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Biffle claims win in Kansas, but Johnson takes over points lead
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By Nate Ryan
October 4, 2010
Kansas City, KS — Greg Biffle made it look easy in leading 59 of the final 61 laps of the Price Chopper 400.
Jimmie Johnson is making it look easy again in leading the Chase for the Sprint Cup, though Kansas Speedway was anything but for the series' four-time defending champion.
The top two finishers took alternate routes Sunday, but both left the 1.5-mile superspeedway in good spirits.
Biffle scored the 16th victory of his career in beating Johnson by 7.638 seconds — the largest margin of victory this season — in a No. 16 Ford he said was the best he ever had at Kansas and maybe the fastest he'd wheeled in Cup since 2005 (when he led the circuit with six wins).
"Those last two runs, it was amazing," said Biffle, whose team made a few adjustments that brought the car to life. "I could drive anywhere on the racetrack. It was pretty incredible."
In what Biffle labeled a "go, no go" race for his championship hopes, his team picked up a $100,000 win bonus from Ford and closed within 85 points of Johnson, whose second put him back atop the standings.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver rebounded from a mediocre qualifying lap (21st) Friday and a spin late in practice Saturday to leave Kansas as the points leader for the third time in the last four seasons with seven Chase races remaining.
"Keep your heads down, boys. It's on!" Johnson radioed his crew after driving 400 miles, he said, with his "tongue hanging out just sawing at the wheel" of the No. 48 Chevrolet. He beat Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon to the finish.
"We had to change a lot of the race car around to get it right for today," he said. "It leads to a sleepless night and a frustrating morning, having anxious moments before the race."
Sunday's anxiety mostly belonged to Joe Gibbs Racing. Denny Hamlin dropped to second in the standings (eight points behind Johnson) with a 12th.
"It's not the kind of run we wanted, but we're not out of this by any means," Hamlin said. "The good part is we didn't panic."
Teammate Kyle Busch (21st) fared worst of the Chase drivers, dropping four spots in points after tangling twice with David Reutimann (who spun in both instances). The latter incident damaged Busch's No. 18 Toyota.
"Whatever," said Busch, who took the blame for unintentionally spinning Reutimann the first time. "It's just really unfortunate. It's just hard to swallow (when) we had a solid top-five car."
In initiating contact the second time, Reutimann didn't clarify if he retaliated ("What do you think? It just got tight") but seemed unrepentant.
"I don't care if you're in the Chase or not, you need to think about who you're running over," Reutimann said. "If you're in the Chase, you have as much responsibility to drive with respect as I do or anybody."
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