“I’m A Genius”: Kyle Busch Plucked Greg Biffle Out of NASCAR Retirement for Memorable Win at Texas

Feb 13, 2010; Daytona Beach, FL, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Greg Biffle (16) talks with Kyle Busch during practice for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

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 leading a contented 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.

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.

With the stakes riding high, Biffle came into Busch’s mind, leaning 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 marred 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 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. Biffle had made a statement to the world that he still had the racing bug in him and that the fans still loved him.

Busch’s gamble paid off well, and he had expressed his happiness on X (then Twitter) by writing, “Damn, I’m a genius.”

Busch certainly was a genius for giving fans one of the most memorable moments of all time with Biffle. 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.

“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 told the press after the race.

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 racing overalls 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 gamble from Busch ended up being a final reminder of Biffle’s finesse behind the wheel.

Post Edited By: Leslie Xavier
Greg Biffle Kyle Busch

About the author

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Gowtham Ramalingam

Gowtham is a NASCAR journalist at The SportsRush. Though his affinity for racing stems from Formula 1, he found himself drawn to NASCAR's unparalleled excitement over the years. As a result he has shared his insights and observations by authoring over 3000 articles on the sport. An avid fiction writer, you can find him lost in imaginary worlds when he is not immersed in racing. He hopes to continue savoring the thrill of every lap and race together with his readers for as long as he can.

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