Weekend That Was: Kan.

If you were one of the few who could stay with the LifeLock 400 through two rain delays and roughly six hours Sunday, you still probably weren't sure who won the Nextel Cup race right at the end.

But this time, NASCAR got it right.

Sure, it would have been the stuff of storybook legend if Clint Bowyer, credited with finishing second, had been able to pass Greg Biffle on the last lap for a win at Kansas Speedway, Bowyer's home track. Bowyer did in fact pass Biffle on that last lap, but it was after the yellow caution flag flew and the field was frozen -- and Biffle knew it, or at least claimed to and certainly acted like he did (watch video).

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Therein lay the biggest problem with creating the confusion: Biffle prematurely went into celebration mode. It wasn't the smartest thing The Biff has ever done, cutting his engine off on the final turn and unbuckling safety devices in his cockpit as he prepared to celebrate his first win since the final race of last season.

Biffle later claimed he was "steering with his knee" at that point.

"I was trying to save enough fuel to do burnouts and drive to Victory Lane," he said. "The race was over. The caution was out and we were the winner."

It wasn't nearly that clear to Bowyer or Jimmie Johnson, who, unlike Biffle, are engaged in the Chase for the Nextel Cup championship. Trailing behind Biffle as the No. 16 Ford slowed down and took to the apron on the bottom of the track in his effort to be able to save enough fuel to celebrate in style, Bowyer and Johnson had as much trouble as everyone else figuring out what was going on at first.

Bowyer thought Biffle was required by NASCAR's cloudy rules to maintain the speed being set by the pace car at least until Biffle reached the checkered flag, and he told reporters he didn't think Biffle was doing that. Johnson agreed and said that although he "felt bad for the 16," Bowyer should have been the rightful winner.

Wrong.

The governing body that so often gets hammered for doing something obviously wrong got it right this time, ruling that Biffle's car was under power and maintaining a reasonable speed behind the pace car at the end. It said nothing about the dangers of him steering with his knee or unbuckling his seatbelts before the car had rolled to a complete stop -- and there is no truth to the rumor that Biffle's car owner, Jack Roush, is poised to protest forthcoming penalties for such infractions.

Roush had plenty to whine about without embracing another controversy involving the finish of one of his drivers. This was the second week in a row that he had fielded the winning hand, only to be questioned at the finish or shortly thereafter.

Carl Edwards' win one week earlier at Dover lost much of its luster with Roush when Edwards' No. 99 Ford failed post-race inspection and ultimately was slapped with a 25-point penalty that dropped Edwards from third to sixth in the Chase points standings. Roush complained -- and not without some merit -- that it was a ridiculous penalty, assessed for Edwards' car being too low on a track where that would have meant absolutely no advantage and, in fact, would have been a disadvantage.