Greg Biffle is coming back to NASCAR, and this time, it’s for real. A day after announcing he would drive the #51 Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series practice at Texas Motor Speedway, Biffle confirmed he will drive the truck in a points-paying race: 7 June’s race at Texas.
“I’ve always said that I would return to NASCAR in the right situation,” Biffle stated in a team release, “and when Kyle (Busch) and I started talking about that KBM needed a driver for the June Texas race I felt like this was the right opportunity to return to the track and I’m thankful for the opportunity to be able to drive such good equipment.”
“As we were putting the finishing touches on our driver lineup for this year, we found ourselves looking for someone to drive the No. 51 Tundra in the June race and we are fortunate to be putting a driver of Greg’s caliber behind the wheel,” Busch said. “I’ve been friends with Greg for a long time and we’ve always joked about how it would be cool for him to drive trucks again. When this opportunity came about the talks got serious and we both decided it was (a) smart decision.”
The 2000 Truck Series champion, Biffle last raced in the series with Circle Bar Racing in 2004; he has 16 wins in the series. From the Truck Series, he moved up with Roush (Fenway) Racing to NASCAR’s second tier (what is now the Xfinity Series), where he won another title in 2002, followed by reaching the top-level Cup Series starting in 2003. Although he never won the championship in that series, he came close with a second-place run in 2005; he has 19 wins in the Cup Series, with his last race being a sixteenth-place finish in the 2016 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
After his full-time NASCAR career ended, he spent his time in dirt racing and the SPEED Energy Stadium Super Trucks, the latter in which he currently races part-time.