Greg Biffle (No. 16 3M Ford) has finished last only four times in his 232-race career. One of those four took place last year at Darlington Raceway.

Still, Biffle could be considered a favorite going into this weekend’s Southern 500 Presented by GoDaddy.com.

Despite the 43rd-place finishing, Biffle still owns some of the top Loop Data statistics since the stats’ inception in 2005.

That’s largely because the last-place finish was as deceiving as they get. Biffle had as good a shot at winning as any driver in the field, leading 95 laps.

In fact, he had the fourth-best Driver Rating that race of 108.6, along with an Average Running Position of 16.1, 33 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 61%.

So those totals already added to the impressive lot that was racked up during back-to-back wins in 2005 and 2006.

Over the last four Darlington races, Biffle has a series-best Driver Rating of 121.8, a series-high 174 Fastest Laps Run, an Average Running Position of 7.9 (fourth-best), an average Green Flag Speed of 155.230 mph (second) and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 88.2% (fourth).

Plus, with three top 10s in the last four races, Biffle seems poised for a victory.

Speaking of drivers who are “due,” none seem more likely for his season-first Victory Lane appearance than Tony Stewart. Stewart has finished in the top five in four of the last five races.

And what he’s done as a first-year owner is astounding.

In this season alone, Stewart’s two teams have combined for a Driver Rating of 89.1, an Average Running Position of 14.7, 187 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 61.9% in 20 starts.

Compare that to all of last season when the team fell under the Haas-CNC banner: Driver Rating of 49.1, an Average Running Position of 30.1, 62 Fastest Laps Run and a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 6.1% in 65 starts.