The Chase for the Championship got underway
Sunday afternoon at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire. It was one of the
contenders looking for their first title who got the first win of the playoff
season. Greg Biffle got the victory, his first of the season. He got the win
thanks to a late pass of
Jimmie Johnson. Biffle led 58 of the 300 laps with second place
finishing Johnson leading the most (96).
The race was slowed for cautions eight times for 37 laps. Two of the cautions
involved championship hopefuls. The most notable was the second caution that
flew on lap 84. Kyle Busch
lost control of his car and spun in turn two.
Jamie McMurray then lost
control and spun into Busch, causing extensive damage to their cars. Busch
finished 34th with McMurray placing in 39th. The other Chase driver to have
troubles on the track was Matt Kenseth. Kenseth brought out the fifth caution on lap 230. Some of the
drivers tried to go five wide on the track. That led to trouble.
Chad McCumbee got loose and
hit Kenseth. Also collected in the incident were
David Gilliland,
Brian Vickers, and
Casey Mears. Kenseth
finished 40th and is now in a big hole in the point standings.
The top five finishers were all Chasers. Behind Biffle and Johnson were
Carl Edwards in third,
Jeff Burton in fourth, and
Dale Earnhardt Jr. in
fifth. Former champ Kurt Busch
finished sixth with
Martin Truex Jr. in seventh. Rounding out the top ten were Chase drivers
Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin,
and Kevin Harvick. As for
the other two Chase drvers, Clint Bowyer finished 12th and
Jeff Gordon placed 14th.
After the first race in The Chase, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson are tied at
the top. Biffle's win moved him up six spots to third. 30 points back. Tied in
fourth (50 points behind) are Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton. Denny Hamlin
moved up three places to sixth and is 72 back.
Seventh place Tony Stewart
is one point behind Hamlin. Kyle Busch was the biggest loser in the standings,
falling seven places back to eighth, 74 behind the leaders. Clint Bowyer is
ninth (83 back), Kevin Harvick is tenth (86 back) with Jeff Gordon 11th (99
back). After his troubles Sunday, 12th place Matt Kenseth is 177 points behind.
For this coming weekend, both the
Nationwide Series (Dover) and the Truck Series (Las Vegas) will be on the
track. The
Sprint Cup will be at Dover's "Monster Mile" Sunday afternoon.
By: CrimsonCowboy