Greg Biffle’s life and the legacy he left behind are being fondly remembered in the wake of his untimely death in a plane crash on Thursday. Incidents like his infamous confrontation with Boris Said stand out, not just because of the controversy, but because they reflected Biffle’s fierce edge and sense of camaraderie.
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Their 2012 brawl at Watkins Glen remains one of the most iconic exchanges between two drivers on a racetrack, and one that Biffle never tried to rewrite over the years.
Biffle once reflected on the incident while speaking to Dale Earnhardt Jr.: “I am in the very back. I am not even in the race. He purposely hooks David Ragan. He is multiple laps down. Ragan is maybe a lap down.
“He hooks Ragan, sends him into the wall, he flips upside down, comes across the track, and slams into the wall. I slow down, and I am like, ‘What was that for?!’ Literally, on purpose! Because we were all at the back. We weren’t even racing for position. I have no idea why that happened.”
Ragan was Biffle’s teammate at Roush Fenway Racing at the time, and what he witnessed left him seething with anger.
This is easily my favorite story with Greg Biffle, and it’s about his run-in with Boris Said at Watkins Glen in 2012. How he describes nailing Boris in the side of the head with the water bottle always makes me hysterical. pic.twitter.com/1WbjA4236u
— Clabel (@Clabel_) December 18, 2025
Biffle flipped Said off in response and kept annoying him in some manner through the rest of the race. After the checkered flag had flown and the engines were left to cool, Biffle had been at his garage completely mad that a part-time driver had come in and wrecked his teammate for no reason. It was at this time that the moods in the camp took a more riveting turn.
Said halted his car near Biffle’s, trying to look for trouble. Biffle continued, “He pulls up, and he is flailing his arms, doing all this and that. I sort of lost my cool. He has his window net down and his helmet off.
“He was trying to get out of his car. I took the water bottle – it was a really good shot – from ten feet away, I threw the water bottle as hard as I could and just beaned him in the side of the head.”
Biffle didn’t stop there. He ran over to Said’s car and tried to grab his steering wheel. He reasoned why he did so with a completely amused smirk on his face, “I was gonna beat him with that steering wheel.”
Dale Jr. couldn’t believe what he was hearing, just as anyone would. Fortunately, crew members had arrived in time to separate the two before they could hurt each other.
What stands out is that he did not try to soften the incident and told it as it happened without regret. It revealed the kind of loyal competitor he was beneath his calm and composed exterior.
