Biffle christens Chase by ending drought

LOUDON, N.H. -- Greg Biffle snapped a 33-race winless streak with a late surge past Jimmie Johnson in the opening race of the Chase for the championship.

Johnson, the two-time defending series champion, seemed to have the first round of the Chase locked up after leading a race-high 96 laps Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. But a pair of late cautions gave Biffle a chance, and he seized it by passing Johnson with 12 laps to go for the surprise win.

"I was holding back at the end there, and then we got those cautions there and it closed me up to Jimmie Johnson and gave me a shot at him," Biffle said.

It was Biffle's first victory since Kansas last September and bumped him from ninth in the Chase standings to third, 30 points behind co-leaders Johnson and Carl Edwards.

Johnson finished second and said he knew Biffle would make a run on him after David Ragan and Patrick Carpentier brought out a pair of cautions with less than 20 laps to go.

"Short runs is what hurt me the most," Johnson said, "I felt a little vulnerable, and sure enough he got by."

Edwards, Biffle's teammate at Roush Fenway Racing, finished third and was followed by Jeff Burton and Dale Earnhardt Jr. as Chase drivers swept the top five spots.

Kyle Busch, the regular-season points winner, struggled from the start in a disaster of an opening race. He broke the sway bar on his Toyota just minutes after the race began, and struggled to keep his car off the wall as he tried to nurse it to the mandatory first caution at lap 35.

Busch barely made it and fell two laps off the pace -- one lap because of a penalty -- and restarted in 43rd place. He was in a later wreck and finished 34th.