Greg Biffle wasn’t supposed to be at the Texas Motor Speedway on June 7, 2019. He had retired from NASCAR for good, removed from the weekly grind, and was content with life away from the race track. But when Kyle Busch picked up his phone and made an extremely convincing pitch, retirement gave way to an iconic Wild West victory that very few saw coming.
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Texas, as any NASCAR fan knows, is a skill-heavy race track that only the best can conquer. Busch needed a reliable driver to pilot the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports truck for the SpeedyCash.com 400. The fixture was the first race of the Triple Truck Challenge, and winning the contest could put half a million dollars in the team’s bank account. This was when Biffle came into his mind.
In such a tight moment, Busch leaned on his instinct to trust talent over rust and convinced Biffle to make his first Truck Series start in 15 years. The veteran jumped into the No. 51 Toyota and led twice for 18 laps, including the final one. The race was blanketed by several cautions, but the restart that came with 10 laps to go ended up being the most crucial of them all.
Biffle stayed out during the green flag pit stops and brilliantly conserved fuel to hold off Matt Crafton, who ultimately finished as the runner-up. When the icon climbed out of his car in Victory Lane, he was met with the loudest of cheers and applause from the stands. He had made a statement to the world that he still had the racing bug in him and that the fans still loved him.
On a magical night in Texas, Greg Biffle came out of retirement in 2019, winning in his first NASCAR appearance since 2016. It was his first Truck Series start since 2004.
Rest in Peace to a NASCAR legend. pic.twitter.com/fncqEHA4gI
— Motorsport (@Motorsport) December 18, 2025
Busch’s gamble paid off extremely well, and he expressed his happiness on X by writing, “Damn, I’m a genius ” He certainly was for giving fans one of the most memorable moments of all time with the icon. But what he couldn’t do was keep him in the truck for the next two races of the challenge. For the Texas win, Biffle got the team a paycheck of $50,000.
He told the press, “It means a lot to me that Kyle (Busch) gave me this opportunity to come back and drive this truck. I am just excited to be here. I don’t even know what to say. I am so thankful for all the opportunities I have had to drive great trucks.”
Biffle went on to make one more Truck Series start for GMS Racing in 2020 (Darlington, 19th-place finish) and ran five Cup Series races with the NY Racing Team in 2022 before hanging up his boots permanently.
In light of his tragic death in a plane crash on Thursday, that night in Texas now carries a bigger weight. What began as a risky gamble from Busch ended up being a final reminder of Biffle’s finesse behind the wheel.
