In the late 1990s, Greg Biffle was driving in the NASCAR truck series at Watkins Glen

International. Some reporters approached him in the garage area, and one asked him if he was

surprised with his success.

Biffle bristled a bit. Not only was he not surprised, he made it clear — in a

confident-but-not-cocky way — that he had what it took to drive at higher levels.

That 20-something driver knew what he was talking about. Biffle, 39, is in his seventh year

of a successful NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career, one in which he has never finished lower than

20th in the points standings.

"That's where I wanted to be — I wanted to be Cup racing someday," Biffle recalled.

"Nationwide racing was probably what my sights were set on, and I got that opportunity."

Biffle arrives at Watkins Glen International for Sunday's Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at

The Glen — which marks a five-race countdown to the start of the 10-race postseason

chase — in the all-important 12th-place position. Biffle is aiming to be one of the 12

chase qualifiers for the second straight season and third time in six years.

It's a level of success that Biffle attributes in part to the early stages of his career,

in which "everything I did was sort of the hard way."

He identifies with drivers who have moved up level by level, calling 39-year-old,

third-year driver David Reutimann "kind of my breed."

Conversely, the native of Vancouver, Wash., thinks that something of a speed limit should

be put on young drivers who are given the keys to a Cup ride when they are still teenagers.

"I look forward to the day that NASCAR puts an age limit on the Sprint Cup series," he

said. "I think they will someday — with the economy today they might not right away.

"If Joey Logano [who turned 19 on May 24] would have run a full season [in the Nationwide

Series], he'd know where all the pit roads are, and how to get to the track, and the motor

homes, and the airport. And it would give fans a reason to watch that series. Not only is it

going to help them better prepare to come race with us, it's going to help our sport in

general. It will give it that tiered level.

"I think we need to build our Camping World Trucks series and our Nationwide Series and put

some stars in there, some young guys in there."

Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen

Track: Watkins Glen International (road course, 2.45 miles).

Schedule: Friday, practice (Speed, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.), qualifying (ESPN2, 3-5:30 p.m.); Saturday, practice (Speed, noon-1 p.m.; ESPN2, 1:30-2:30 p.m.); Sunday, race, 2 p.m. (ESPN, 1-5:30 p.m.)

Race distance: 220.5 miles, 90 laps.

Fast fact: Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon each have a track-record four Sprint Cup

victories at Watkins Glen.

Now drivers can join Sprint Cup at 18, like Logano did. Biffle acknowledges 21 is too far off.

"I think it might be a 19 or 20, or a minimum of a full season [on a lower series]. I think

it would give those series so much more credibility. A good guy comes along, he runs a handful

of races, and out he goes, you know? I just think we can build those series better."

Biffle knows all about how those series can benefit a driver's development. In a now-famous

story in NASCAR circles, Hall of Famer and television commentator Benny Parsons highly

recommended Biffle to Jack Roush after Biffle excelled during racing out West.

Biffle has been in a Roush Ford ever since, driving a truck to the Rookie of the Year award

in 1998 and a series championship two years later. Then it was on to the Nationwide Series

[known as the Busch Series then], where he repeated his drive from Rookie of the Year (2001)

to series champion (2002). He became the first driver to win both of those series titles.

At NASCAR's highest level, he was 20th as a rookie in 2003, 17th the next year and was

second to Tony Stewart in 2005. After finishes of 13th (2006) and 14th (2007), he was third

last year.

This season, he and his No. 16 team were comfortably in the chase until skidding through

the summer at Sonoma (28th), Loudon (18th), Daytona (18th) and Chicago (31st), which left him

in 13th. He rebounded with a fourth-place finish at Indianapolis to move to 11th in the points

before slipping one spot after a 15th at Pocono.

"I wish I could just erase those races — we had a three-race deal where we lost a

couple hundred points," said Biffle, who attributed the slide to some mistakes in the pits and

bad luck. "I hate to point the finger at us, but it was kind of a comedy of errors on our

part."

Biffle says he likes racing at the Glen, despite an average finish of 30th and a top finish

of 10th in his six Cup races. He has four top-four finishes in his other starts at the Glen ...

two in trucks and two in Nationwide series — with a win in the 2000 truck race.

"There are opportunities for guys to make mistakes in those road races," Biffle said. "You

don't wish any bad luck on anybody, but maybe it's an opportunity to get a little bit more

margin."