KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- He's the defending champion of the event. He's best on 1.5-mile intermediate tracks. He's coming off a strong test earlier this week at Lowe's Motor Speedway. And he's won the past two races on the Sprint Cup schedule.

Greg Biffle likes his chances. "I don't want to predict," he said at Kansas Speedway, site of Sunday's Camping World RV 400. "But I think they're good."

And why wouldn't he? He's already defied the odds, storming from the middle of the Chase pack to pull within 10 points of series leader Carl Edwards, and becoming the first driver to sweep the first two events in NASCAR's 10-race playoff. Now he goes for what just a few weeks ago would have seemed an unthinkable three in a row, aiming to become the first Sprint Cup driver to pull off a hat trick since Jimmie Johnson won four in a row near the end of last season.

Everything sets up for him nicely. Biffle's victory last year at Kansas -- which came amid controversial circumstances with the No. 16 car actually crossing the finish line fourth under caution because of low fuel -- provided something of a glimpse of what was to come this year, when he returned to the Chase after a two-year absence. He's backed it up this weekend, rebounding from an 18th-place qualifying effort on Friday to place second in Saturday's first practice and first in Happy Hour, with a top lap of 167.385 mph.

"I like our opportunity to be able to win here," Biffle said. "Certainly, the team's got a lot of confidence. A lot of things are in our favor -- we won here, we run good on mile-and-a-halfs, and we're coming off two wins. Odds are probably not in our favor, three in a row, but we don't have to win every one to win the title. We know that as well."

So what's clicked? Biffle's victory at New Hampshire two weeks ago was his first in 33 race weekends, dating back to the Kansas win last year. A revamped pit crew has dramatically improved the No. 16 team's pit stops, giving the driver more confidence. The breaks -- like staying out on low fuel at New Hampshire -- have gone their way as well.

"I think it's all of it," Biffle said. "I think what you see is, 26 week's worth of hard work has paid off. We've worked very hard for 26 weeks on pit road, pit stops, getting our cars right, making our cars better, making our engines better, driving better on the racetrack, executing better. Me being focused better, not making mistakes. All that has finally materialized all at one time." (Continued)