Greg Biffle claimed his second win of the season in Sunday's Sprint Cup series race at Kansas Speedway, as Jimmie Johnson's second place handed him the lead in the Chase.
The Roush Fenway driver came strong in the last quarter of the race, taking the lead after his penultimate stop with 60 laps remaining. Before that he had only led one lap, racing for most of the distance among the top five, but when he managed to get his car in clean air at the end he was in a league of his own.
Biffle left his rivals in the distance, winning by 7.6sec as the race went green all the way after he passed Paul Menard for the lead, the Richard Petty Motorsports driver having gambled on a two-tire stop for his penultimate stint, while Biffle along with the other leaders had taken on a full set of Goodyears.
"Once we got our car adjusted we were off and set sail," said Biffle. "The thing was really fast. I didn't think even if there were more cautions that they would catch us...I was even saving a little bit out there at the end, too. I knew the caution was going to come out and I would need some tires to race these guys."
But while Biffle motored ahead to take his second career win at Kansas and the 16th in the Sprint Cup series, the battle for second behind him was a interesting one. Six of the title contenders followed the No. 16 Ford from the distance, with Johnson and Harvick managing to run a bit faster among them to take second and third.
Reigning champion Johnson overcame a poor qualifying run, although like Biffle he was fast in the closing stages of the race having, for the majority of the event, seemed likely to only salvage a decent points finish. With Denny Hamlin taking the checkered flag down in 12th, Johnson's pass on Richard Childress Racing's Kevin Harvick with a few laps remaining gave him the Chase lead by 8 points over the Joe Gibbs racer.
"The balance of the car was good but it just never was in the racetrack," said Johnson. "Felt like cold tires all day long. I saw a lot of guys fighting the same issue. I think this tire that was brought here certainly threw us for a loop this weekend.
"Honestly, I drove 400 miles with my tongue hanging out just sawing at the wheel trying to get everything I could. Very pleased to have walked that fine line and didn't make any mistakes."
Harvick finished third, making good use of the final green flag stretch to the flag, his car more suited to the long runs. His finish allowed him to move up one place in the playoff standings trailing Johnson now by only 30 points.
Tony Stewart led the most laps but then got shuffled back in traffic late in the race, still finishing fourth and bouncing back from a bad start to his Chase. Jeff Gordon also led plenty of laps in the early going but his speed vanished halfway through. Despite that, his top-5 finish allowed him to move up three spots in the standings where he now sits fifth behind Carl Edwards.
Matt Kenseth was also a race leader and competed at the front for most of the afternoon, enjoying his best outing of the past six weeks and by far his most competitive in the Chase. Kyle Busch, who was third in the standings heading into the weekend, fell victim of retaliation from David Reutimann after earlier hitting the back of the Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota on lap 52, sending Reutimann spinning and against the wall.
Nearly 100 laps later and while running several laps down, Reutimann hit back at Busch's car at the same spot on the track, causing damage to the rear end of Busch's No. 18 Camry, while Reutimann spun along the backstretch.
"He slid up off the bottom and I got into him unintentionally and just spun him out," Busch said. "My fault 100 percent, but then the retaliation to a guy that's in the Chase that's racing for something... He'll be here next year. He could've wrecked me in any of the first 26 races next year. That would've been fine."
Busch limped to a 21st-place finish, ending up a lap down and dropping down to seventh in the Sprint Cup series standings.
Pos Driver Car Laps
1. Greg Biffle Ford 267
2. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 267
3. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 267
4. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 267
5. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 267
6. Carl Edwards Ford 267
7. Matt Kenseth Ford 267
8. Paul Menard Ford 267
9. Ryan Newman Chevrolet 267
10. A.J. Allmendinger Ford 267
11. Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 267
12. Denny Hamlin Toyota 267
13. Kurt Busch Dodge 267
14. Mark Martin Chevrolet 267
15. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 267
16. David Ragan Ford 267
17. Joey Logano Toyota 267
18. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 267
19. Scott Speed Toyota 267
20. Martin Truex Jr Toyota 267
21. Kyle Busch Toyota 266
22. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 266
23. Brad Keselowski Dodge 266
24. Casey Mears Toyota 266
25. Bill Elliott Ford 266
26. Regan Smith Chevrolet 266
27. Patrick Carpentier Ford 266
28. Elliott Sadler Ford 266
29. Juan Montoya Chevrolet 266
30. Reed Sorenson Toyota 265
31. Dave Blaney Ford 261
32. David Gilliland Ford 261
33. Travis Kvapil Ford 261
34. Marcos Ambrose Toyota 257
35. David Reutimann Toyota 256
36. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge 245
37. Kasey Kahne Ford 218
38. Kevin Conway Toyota 180
39. Tony Raines Chevrolet 87
40. Michael McDowell Chevrolet 60
41. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 58
42. J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 49
43. Landon Cassill Toyota 33