Biffle takes checkers again but still can't take top spot

For the second consecutive week Greg Biffle won a playoff race -- and yet he's still 10 points out of first place. After winning at Loudon, Biffle carved off 50 points from his deficit; at Dover he cut another 20 points. ... And the Chase is supposed to be about winning?

It's a dead horse, I know, but the Chase is flawed. If drivers are rewarded for victories in the first 26 races (10 points for each W in the Chase seeding), they also should be rewarded in the final 10.

• For a guy who loathed the COT, Jack Roush has done a remarkable job getting his stable up to speed with the new racecar. Imagine if he would have embraced it from the get-go ...

• Clint Bowyer is like the wind: You know it's there but you can't see it. He has five consecutive top-15 finishes after an eight-place run at Dover. And now it's one to Kansas, where he's finished ninth and second in two starts.

• From the Duh! Department:
Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 crew have figured out this Chase deal ...

• Jeff Burton is fourth in points, 81 behind Carl Edwards, and yet no one is talking about Burton in the same championship vein as Edwards, Johnson and Biffle. Is it really a three-driver Chase with eight races remaining?

• Nice bounce back, Matt Kenseth. His second-place run was the latest in a stretch of six top-10s in the past eight races at Dover. ... And now comes Kansas. More on that in a bit.

Bump-and-run thoughts after Dover ...

Winner
• Kevin Harvick -- He jumped five spots in the points after finishing sixth at Dover. If can remain within striking distance until Phoenix, the numbers may be in his favor:

Loser
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- He plummeted five spots in the points after finishing 24th at Dover. And the numbers don't seem to favor Junior (though he does have consecutive 10th-place finishes at Kansas and he finished 10th at Talladega in April):

Lucky Dog
• Carl Edwards -- His near-miss on Patrick Carpentier's spin may be one of those looking-back moments when the Chase was won.

Who's hot
• Greg Biffle -- Back-to-back wins has gotten him off to a great start, and he's the defending race winner in Oz. Now let's see if he can hold serve:

Who's not
• Joe Gibbs Racing -- Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch are an average 172 points behind leader Edwards, with two top-10 finishes in six combined starts.

In case you missed it ...

• Mark Martin's fourth-place finish at Dover was his 21st top-five and 28th top-10 at the track. He's finished fourth in three of the past four fall race at Dover. His other finish: 14th.

Date	Track	Time	TV
Sept. 14	Loudon	1 p.m.	ABC
Sept. 21	Dover	1 p.m.	ABC
Sept. 28	Kansas	1 p.m.	ABC
Oct. 5	Talladega	1 p.m.	ABC
Oct. 11	Charlotte	7 p.m.	ABC
Oct. 19	Martinsville	1 p.m.	ABC
Oct. 26	Atlanta	1 p.m.	ABC
Nov. 2	Texas	3 p.m.	ABC
Nov. 9	Phoenix	3 p.m.	ABC
Nov. 16	Homestead	3 p.m.	ABC

All times ET

• Michael Waltrip's 10th-place finish was his best showing since Loudon in June (second in a rain-shortened event). Waltrip Racing now has four consecutive top-15 finishes (David Reutimann at Fontana, Richmond and Loudon; Waltrip at Dover).

• Dave Blaney finished 12th, his best run since a ninth-place finish at Dover in June. It was the No. 22 Toyota's third top-15 of the season.

• Ryan Newman finished 13th for his first lead-lap finish at Dover since June 4, 2007. In contrast, he posted seven top-10 finishes in eight starts from 2002-05.

• Bobby Labonte's 14th-place finish was his second consecutive top-15, his best two-race stretch since Loudon (10th) - Daytona (13th). The No. 43 has 10 top-15s this season; it had eight last year.

• Casey Mears finished 15th and now has top-15 runs in three of the past four races at Dover. That's not too shabby for a guy who failed to finish on the lead lap in his first five starts at the track.

Moving on to Kansas

• Camping World RV 400 presented by Coleman | 1 p.m. Sunday | ABC

• Kansas arguably is Matt Kenseth's worst track: two top-10s (and only three lead-lap finishes) in seven starts with an average finish of 22.1 (lowest of all Cup tracks).

• On the other hand, Clint Bowyer enjoys the home cooking: two top-10s and a 5.5 average finish in two starts.

• Jeff Gordon is the only driver with multiple wins (2) at the track, so that notion of it being a three-driver championship run may get put to the test this weekend.

• Tony Stewart and Gordon each have a series-best five top10s at Kansas. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson have four.

Lasting image

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Engine failure left Kyle Busch 43rd at Dover -- and last in the Chase standings. His reply: "We're out of the title hunt."

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.