Three years ago, NASCAR named Greg Biffle as one of its 75 Greatest Drivers. It was a fitting tribute to someone who was one of the most competitive yet also most respected drivers ever in stock car racing, a two-time champion who never displayed an ego or a standoffish attitude.

But Biffle was more than just a great driver. He was an even greater human being, someone who generously gave of himself, his time, and his hard-earned wealth without asking for anything in return.

That was the way of doing things for “The Biff” – his affectionate nickname in the sport. He did for others before thinking of doing for himself.

Biffle, his wife Cristina, and their five-year-old son Ryder, as well as Biffle’s 14-year-old daughter Emma, from his first marriage to Nicole Lunders, were among seven people tragically killed Thursday in a crash of his private jet at Statesville (North Carolina) Regional Airport.

Also perishing were three longtime members of the NASCAR community: Dennis Dutton and son Jake, and Craig Wadsworth.

Biffle died just five days before his birthday

There is never a good time to die, no matter who you are, but Thursday’s horrific crash was even more devastating because it came just five days before what would have been Biffle’s 56 birthday and one week before Christmas.

Biffle, his family, and friends had set out from Statesville on a daylong excursion that was supposed to take them to various stops in Sarasota, Florida, the Bahamas, and back to Statesville later in the same evening.

It was supposed to be a day of fun, celebrating Christmas early with friends as well as his approaching birthday. For Biffle, an extremely qualified airplane and helicopter pilot with thousands of hours of airtime logged, it should have been yet another of his frequent and routine hop-skip-and-a-jump jaunts in the wild blue yonder.

Somehow, something terrible went wrong. While the investigation into the cause of the crash will likely take many months to be completed, various reports from several eyewitnesses indicated that the plane may have suffered a major malfunction.

Shortly after takeoff, Biffle reportedly radioed to the control tower that his plane was experiencing engine trouble and he immediately circled back to return to the airport. Some witness reports claimed the Cessna C550 Citation twin-engine plane may have been operating without one – or potentially both – of its two engines.

Other reports said the plane had been dropping debris onto an adjacent golf course seconds before it crashed into a fireball, indicative of a catastrophic mechanical failure such as an engine explosion, hydraulic failure or similar devastating circumstance.

In an ironic twist of sorts, while the epitaph of Biffle’s racing career and life will end with a deadly crash, it was not in a race car. He survived countless wrecks in his career at places like Daytona, Talladega, Atlanta, Texas, but none of those stopped him as he piloted himself to 56 career wins in stock car racing: 19 in Cup, 20 in Busch, and 17 in Trucks.

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What I remember about “The Biff”

This is where I have to digress and take this story in another direction, the private, non-racing side of Biffle.

While one of the first things aspiring journalists are taught is not to make a story on someone else, also be about yourself, I’m going to violate that rule here.

And for good reason that hopefully you will understand.

I’m hurting because Biffle was my friend. We weren’t necessarily besties, but we had a fondness and mutual respect for each other that extended throughout his entire NASCAR career.

While Biffle was turned off by some of the most aggressive and egotistical members of the NASCAR media, I can humbly say Greg and I never had a cross word between us. He shared so much with me that he never shared with other reporters.

As I write this, dozens of interactions I had with him over the years are flowing through my mind. I want to cry, but also at the same time, I smile, remembering the jokes and stories we shared.

Biffle compares to another NASCAR great

Biffle reminds me a lot of NASCAR Hall of Famer and EssentiallySports racing analyst Mark Martin, who was a longtime teammate of Biffle’s at Roush Racing. They were both fiery competitors, yet no one dared to disrespect or dislike them. Fellow drivers knew that when they battled Biffle and Martin, they’d fight for position but would never do anything dirty or intentionally punt an opponent into the wall.

Both Biffle and Martin were old-school racers who wanted to win in the worst way every time they fired their engines, but would not do anything dastardly to get that win. It was one of the only limitations they had behind the wheel, but it gave fellow drivers a modicum of knowing that if there were 40 drivers in a race, there were at least two drivers they could count on – perhaps the only two drivers in the same race – not to do them bad or wish them ill will.

Not only was Biff one of the few drivers in NASCAR history to win championships in two different divisions – Trucks in 2000 and Busch in 2002 – he almost became the first driver in the sport’s history to win the championship in all three major series, losing the Cup crown in 2005 by a mere 35 points to Tony Stewart.

In a way, Biffle was a man of the people. The Vancouver, Washington native wasn’t born into money. Like Martin, he had to work hard for and earn everything in his racing career. There were no freebies or free passes – unless it meant getting back on the lead lap of a race.

As Biffle’s family and the families of the other victims of Thursday’s crash grieve, Martin knows what it’s like to lose loved ones in a plane crash.

His father, Julian, along with stepmother Shelley and Mark’s half-sister Sarah, were killed when the plane the elder Martin was piloting crashed in eastern Nevada on August 10, 1998.

It’s a date Martin will never forget.

And December 18, 2025 will be another day neither Martin, myself, nor anyone ever connected with NASCAR, from drivers to team owners, crew chiefs to media, hauler drivers to die-hard fans, will also ever forget.

Biffle seemingly helped anyone who needed help

One of singer Billy Joel’s biggest hits included the lyrics, “Only the Good Die Young,” and that’s exactly the case with Biffle. He was too good a person to have lost his life so young, and particularly his children.

He was always helping people – even animals – out, and never wanted credit for what he did for them.

Several years ago, there was an animal rescue facility near Biffle’s home in Lake Norman, N.C., that desperately needed money – some reports say as much as $3 million – to rebuild and expand a new no-kill shelter that was near and dear to Biffle’s heart.

A lifelong dog lover, Biffle not only gave a generous six-figure donation to the shelter, but he also spearheaded a fundraising effort to raise every last penny for the project.

When the rescue’s directors wanted to name the facility after Biffle for all he did, while humbled, Greg told me privately that he had quietly demurred the honor.

He explained that helping the shelter wasn’t about him; it was about having a place where families could come and adopt a new fur baby. He told me how he detested shelters that intentionally euthanized dogs and cats. That’s why he advocated so much for the four-pawed crowd.

One of the greatest selfless acts by a true hero

Then there was Biffle’s heroic efforts in September 2024 when he made dozens of trips to western North Carolina after it had been devastated by Hurricane Helene, not only rescuing countless victims who couldn’t escape the damage and resulting floodwaters, but also ferrying tons of food and equipment to give to those in dire need.

When Biffle was honored for his “extraordinary humanitarian efforts” recently by the National Motorsports Press Association at the annual NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony, the same GB that I’ve known for over 20 years was both humbled and even a little embarrassed at the attention and plaudits he was given. He received a well-deserved and lengthy standing ovation with thundering applause and cheers from his peers.

When I spoke with Biffle earlier this year about his efforts, his reply will stick with me until the day I die: “I was just doing what any other caring person would do. If I had the ability or means to help or save someone, I was going to do it.”

Biffle joins a long list of racing or sports-related individuals that I’ve either known personally or had connections with. In fact, racing has probably had more athletes or stars die in plane or helicopter crashes than any other sport. It just isn’t fair.

That list includes 1992 Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki (1993 crash near Bristol Motor Speedway); pioneering internet motorsports reporter Ed Dykes (crashed near Bristol in 2000); Davey Allison (1993, helicopter crash at Talladega); IndyCar driver Tony Bettenhausen Jr. (2000 plane crash); the 10 victims killed in the 2004 Hendrick Motorsports plane crash outside Martinsville, Virginia; and Mark Martin’s father, stepmother and half-sister.

There also was a very close friend of mine, Jay Ramsdell, the 25-year-old whiz kid commissioner of the Continental Basketball Association (the NBA’s minor league at the time), who was killed in the 1989 DC-10 plane crash in Sioux City, Iowa.

And let’s not forget how Dale Earnhardt Jr., his wife, and their firstborn daughter narrowly escaped death in 2019 when their plane crashed and caught fire upon landing, also near Bristol.

How do you say goodbye?

Which leads me to the conclusion of this column, but certainly not the conclusion of Biffle’s legacy. While he may now be gone from us in a human form, his memory and all the things he did and all the people’s lives he touched will never be forgotten.

I’ve read countless stories about Biffle today, but there’s one item that is glaringly missing from all the testimonials to him.

Being the great human being and racer The Biff was, NASCAR could perform one of the greatest memorials ever in its history to him with one very simple task:

Forget voting, forget rules and eligibility requirements: it’s only fitting to IMMEDIATELY include him to be inducted next month posthumously into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

It’s a no-brainer, especially given all the negative publicity NASCAR has endured during the recent contentious lawsuit between itself and Michael Jordan, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.

Biffle was nominated this year for the NASCAR Hall’s Class of 2026, but didn’t receive enough votes. But it’s likely he would have made it in the next year or two. You don’t ignore one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers for too long without giving him his righteous due.

Biffle will most definitely be missed, but more importantly, he’ll be remembered for how he lived his life both on and off the racetrack. Other drivers could and should take some lessons from Biffle’s humility, life, and legacy.

The Biff was a racer’s racer – and that is the highest compliment you can pay in tribute to him. It says it all.

May he, his family, and his friends onboard that plane rest in peace.