KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Drivers embroiled in the Chase for the Sprint Cup took the top seven spots in Sunday's Camping World RV 400 at Kansas Speedway, and three of them came from starting spots below 34th to do it.

It's one more bit of proof that the 12 best teams in the Sprint Cup garage are involved in this fifth annual Chase.

“

I wish I'd have been a little healthier. I think I could have contributed to a little bit better finish.

”

JEFF GORDON

Sunday's third event in the 10-race Chase had the least number of Chase finishers in the top 10, as the first two races, at New Hampshire and Dover, each had eight top-10 Chase finishers.

And the most telling proof of the premise is that of the seven non-Chase top-10 finishers in those three events, none of them has achieved it more than once.

On the other hand, five Chasers have scored three top-10s in as many races, so it's no surprise they're situated where they are in the standings. The least surprising fact is the top three drivers in the standings: Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle, each have three top-fives in the first three events.

It was no irony that Johnson, Edwards and Biffle finished in that order Sunday, and Biffle's attitude epitomized it when he described his finish, in which he passed Gordon on the last corner.

"We were just off a little bit all day -- we fought it tooth and nail [and] did everything we could to this racecar," Biffle said. "And, toward the end, I was elbows up like I had been the last two races, and that's all I had, third place.

"I think that's good for us. That was a goal we set when the Chase started, top-five finishes, and certainly this is not a disappointment at all to us to come here and finish in the top five --- especially how poorly we were off the truck when we first got here. We were a 37th-place car when we unloaded and finished up a third-place car, so I'm pretty excited about that."

But following the Kansas event, maybe no finish was more significant than four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon's fourth place -- which was his second top-10 of the Chase.

Gordon's No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team has struggled to find consistency all season with its version of NASCAR's new car, but as the Chase has begun, Gordon's finishing positions and position in the standings have ratcheted up each week. (Continued)