of 18 years, when he was hired as Dale Earnhardt’s crew chief. No-one can balance a car for downforce tracks like Richart. If you watch that #16 cup car, you’ll see the nose lift for the turns and suck down for the straight-aways. It is beautiful; it is Zen-like. Greg Biffle knows how to take full advantage of a car like that, which is part of what has made him a successful driver.
There is Biffle’s driving skill. He is already a past champion of both the Craftsman Truck Series and the NASCAR Busch Series, and is in a very good position to be the first NASCAR Triple Crown winner since the beginning of the Winston Cup (now Nextel) series in 1971. He has the ability to somehow make his car behave in the turns as if he were on a dirt track, going nearly sideways in the center of the turn to get a straight line to the exit. I haven’t seen many other drivers do this on pavement with as much consistency and purpose as the Biff does. He is not really an all-around driver, but his skills and successes on the down force ovals, which make up 2/3rds of the Nextel Cup schedule, more than make up for the talent he lacks on the short tracks and road courses.
While PPIR was open, I had the pleasure of watching the Biff race up close, in both the Truck and the Busch series. He often scared me, but he always made the race exciting and entertaining.

But I don’t like him because:
Actually, I can’t put my finger on this. I really can’t say why I don’t like Greg Biffle. Maybe it’s because the “bug-eyed monster” occasionally shows up. The Biff tends to take up the entire track doing his magic in the turns. In the past, he seems to have forgotten that there are other cars on the track. He seems, for the moment, to have remedied that tendency. He still says some dumb things, but don’t all drivers do that? And there is the question of “if it wasn’t for Richert, would he look as good as he does now?” I don’t know, because he certainly a good wheel, as he showed in the Busch and Truck series, but his pre-Richert record in Nextel Cup racing is only a little short of unremarkable.

Could I become a Biffle fan?
Yes. I may be already, but just haven’t accepted it yet. That's right,
I may be a "closeted" Biffle fan. But you have to have somebody good to race against, don’t you? If Biffle can hone his skills as a Cup driver to the level he has in the other two upper tier series, he will definitely become a “great.” I actually feel bad about not liking him, almost as if I didn’t like Mark Martin. (Stream of Conscience flows here) If I didn’t like Mark Martin, I wouldn’t admit it, because the NASCAR Fans Inquisition would be at my door with battering rams and torches, and it would be barbecue time for the Rev. However, Biffle fans understand that their driver is aggressive, and unpopularity can be expected with an aggressive driver. Believe me, as the fan of another aggressive driver, I can certainly empathize.
So, God Bless Greg Biffle, and thanks to the Biff, and to the now defunct Pike’s Peak International Raceway for the thrills and great racing memories.