A few years ago, rookies were not supposed to win Winston Cup races, or even be competitive.

That changed in the 1990s when top multi-car teams began signing talented rookies. The combination of skilled drivers and crews, plus abundant resources, suddenly made rookies formidable on the racetrack.

Jamie McMurray and Greg Biffle are the latest examples of rising rookies.

Last year, McMurray attracted attention when, in just his second Cup start, he won the October race at North Carolina’s Lowe’s Motor Speedway. McMurray was filling in for the injured Sterling Marlin.

In July, Biffle won at Daytona, in his 23rd Cup start.

McMurray, in 18th place, is the top rookie in the Winston Cup points standings. He leads 20th-place Biffle by 48 points. In the rookie of the year award standings, McMurray holds a slim 16-point edge over Biffle, 249-233. (The rookie of the year award is based on drivers’ best 17 finishes.) Both rookies drive for strong teams: Biffle for Roush Racing, McMurray for Ganassi Racing.

McMurray’s success is more surprising than Biffle’s, because McMurray didn’t distinguish himself in the Grand National series. Biffle, 33, won championships in the NASCAR Truck and Grand National series before finally moving to Winston Cup.

McMurray, 27, didn’t win his first Grand National race until after he won the Cup race at Lowe’s. In 2001, McMurray had no top-five finishes in the Grand National series. However, team owner Chip Ganassi saw something in him. Ganassi proved in Indy car racing that he is a shrewd judge of driving talent.

Driver Greg Biffle, right, and the No. 16 team -- led by crew chief Doug Richert, left -- are 20th in the points standings.

Following the trend in which drivers are drawn to Winston Cup from all over the United States, neither McMurray nor Biffle is from the South. McMurray is from Joplin, Mo.; Biffle is from Vancouver, Wash., near Portland, Ore.

While Biffle is thrilled to be in the Cup series now, he wishes he’d been called on sooner.

“I absolutely wish I had an opportunity when I was 25, but I didn’t,” Biffle said Tuesday. “I’ve paid my dues.”

Jack Roush, Biffle’s car owner, said Biffle wasn’t treated very well in his first couple trips to the Southeast.

“He was in a sportsman race at Concord (N.C.) and in the closing laps, they threw an early caution to stop him from passing and getting the big prize where he could stay (in the Southeast),” Roush said. “He had to go back (to Washington).”

Prodded by NBC racing analyst Benny Parsons, the former Winston Cup champion who had seen Biffle race, Roush finally called Biffle.

“Greg padlocked his race-car shop and put his sports bar in the hands of somebody that he trusted,” Roush said. “In a matter of days, he was in Charlotte.”

McMurray

With such a close battle for rookie of the year, do Biffle and McMurray keep an eye on each other during races?

“We don’t focus on them,” McMurray said. “I know where everybody is pretty much. I think we’ve run better than him (most) of the year.”

Said Biffle: “We do some, because we are racing them for position each week.”

In the June race at Dover, McMurray finished 13th and Biffle was 30th.