Biffle wins, Johnson takes Chase lead

The Roush Fenway driver became stronger 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 7.6 seconds 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-tyre 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 tyre 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 #16 Ford from a 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, 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 chequered 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 eight 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 tyres all day long. I saw a lot of guys fighting the same issue. I think this tyre 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 and he now trails Johnson 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 five finish allowed him to move up three spots in the playoff ranking where he sits now 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 to retaliation from David Reutimann after earlier hitting the back of the Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota on lap 52, sending Reutimann spinning 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 to the rear end of Busch's #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 per cent, 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 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.  AJ 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 Pablo 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.  JJ Yeley            Chevrolet   49
43.  Landon Cassill      Toyota      33