Some in the Chase found Loudon too much to handle

LOUDON, N.H. -- With all the talk lately about the Chase for the Sprint Cup being a three-man race, a lot of guys Sunday in the Sylvania 300 had to be thinking about making a statement to the contrary.

Greg Biffle made a late pass of two-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, and with his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford in New Hampshire Motor Speedway's Victory Lane definitely said loud-and-clear they would be contenders in the fifth annual Chase.

But behind them, a number of good opportunities were missed. But indicating the intensity of the Chase, it'll be interesting to see how the teams of Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer and Matt Kenseth respond from New Hampshire's results.

Hamlin, a former NHMS winner, was never out of the top 10 until less than 90 laps remained, and along with Biffle, Hamlin's No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota appeared to have at least as solid a shot to win as anyone else at the front before a question about fuel mileage caused Hamlin's bunch to make a pit stop from third position with about 79 laps remaining.

The resultant loss of track position cost Hamlin, but through hard work on the racetrack he came back to finish ninth. Thus he remained sixth in the championship and, despite taking a few moments to get composed after exiting his Camry; he saw the positives from the rebound.

"Yeah," Hamlin said of making at least some kind of statement. "Those other guys were able to make it [on fuel] and we weren't really counting on that. We had to race our own race and we weren't able to make it on fuel, so we had to make the decisions we had to make because we just couldn't make it."

Hamlin started the race from his sixth-seeded spot after qualifying was rained out and raced into the top five in less than 45 laps. After cycling back, he regained fifth before Lap 120 and was there for nearly 100 laps until the end game began to play out, when the race's fourth of eight cautions flew with 78 laps remaining. Hamlin came out of the pits 18th.

"I thought our performance was good," Hamlin said. "We had a car that was capable of winning right before we decided to stop for fuel. But we can't think about what the other guys are getting for fuel mileage -- all we can do is look at our numbers and the smart move was to come in and pit. We couldn't risk running out. (Continued)