Greg Biffle led 25 laps Sunday at New Hampshire. Credit: Autostock

Biffle happy to be part of rotating top 10, for now

Race to Chase has drivers biting nails about who might be included

LOUDON, N.H. -- Greg Biffle's back in the top 10 in the Nextel Cup standings -- for a week at least -- but neither he nor anyone around him in the points is too comfortable with their status.

Greg Bifle has eight top-10 finishes in the last 10 races. Credit: Autostock

Lenox Industrial Tools 300 Official Results Pos. Driver Make 1. Kyle Busch Chevy 2. Carl Edwards Ford 3. Greg Biffle Ford 4. Mark Martin Ford 5. Kevin Harvick Chevy 6. Denny Hamlin Chevy 7. Jeff Burton Chevy 8. Kasey Kahne Dodge 9. Jimmie Johnson Chevy 10. Scott Riggs Dodge • Official results, click here • Official standings, click here Top finishersEdwards, Biffle, and Johnson talk about their days Final lapsKyle Busch holds off the field in overtime Race Rewind - LoudonWatch a condensed version of the Lenox Industrial Tools 300! Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Biffle was plenty happy Sunday evening at New Hampshire International Speedway after he finished third in the Lenox Industrial Tools 300. But he was also plenty nervous about the next seven races before the cutoff for the third Chase for the Nextel Cup.

"It's a tough race right there [because] if you have a problem, you're pretty much out of it," Biffle said. "It's really nervous every race for me and Denny [Hamlin] because we've got to beat [Jeff Gordon] and [Kevin Harvick]."

The margin from eighth-place Harvick to 13th-place Carl Edwards is a scant 212 points. Radical changes can occur in one race, as they did at New Hampshire when Tony Stewart fell from seventh to 11th.

"All us guys [ranked seventh through 13th] are on pins and needles," Biffle said. "We just go out there and try to do the best that we can -- run the best race that we can and get the best finish that we can and not worry about it.

"We're just going to try to get a top-five [every week] but the reality is there's no margin for error -- mechanical or other."

On Sunday, Biffle and his No. 16 Roush Racing crew played with every hand they were dealt. Biffle was downright homely at the beginning of the 300 miles, and it took him more than 60 laps to get to the top 10.

When he did, however, he never fell out of it again.

"It was a pretty decent day for us," Biffle said. "Obviously, starting in 26th it took us a long time to work our way to the front, about the first 100 laps or so.

"There at the end it was unfortunate. I lost a position to Denny because I felt like I might be able to catch [race winner Kyle Busch]. Denny got by us three-wide around a lapped car on the top and I burned my right-front up and got the brakes too hot trying to race him back.

"I had a really good racecar and I kind of burned my right-front tire up messing with him, then fell back some. Anyway, we came back at the end. I just took care of the throttle and fuel mileage came around for us."

Biffle's race strategy Sunday is almost identical to the charge he's staged in the Nextel Cup standings. In his last 10 races, Biffle has only one finish worse than 11th (31st at Daytona), and he's moved from 23rd in the standings into a tie for ninth.

No one in Nextel Cup has scored more points than he has in that time, and Biffle also is the only driver to have led at least one lap in 15 of the 19 races to date.

He said he's where he wants to be right now, though it's not much comfort over the next seven races, part of NASCAR's Race to the Chase.

"NASCAR thought about it when they created this thing, and they probably didn't anticipate the hype around getting in," Biffle said. "It's pretty widespread.

"It's going to be exciting for the next five or seven races up until Richmond, getting in. Every week it's going to be exciting."

The other direction works as well, as Busch, with his victory Sunday, vaulted from eighth to fourth in the standings as he attempts to make his first Chase.

He's no more comfortable, however, with the 113-point margin back to Biffle.

"That's how close it is -- that's how tight it is," Busch said. "I mean, any little mistake and you can put yourself right back out.

"Yeah, that's great that we moved from eighth to fourth, but the biggest thing with that is the points difference between fourth and 10th. Who's to say next week we [won't] make a mistake or something, and we're out?"

Hamlin is the leading rookie and was bitterly disappointed to run out of fuel in the final laps at New Hampshire, which dropped him from second to sixth. From where he sits -- 12th at 18 points out of 10th -- every point might be critical in eight weeks.

"I don't even know where I'm at," Hamlin said in his post-race media briefing. "I think it's tough because everyone who's doing that in and out [of the top 10] thing every week, they're running the same position every single week.

"So it's just whoever is going to eliminate bad luck is going to get in there. We're trading spots every single week. I think in years past there's kind of been a gap of the top-10 guys then there is everybody else, 11th-15th. There's going to be a lot of good guys that are not going to make it."