Biffle’s consistency has him in points race

NASCAR: MAR 19 Sprint Cup Series - Food City 500

A few years ago Greg Biffle finished second in the Spring Cup standings. He won six races and finished in the top 10 an impressive 21 times.Since that time he’s remained a solid driver but the mixture that made him a championship contender hasn’t been there. Well maybe until now.

Sure Jimmy Johnson has more wins, and Jamie McMurray has won more dollars this season but only Biffle has finished the first six races in the top 10.

Top 10 finishes may not earn you the most amount of points but they do prevent you from losing a ton of points. Biffle recorded 16 top 10’s last season and 17 the year before. For his career he now has 100 such finishes in 267 starts. Those numbers may seem like a bunch but when put up against other drivers who have won championships they are off the pace.

Comparing Biffle to Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordon may be unfair but both drivers have well over 50% of their career starts as top 10 finishes. Even compared to teammates Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards it’s ‘the Biff’ that is lagging behind.

You can pretty much go down the list of the whose who of Nascar and see that Biffle falls short when compared in recent years or his career.

The problem is that when Biffle runs well he runs well but when he struggles he’s often fighting to hang on the lead lap.

Perhaps Martinsville is the start of a change for the driver of the #16 Ford Fusion. Biffle has long stated he wasn’t a fan of Martinsville. In 13 events prior to Monday’s race Biffle had never recorded a top 10, his average finish was 24th.

Biffle got a good starting spot with some help of qualifying being rained out but it wasn’t long before he found himself banging around the back of the pack.

He held on, fought hard, overcame a spin and with a little luck Biffle cracked the top 10 at Martinsville for the first time.

A top 10 at Martinsville won’t earn Biffle any extra points following race number 26 but it does give the driver and team some confidence. If Biffle can find a way to put himself in the lead group of cars week after week then he’ll be one to watch till the end this year. After all it’s making the most out of every week that earns one a championship.

John Boarman
John Boarmanhttp://www.tireball.com
Founder and Owner of Tireball Sports.

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