Greg Biffle, Darlington Raceway president Chris Browning and Harold Brasington Jr. view the changes to the track too tough to tame on Wednesday. Credit: AP

Biffle: Master's degree in marketing motor racing

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Greg Biffle had just completed a short lecture to a NASCAR marketing class from the University of South Carolina when he was presented with certificate proclaiming him "Professor of the Day.''

	Inside the Numbers Greg Biffle in 2005 Wins 6 Top-5s 15 Top-10s 21 DNFs 1 Poles 0 Laps Led 1,322 Avg. Start 13.2 Avg. Finish 11.9 Earnings $5,574,083

"There's no test, is there?'' he asked.

Lecturing a group of college students wasn't something Biffle pictured doing when he broke into Cup with Roush Racing four years ago. After all, he only had a high school degree.

And he knew little to nothing about marketing.

This was so far off Biffle's radar that he thought it was a joke when Eli Gold innocently told him during Tuesday night's radio broadcast about the assignment his public relations department failed to mention.

"I was like, 'Holy crap!' What am I going to teach them?' '' said Biffle, who thought he was going to Darlington Raceway on Wednesday just to promote the May 13 race and ride go-karts around a new road course behind the front straightaway.

"I never would have imagined doing this in a million years.''

Biffle also never imagined he'd be 18th in the Nextel Cup points standings after seven races. He was coming off a season in which he finished second to Tony Stewart by a mere 35 points, a season in which he won a career-high six races.

He was supposed to be in position to win a title that would make him the first driver in NASCAR history to own championships in the Truck, Busch and Cup series.

Struggling wasn't any more in his plans than lecturing a group of kids with more education than him.

Fortunately for Biffle, he's learned a few things lately about marketing and making the Chase. The biggest lesson? One has a lot to do with the other.

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"I'm not a rocket scientist and I'm not a reporter, but in 2004 I won two races in the Chase and everybody was going over to the Chase [drivers],'' said Biffle, who failed to make the 10-driver playoff during its inaugural season.

"It was like we weren't even in the event. It was like they don't care, because that's not the story. The story is the championship. The story is the Chase drivers, where are they at?''

Biffle noticed the same thing when he watched replays of the television broadcasts at home.

"They've got the Chase cars highlighted,'' he said. "They're talking about the guy running 18th, and I'm running fourth or so and they haven't mentioned my name.

"It's obvious to anybody that if you're not in that top 10, you're not going to get talked about.''

Biffle then pointed to the names of two of his sponsors on his shirt. He reminded that if he doesn't make the Chase, they don't get the recognition he's paid a lot of money to get them.

He reminded that if they don't get the recognition then his entire livelihood eventually could be at stake.

Call it NASCAR Marketing 101.

"It's kind of an unwritten thing,'' Biffle said as he sat beside Cathy Elliott, one of several Darlington Raceway employees who teaches the class each spring.

But Biffle isn't panicking. He was more nervous about talking to the class than he was about his position in the standings.

He wasn't even aware of his position until somebody brought it up.

"Gosh, I was hoping you wouldn't remind me of that,'' Biffle said. "Obviously, we're not in the best position right now.''

He's also not in the worst position, only 109 points out of 10th place that is guaranteed a spot in the 10-race Chase. He's also heading into a stretch of tracks that helped make him the hottest driver in the series the first half of last season.

He's the defending champion at Texas Motor Speedway, where the series goes this weekend. Then it is off to Phoenix, where he finished second in the fall.

After Talladega he goes to Richmond, where he was sixth and third a year ago. Then it's back to Darlington, where he beat Ryan Newman on a green-white checkered finish for his first win on NASCAR's oldest superspeedway.

Greg Biffle shows off his preferred parking space. Credit: AP

Biffle also understands that he easily could have won two races this season. He led the most laps at California before engine failure with less than 25 laps remaining left him 42nd.

He led 128 laps at Atlanta before running out of gas late to finish 16th.

He had a solid car last week Martinsville, but crashed to finish 31st.

"I just flat made a mistake at Martinsville,'' Biffle said of the accident. "I don't know if I was overanxious or what. It was not a wakeup call, but it made me realize I can't ever let my guard down.''

Biffle only has to look at last season to know what can happen when he's on top of his game. He won five of the first 15 races and was second in points heading into this race a year ago.

"I'd have to look back, but it's probably been a long time since somebody has done that,'' he said. "I knew that wasn't a normal season. That was pretty extraordinary, but I'm focused on that top 10.''

But on Wednesday he was focused on sharing what he could with more than a dozen college students. He talked about everything from learning to fly a helicopter to how he went from a struggling car builder in his home state of Washington to one of the top drivers in NASCAR's top series to his plans to invest in a shopping mall.

He wasn't as flamboyant as reigning Cup champion Tony Stewart was with the class a year ago, telling about the time Kid Rock brought Pamela Anderson to his hauler in Bristol.

Greg Biffle Credit: Autostock

He was simply open and honest, as one can see by the way he answered questions from the students:

What would it mean to win a Cup championship and become the first driver to have a championship in Cup, Busch and the Truck Series?

Biffle: "That's really my whole goal in life, to win the Nextel Cup championship. That's all I want to do in my career. It's not win five championships or 10 or back to back. I just want to win one.''

What is it like working for Jack Roush and a large organization compared to a smaller organization?

Biffle: "Some of the pluses and minuses of a big team could be politics and red tape. When you get a big team it's almost like you can't make decisions quickly. Or if you want to change something or do something, you have to worry about what the other four teams want to do. If you're a single-car team or a two-car team you can make decisions right off the fly. I've noticed that on the competition and marketing side.

"The main advantages of a big company are benefits and stability, knowing we're going to be around for a while.''

Do you share everything with your four teammates?

Biffle: "Our setups and stuff at the racetrack are open book policy. We all have a team engineer, and he has a wireless laptop that is super encrypted so nobody else can break in our network and see -- 007 stuff.

"When you only have two hours of practice, being able to look at somebody else's stuff will help us get to the goal faster. ... But each car, even though we try to build them the same, has its own personality. The same springs and shocks that we use on one car will do something else for another. We still don't understand why that is.''

What sets you apart from the other Roush Racing drivers?

Biffle: [He squirms a bit before answering] "I don't know. I have a little bit different style of driving that makes me a little different. I like to drive the car looser than a lot of people do, meaning the back of the car slides a little bit more. A car like that is faster. You're more on the edge of being in an accident, but I enjoy being in a car like that.

"It's probably not a great answer, but I don't know what sets me apart that much.''

If you weren't in racing what would you be doing?

Biffle: "I had a huge interest in real estate. I was kind of messing with it a little bit early as I was racing. I read some on it and kind of studied it. I do that now on the side a little bit. I buy and sell. Well, I haven't really sold anything, but I end up buying property here and there.

"As far as investing money, I like [buying real estate] more because it's a physical investment. I can go out there and look at it, kick a rock, and know I own that for the future.

"I have some commercial property. I'm getting ready to build a small office building strip mall. I'm looking at buying a shopping center that has a Food Lion and like six other small businesses.''

What do you do when you're not racing?

Biffle: "I still love to ride motorcycles. I own a large piece of ground in the mountains of North Carolina. I built a cabin up there where I go and do stuff. I live on Lake Norman, so I love to go out on my boat. I'm an outdoor person. I can't sit on the couch. I have to be doing something.

"My most recent hobby that I enjoy the most is my helicopter. I've been flying it by myself for about 15 hours. I'm going to take my passenger check ride in probably a month or two.''

You said you really didn't know that much about marketing. How do you like going out doing things like this?

Biffle: "I've learned a tremendous amount about marketing since I started racing, so I like it now. I enjoy doing TV commercials as long as they're fun to do, and most of them are. I'm always a little bit nervous about it. Like when [they tell me] there's a commercial to be made on Monday and you have to be there by 8 a.m. I'm kind of bummed out cause I have to work. Once I show up and do it, then it's fun.''

What drivers are you closest to?

Biffle: "I get along really well with [teammate] Matt Kenseth. We do a lot of stuff together. I do some stuff with Dale [Earnhardt] Jr., Kasey Kahne, Casey Mears, Ryan Newman.

"Sometimes our day [at the track] is over at 4:30 or 5 o'clock. We're out of town. We're in our motorhomes, in the same compound, so we get together and usually play Texas Hold 'Em.''

What do you think about Darlington compared to other tracks?

Biffle: "Did she pay you to ask that? [Biffle points to Elliott]. Her grade just went up, right?''