Biffle often baffled by COT, but happy with progress (cont'd)

But after that first race at Loudon, he and Erwin at least started to click and, in his mind, get the No. 16 program, COT and all, headed back in the right direction. In the 14 races since, Biffle has finished outside of the top 25 only once, won his first race of the season at Kansas, and has eight finishes in the top 15, including four top-10s.

"Greg's done a good job of organizing the guys he's got. He's still shifting a few guys around," Biffle said of his crew chief. "Greg's happy with the direction things are going. And so am I. We finished 13th [in the second race] at Loudon and second [in the second race] at Dover. From those two races, I felt really good inside. Those are COT races. That's what we're racing full-time next year.

"We can't be top-10 every time, I understand. But when we went back [to Loudon the second time], we ran in the top 10 the entire time. We had a little boo-boo on a pit stop and ended up 12th, and then 13th when we gave Carl [Edwards] a spot at the end. But that was acceptable, that was really acceptable. That was quite an improvement. We got to Dover and run second, and that was a huge improvement. So I started to feel good again about what the future holds.

"Then we go to Kansas, back to the 1.5-mile program in the old car, and we win. It's just a good feeling to be back. Gosh, I feel like I got my life back. I feel like I got out of jail. I feel like I got the handcuffs off."

It was enough to get Biffle rethinking his earlier hard-line position about getting his contract extension with Roush Fenway completed by the end of this season. Now he said that he just wants to make certain it gets done quickly during the short Cup offseason, which commences following the final race of the 2007 season at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 18.

"I felt like it was important to get it done and not let it become an issue next year," Biffle explained. "Because let's say we get three weeks into the season next year -- and I'm not really under contract, I'm a free agent. Well, then, so-and-so announces they're going to have a fourth team, or somebody gets fired because they did a bonehead move, or whatever happens, all of a sudden, bang! I'm going to be the first guy going to the 49 or the 28 car, or who knows ... whatever it is. I don't want that to be a distraction.

"I don't know how soon we'll get going on [negotiating an extension]. Probably as soon as we get winter testing going, we'll probably get after it. ... [But] there's no doubt I'm here in 2008. Even beyond that, I have a 90 percent feeling that I'm going to be back here."