Biffle Makes Case for Championship Run, Wins First Chase Race at New Hampshire

Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, and Jimmie Johnson started Sunday's first race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup at New Hampshire Motor Speedway as the odds-on favorites to battle for the championship.

And then Greg Biffle showed up, took the spotlight, and won Sunday's Sylvania 300 by passing none other than Jimmie Johnson in the closing laps.

The win was Biffle's first since his somewhat controversial win a year ago during the Chase at Kansas Speedway, or a span of 33 races. More importantly, though, the win jumped Biffle in the Chase standings six spots to third, just 30 points back of new co-leaders Carl Edwards and Johnson.

Biffle didn't lead the most laps (Johnson did), but jumped out front on lap 289 for the final 11 laps as he held off Johnson who started to close on Biffle because the No. 48 Chevrolet was stronger on longer runs.

Outside of Biffle and Johnson, the rest of the Top-5 included Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Following the first round of the ten-race Chase, the point standings took a little bit of a jumble thanks to Biffle's win and Kyle Busch suffering through a horrible day in what was supposed to be the beginning of his march to crown off an impressive eight-win season to this point.

Johnson & Edwards -- the Chase co-leaders -- have that 30-point advantage on third-place Biffle and 50 points on Dale Earnhardt Jr. & Jeff Burton. Busch fell to 8th in the standings from first place at the start of the day.