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Biffle wins Cup at New Hampshire

Greg Biffle scored his first win of the season by edging Jimmie Johnson in the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

The Roush Fenway driver had been winless for the past 33 races, but he was a contender up front all day and seized his opportunity following the last restart to overtake the reigning champion with twelve laps remaining, holding him off to the chequered flag.

Johnson tried to get the lead back from Biffle in the last ten laps, but he responded to the attack with strong pace, keeping the Hendrick driver in his mirrors, while Carl Edwards watched the battle develop up front from a close third place.

"I knew I had something for Jimmie," Biffle said after scoring his first career win at New Hampshire, a record seventh for team owner Jack Roush at the one-mile oval and one that puts 'The Biff' third in the title battle.

"I was waiting until the time was true. I made a run on him down there, trying to get him loose and my front end started sliding and I couldn't get him. But I was able loosen him up at (turn) two.

"The dark horse rode today!"

For Johnson the day in terms of the championship was very rewarding, even if he just missed a third victory in a row. He is now joint leader in the points standing with Carl Edwards, coming back from a 40-point deficit to Kyle Busch, who had a terrible day, finishing 34th following a suspension failure and an accident.

The Hendrick driver led the most laps of the race, bagging an extra five points in the tight battle that's unfolding at the top of the standing.

"We'd love to be in Victory Lane celebrating right now, but the big picture, second place is not a bad day at the office," Johnson said.

"We had great stops, fast car. The only weakness we had all day long was on the restarts. From the very first start of the race, we were loose in spots. It would take a while to get the tyres up and get going."

"I really felt after the two or three restarts we had on that set of tyres, my tyres would be good and I'd be able to get away from Greg. But his stuff must have been coming in as well and he was too strong on the short run."

Edwards also led a good number of laps showing his best in the race after being way off the top of the charts during practice. As Johnson, he now leads the standing for the first time during the year, which he claims is like a victory for him.

"Man, you know, I feel like we won the thing, just because of how terrible we were in practice," said Edwards. "To finish this well, you know, to be tied with Jimmie there with the points, it's a huge day for us."

"It was really fun to watch Jimmie and [Biffle] race, man. That was wild. They were fighting hard."

Jeff Burton also had a good start to his Chase with a fourth place finish, beating Dale Earnhardt Jr after a long and close battle. Both are now also tied in points for fourth place in the championship.

Earnhardt looked strong in the early going leading 79 laps, most of them in the first half of the race. Later on he struggled with a very loose car and was unable to get back into the battle for the lead.

Fall-race winner at Loudon Kurt Busch was best among the non 'Chasers' in sixth, followed by Martin Truex Jr and a recovered Tony Stewart, who came back from being a lap down after speeding on pitlane, where he also made slight contact with Robby Gordon's car while leaving his stall.

"Last week it was a mistake in the pits, and this week it was a mistake on the driver's part," Stewart said. "I got a drivethrough penalty that got us way behind. We had some bad luck and then I made our problem worse with the speeding penalty.

"To fight back to eighth - I'm pretty happy with that."

Denny Hamlin had been the leading Gibbs driver up front but he lost track position when he pitted under caution in the last part of the race, gambling on others being close on their fuel mileage to make it to the end.

However further cautions put an end to his hopes, as those who were a few laps short had the chance to save enough to make it to the end without stopping again. Hamlin was ninth at the flag, followed by fellow Chase contender Kevin Harvick.

Clint Bowyer had started the race as the clear favorite after topping every practice session at the track where he had claimed his first Cup victory a year ago. However handling issues hampered his day and he could only manage a 12th place finish.

Regan Smith was the highest finishing rookie in 23rd place, while Sam Hornish Jr was involved in the biggest wreck of the day on lap 228, when he tangled with Chad McCumbee, sending him into Matt Kenseth, ending the Roush Fenway driver's race on the spot.

Pos  Driver              Car        Laps
 1.  Greg Biffle         Ford        300
 2.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet   300
 3.  Carl Edwards        Ford        300
 4.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet   300
 5.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet   300
 6.  Kurt Busch          Dodge       300
 7.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet   300
 8.  Tony Stewart        Toyota      300
 9.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota      300
10.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   300
11.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge       300
12.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet   300
13.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge       300
14.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet   300
15.  David Reutimann     Toyota      300
16.  Travis Kvapil       Ford        300
17.  Juan Montoya        Dodge       300
18.  Aric Almirola       Chevrolet   300
19.  Scott Riggs         Chevrolet   300
20.  Johnny Sauter       Chevrolet   300
21.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet   300
22.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge       299
23.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet   299
24.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge       299
25.  Michael Waltrip     Toyota      299
26.  Robby Gordon        Dodge       299
27.  Michael McDowell    Toyota      299
28.  David Ragan         Ford        298
29.  Bill Elliott        Ford        298
30.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge       298
31.  Patrick Carpentier  Dodge       298
32.  Joey Logano         Toyota      297
33.  Dave Blaney         Toyota      297
34.  Kyle Busch          Toyota      288
35.  Brian Vickers       Toyota      287
36.  Ryan Newman         Dodge       285
37.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet   269
38.  A.J. Allmendinger   Toyota      264
39.  Jamie McMurray      Ford        230
40.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        228
41.  David Gilliland     Ford        228
42.  Chad McCumbee       Dodge       228
43.  Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet   218

Chase For The Cup - Points Standing:

Pos  Driver              Change  Points 
 1.  Carl Edwards          +1     5220
 2.  Jimmie Johnson        +1     5220
 3.  Greg Biffle           +6     5190  + 30
 4.  Dale Earnhardt Jr            5170  + 50
 5.  Jeff Burton           +2     5170  + 50
 6.  Denny Hamlin                 5148  + 72
 7.  Tony Stewart          +1     5147  + 73
 8.  Kyle Busch            -7     5146  + 74
 9.  Clint Bowyer          -4     5137  + 83
10.  Kevin Harvick         +1     5134  + 86
11.  Jeff Gordon           -1     5121  + 99
12.  Matt Kenseth                 5043  +177

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