Greg Biffle has five Busch Series victories in 2004. Credit: Autostock

Biffle takes a break from his wandering ways

CONCORD, N.C. -- About the only guy to match Joe Nemechek's scintillating weekend at Kansas Speedway was Greg Biffle.

While Nemechek was sweeping the Nextel Cup and Busch Series races at the 1.5-mile track, Biffle ran well in both events, posting a third in the Cup race and a second in the Busch race.

Greg Biffle

Biffle should be pretty good this weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway, too, for he's the defending champion of the Busch race, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 300.

Biffle has one other Busch Series victory at Lowe's and has three top-five and six top-10 finishes in seven starts.

"Both programs are carrying a ton of momentum into the Lowe's races this weekend," Biffle said. "We had an incredible weekend at Kansas and had a legitimate shot to win both the Busch and Nextel Cup races. We came up just a bit short on both sides but we're very pleased with the second on Saturday and the third-place finish on Sunday.

"To run that well all weekend long does a tremendous amount for everyone's confidence, and we're looking forward to keeping it going on Friday and Saturday night."

Biffle will bring the same car he ran with at Kansas to Lowe's Motor Speedway, and it's the same car that won at California and finished second at Kentucky.

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Like Nemechek, Biffle is out of the points race in Nextel Cup and Busch. A spate of engine problems earlier in the year has left Biffle 480 points behind leader Martin Truex Jr., but Biffle has as many victories as both Truex Jr. and runner-up Kyle Busch.

So if he can't win the Busch Series championship, Biffle will try to win as many races as possible.

"We're going this weekend to bring home the trophy and that's it," crew chief Brad Parrott said. "We're taking the same car Greg finished second with last weekend, and he's won this event at Lowe's twice before. Everyone on this team is pumped up after last week's race, and we'll except nothing other than a win on Friday night."

Greg Biffle's most recent victory came at California Speedway. Credit: Autostock

In his seven races at LMS, Biffle has led 330 laps and has finished all but one of 1,400 possible laps.

"I really like Lowe's, and it's important for everyone to run good there because most of us live here," Biffle said. "It's our hometown event, and the drivers and crews want to perform their best in front of their families and friends.

"We've been very successful there in the Busch cars, and we're taking the car we finished second with last weekend, and we've won with it twice at California this year. I'm very optimistic about our chances to run well, especially after last weekend's performance."

Biffle has one other goal in mind: to complete the schedules in Nextel Cup and Busch. No driver has done that in NASCAR history, though Kevin Harvick came close in 2002, running all but the Daytona 500.

The season has been grinding, especially when Nextel Cup and Busch don't run at the same track. Biffle has needed a substitute driver to qualify for him at a couple of races, and Regan Smith will fill that capacity in Memphis next weekend while Biffle is in Martinsville for the Cup race.

Greg Biffle

"There have been a couple of weekends that have been flat-out exhausting, like the Sonoma-to-Milwaukee-and-back trip and Pocono-to-Pikes Peak," Biffle said. "Other than that, though, the logistics and the physical and mental strain haven't been that bad."

To go along with his five Busch victories, Biffle won the Michigan Cup event earlier in the year.

"Overall, it's been a good year for us," Biffle said. "Early on, we had a few problems under the hood that took us out of a few races, but (owner) Jack (Roush) stepped in and fixed the problem. We kind of took ourselves out of the hunt, but I couldn't be happier with where our team is.

"I'd say we're too far out to win the thing this year, but you never know what can happen.

After last weekend, maybe Biffle is right.