By Mark Long
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) _ Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards have little room for improvement.
Biffle won five of the first 15 races last year, added another victory at the season finale in Homestead and finished second in the Nextel Cup championship. Edwards picked up four wins, capping each of them with trademark backflips, and was third in the points.
What will NASCAR's newest stars do for encores?
``We should be a bunch better than we were last season, and if that's the case, then we're going to be really, really good,'' Edwards said.
Indeed.
The Roush Racing teammates begin this season _ starting Sunday at the Daytona 500 _ as two of the favourites to win it all.
``It's hard not to be overconfident because they say, `Well, you had such a great year last year. What do you expect this year?''' Biffle said. ``Gosh, if I did the same thing I did last year I'd be ecstatic. Certainly, I'd like to win the championship, but if I had to replay last year, I don't know that I'd do a thing different.''
Well, there is one thing he would like to change.
Biffle was 20th at Texas Motor Speedway in November because of a loose wheel, a finish that essentially ruined his chance at the title with two races remaining.
Biffle had one of the strongest cars at Texas. He started seventh and quickly moved into the lead. He was ahead by several car lengths when one of the rear wheels started coming loose, forcing him to make a green-flag pit stop.
He fell a lap down and battled the rest of the day to rejoin the leaders. It happened too late, and Biffle lost 47 points in one race to eventual series champ Tony Stewart.
Making his day bittersweet was that teammates Edwards, Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth swept the top three spots. His fourth Roush teammate, Kurt Busch, was 10th.
``I think about it a lot,'' said Biffle, who finished 35 points behind Stewart in the final standings. ``You can go back and count a whole bunch of races. ... but Texas is more of a clear-cut, down-to-the-wire deal. That replays a lot.''
Biffle spent part of the off-season reliving what could have been, even while he tried to relax at his mountain home and in his shop. He said the bad memories probably won't cease until the green flag drops Sunday at the ``Great American Race.''
What will he think about then?
``About winning and what it's going to take to win and how we're going to win,'' he said. ``I think with that mind-set and that attitude and working hard toward that goal, it puts you as one of the front-runners.''
Edwards should be included in the front-runner group, too.
Unlike Biffle, who is the only driver in NASCAR history to win championships in the Busch series and the Craftsman truck series, Edwards came out of nowhere to find fame in 2005.
Last week at media day, Edwards sat down at a round table and quickly found himself surrounded by tape recorders, microphones and cameras. He looked around, paused for a few seconds and then recalled how different things were a year ago.
``I sat over there for 15 minutes and a couple guys came by and that's about it,'' Edwards said. ``There's a lot more attention now.''
Well-deserved attention.
Edwards had 18 top-10 finishes last year and joined Biffle at the forefront of the Roush team. He carried his success on the track in 2005 into the off-season.
He did a commercial with his mother, got a walk-on role in the movie The Disciple, and filmed a small speaking part in an episode of the Fox television show 24. He also has been in several photo shoots.
``It's fun. It's definitely different,'' Edwards said. ``The only frustrating part about anything that's gone on is that I don't have the time to talk to everybody I want to talk to or return everybody's phone call.''
