Greg Biffle has had much to sneer about this season. Credit: Autostock

Irvan-like Biffle far from done after hard-luck start

It is hard not to like Greg Biffle.

Sometimes, one wonders whether Biffle is just a brutally honest person or someone who simply doesn't think before he talks. It's probably a combination of the two.

	RYAN SMITHSON •   E-mail Ryan •   Opinion archive

He no doubt was spouting off when he called last spring's Atlanta race "the worst day of my life." He wasn't thinking when he said it, but some took it literally.

Last Sunday, Biffle openly admitted that he screwed up when he drove into Jeff Burton at Martinsville. It's a track where he admittedly has taken awhile to master.

But that's the thing. When Biffle does master it, the rest of the field is in trouble.

Biffle is very close to becoming one of the few drivers in the sport with the ability to win on any given weekend. He is merely a decent road racer and he's inconsistent in the restrictor-plate races.

As hard as it is to believe, Biffle already is 36 years old. At best, he has eight good seasons left in him. Unlike his contemporaries in age (Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart), Biffle has not yet peaked.

Like Dale Jarrett before him, Biffle got an extremely late start in NASCAR. That is why he seems so young. Unlike Jarrett, he's never seemed to be able to attract a large fan base.

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Maybe it's the last name. "Biffle." Rhymes with "sniffle." It is certainly not a common name seen in many Southern phone books, and he won't star in commercials where women wreck their cars while staring at his face.

Ernie Irvan didn't have those qualities, either. He was a hard charger from the West Coast who could build his own racecars. Often, he didn't know when to slow down.

Biffle reminds me a lot of him. Both men constantly have to prove themselves, and they do it by mashing the gas.

There are probably a lot of newer fans in NASCAR that don't recall Ernie Irvan. Irvan nearly died in a practice crash at Michigan in 1994. Before the crash, he was a freakish talent with a phenomenal race team -- just like Biffle is today.

Irvan was at his peak when he was Biffle's age. Both are short, compact men with unremarkable looks. They don't have the flash, fresh look of Gordon or the gritty, blue-collar feel of an Earnhardt.

Inside the Numbers Career statistics for Greg Biffle and Ernie Irvan   Biffle Irvan Years 5 13 Starts 120 313 Wins 9 15 Top-5s 22 68 Top-10s 37 124 Poles 2 22 Avg. Start 15.4 16.2 Avg. Finish 17.8 17.3 Best Rank 2 (2005) 5 (1991) • In-depth look: G. Biffle | E. Irvan Finding the wallGreg Biffle and Jeff Burton both suffer heavy damage after wrecks Look backBiffle cruises to the victory last spring at Texas Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

They merely are/were able to drive difficult racecars by adapting their feel. In today's NASCAR, that skill cannot be taught. When that talent is combined with a good race team, it is a truly devastating combination.

It is why Biffle's slow start isn't a slump. He had a flat at Bristol. His team ran him out of gas at Atlanta. A part broke at Fontana.

No fewer than 16 drivers have scored top-five finishes so far in 2006. Biffle is not one of them. Yet, he's led more laps than anyone except Tony Stewart.

Biffle already is 318 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson, but Matt Kenseth showed last season that the Chase format doesn't have a strict defense against a slew of top-fives.

The Samsung/RadioShack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway is this weekend (1:30 p.m. ET Sun., FOX), and it is hard to forget his performance last spring, when he led 219 laps in a backup car. He really stunk up the show. Irvan used to do the same thing when he caught a good setup.

Biffle is 18th in points, but that is artificially low. It won't take long for him to catch his stride as the series visits more and more high-banked tracks.

In a way, seeing the Biffle of today is like seeing a continuation of Irvan's shortened career. I have no doubt that Biffle will someday capture the championship that Irvan would have won had he not been injured.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.