Biffle was the first of only three drivers to win a championship in both the NASCAR Busch Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the sixth of only thirty-six drivers to win a race in each of NASCAR's three national series.
Biffle began racing on short tracks in the Pacific Northwest. He first gained wider attention in the nationally televised Winter Heat Series in the winter of 1995–96, dominating the championship, which led former ESPN announcer and NASCAR champion Benny Parsons to recommend him to Jack Roush. Biffle entered the first two races of the 1996 Winston West Series and made his Busch Series debut later that year in two races for Dick Bown, finishing 23rd at Rockingham before losing an engine at Homestead.
Roush Racing promoted Biffle to a full-time Craftsman Truck Series drive in 1998. He earned four pole positions — the most by a Truck Series rookie to date — and finished eighth in the championship, winning the Rookie of the Year Award. In 1999 he recorded nine wins, setting a single-season Truck Series record that stood until Corey Heim broke it with 12 wins in 2025, and finished second in the standings, eight points behind champion Jack Sprague. In 2000 Biffle won the Truck Series title with five wins, beating Roush teammate Kurt Busch by 230 points — his first championship in a NASCAR national series. He also won at Phoenix in a part-time 2001 return before moving to the Busch Series. In 2019 he returned for one Truck start for Kyle Busch Motorsports at Texas, leading 18 laps and winning in his series return, his first Truck victory since 2001.
Biffle joined the Busch Series full-time in 2001, winning five races and the Rookie of the Year Award, finishing fourth in points. In 2002 he won four more races with 20 top-five finishes from 34 starts to clinch the Busch Series title — the second NASCAR national championship of his career. He ran part-time in the Busch Series in subsequent years, placing third in the 2004 standings behind Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch. He won twice in 2009 at Las Vegas and Phoenix.
Biffle began his Cup career in 2002, making seven starts and attempting unsuccessfully to qualify for the Daytona 500. He began competing full-time in 2003 with sponsorship from W. W. Grainger. He earned his first win in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona that season — becoming the first Winston Cup winner to have succeeded in all three NASCAR national series in succession — and finished second to Jamie McMurray for Raybestos Rookie of the Year.
In 2004 Biffle earned the pole for the Daytona 500 but was forced to start at the rear after an engine change, and won at Michigan and Homestead. His breakout year was 2005: six wins (at California Speedway, Texas, Darlington, Dover, Michigan, and the season finale at Homestead), the most of any driver that season. He qualified for the Chase for the first time and finished second in the championship, 35 points behind champion Tony Stewart; Biffle tied teammate Carl Edwards in points but won the tie-breaker on race wins.
In 2008, despite going winless in the regular season, Biffle qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup and won the first two Chase races, at New Hampshire and Dover — making him the first driver to win the opening two Chase races in a season. In 2010 he won at Pocono and Kansas for two more Cup victories. In 2012 he took the points lead after Las Vegas following three consecutive third-place finishes; he won at Texas Motor Speedway after passing Jimmie Johnson with thirty laps remaining, and won at Michigan holding off Brad Keselowski after Johnson blew an engine. In 2013 at the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan, Biffle's win was the 1,000th victory for Ford in NASCAR. Biffle and Roush Fenway mutually parted ways after the 2016 season. He returned in 2022, driving the No. 44 for NY Racing Team at the Daytona 500 and the team's remaining races that year.
Over his Roush Fenway tenure Biffle won 19 races in the No. 16 Ford.
In August 2018, Biffle tested a Stadium Super Truck at Road America and announced his series debut, finishing seventh and second in the weekend's two races. He competed for the SST series in 2019 at Mid-Ohio and in Australia at Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, where he flipped his truck in practice after hitting a tyre barrier but raced in both events. He returned to SST at the 2021 Mid-Ohio NASCAR weekend, finishing second in Race 2.
In 2021, Biffle piloted the No. 69 car in select Camping World SRX Series races. He won the first heat at the inaugural SRX race at Stafford Motor Speedway and finished second in the main event.
On December 18, 2025, a Cessna Citation 550 private jet crashed while attempting to land at Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina. All seven people aboard died. Biffle was identified as a passenger by the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. A joint statement from the families of those affected confirmed that Biffle, his wife Cristina, and both of his children were aboard, along with pilots Dennis and Jack Dutton and former Kenny Wallace hauler driver Craig Wadsworth.
On January 22, 2026, it was announced that all four of RFK Racing's entries for the 2026 Daytona 500 would use Biffle's font. Kaulig Racing's No. 16 car also ran the race using his font. Niece Motorsports carried the Biffle number font on their four entries at the 2026 Fresh From Florida 250. At Darlington, RFK ran throwbacks to Biffle's past schemes across all their Cup entries.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
Gallery · 4 related images
