It was only a matter of time.

Despite the fact Greg Biffle had earned only one top-10 finish this season, despite coming off his worst two finishes and despite being mostly middle of the pack all year (10 of 16 finishes between 12th and 25th place), Biffle and his No. 16 Ford were primed for a huge breakout.

It's not overly surprising that he rallied from a 30th-place qualifying spot, then held off Bobby Labonte and teammate Jeff Burton late to win his first career Winston Cup race in Saturday's Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

"(To get) my first Winston Cup win at Daytona … (and) to think about some of the guys that have won here and to now be among that group means a great deal to me," Biffle said.

What is surprising -- and has been for the last eight months -- is how Biffle initially set his expectations quite low for his first full season in Winston Cup racing. It was at Phoenix early last November, when he was the freshly-crowned Busch Series champion, that Biffle surprised a lot of reporters, myself included, with dire predictions regarding his elevation to Winston Cup.

Instead of seeing excitement and optimism, he was visualizing gloom and doom.

"I just know that we're not going to be that successful, I just know it," Biffle predicted back then. "I'm OK with not being the best thing. It'll take us a year or something to get to that level … but I'm prepared for however long it takes to get there."

Now, fast-forward to today. We haven't even officially hit the season's halfway mark (which comes after Sunday's Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.), and Biffle has already exceeded his ominous prediction from last November.

With his win at Daytona, the Vancouver, Wash., native jumped five places in the Winston Cup rankings to 20th position. He's now ahead of Jamie McMurray (23rd) in the Rookie of the Year battle.

And there's some special significance in that battle, which should make the remaining 19 races on the schedule a rather exciting finish for the rookie award. Biffle previously was Rookie of the Year in the Craftsman Truck Series (1998) and the Busch Series (2000). He's also the only driver in NASCAR history to win both rookie titles and then go on and win the championship trophy in those respective classes (1999 in trucks, last season in Busch).

Despite the struggles he's had at times this season, including failing to qualify in Las Vegas, Biffle could very well have turned the corner from mediocrity to success with his triumph at Daytona. Heading into the race, it's doubtful that Biffle was on many short lists of potential winners. Why, he probably wasn't on many long lists, for that matter.

	Biffle has two top-10s this year and is currently 20th in Cup points.

That's what makes his win so significant. He did it against all kinds of odds. He did it in a restrictor-plate race, only the third of his fledgling Cup career (by comparison, he finished 21st at the season-opening race at Daytona and 22nd at Talladega, Ala., in April). He did it after qualifying and starting 30th. He did it in a race in which almost everyone expected Michael Waltrip (a three-time restrictor-plate race winner, including twice in the Daytona 500) or teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. (a five-time restrictor-plate race winner) to win, hands down.

"This is a huge win for this team and I just appreciate all of the hard work everyone has put in here," Biffle said after Saturday night's race. "We had a tough couple of weeks leading up to this race, but we got refocused during the off week and it showed here tonight. The pit stops were great, the car handled perfectly and it was just our night. This ranks right up there as one of the best moments in my racing career."

Most significantly, Biffle's win on Saturday put him in the top-20 for only the second time this season (Biffle was 19th after Rockingham, N.C.), with the potential of making a strong second-half run into a final top-15 finish. Think that's too difficult? The current stats would disagree with you: Biffle is just 65 points behind No. 19 Bill Elliott, 66 points behind No. 18 Elliott Sadler and 170 points behind No. 15 Robby Gordon.

Let's flash back once again to last November in Phoenix ....

"We're going to learn the growing pains, what to do, what not to do, what not to do next year when we come here (Phoenix), those sorts of things," Biffle said eight months ago. "It'll take us a little time to get some momentum over there on the Winston Cup side, but we're looking forward to it.

"I'd like to win Rookie of the Year and I'd be excited to win a race in my first season, like a lot of these guys did, but it took Johnny Benson 200-some starts to do that. So, I'm not going to be disappointed if it takes two or three seasons to win a Winston Cup race. There's still a lot of guys that haven't won one. I just want to run every race, try to stay on the lead lap and learn as much as I can.

"It is really special (to be the only driver in NASCAR history to win championships in the trucks and Busch divisions). I have one more quest in my career, and that's to win a Winston Cup championship. But, I have a long way to go and many years, hopefully, to accomplish that."

But after Saturday's win at Daytona, and given Biffle's past history behind the wheel, it's a fair bet to say it's only a matter of time before he indeed realizes his quest.

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Motorsportwriter@Yahoo.com.