Biffle trying to make top 10 to join Chase

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Time is running out in the race to make NASCAR's Chase for the championship, and Greg Biffle is feeling the squeeze as much as anybody.

The top 10 drivers in the Nextel Cup standings -- and any others within 400 points of the leader after the first 26 races -- qualify for the 10-race Chase. Biffle sits 12th in points with only five races remaining before the Chase begins.

The good news is that despite a last-lap crash a week ago at Indianapolis that dropped him from a certain top-15 finish to 33rd, Biffle still has a shot as he prepares for Sunday's race at Watkins Glen International, the second and final road race of the season.

"It's been an up-and-down season for us, but I still feel five races is a lot of time," said Biffle, who, despite having led a series-best 1,237.51 miles this year, is 115 points out of the 10th spot currently held by Dale Earnhardt Jr. "We saw drivers go from being in the top five in points to being out and then back in in a matter of four races or three. Certainly, people can move around a lot.

"But this is the time of the season where teams and drivers are being more consistent, are getting their stride, so to speak, getting their consistency down," said Biffle, who was expected to contend for this year's title after finishing second last year to Tony Stewart. "So that makes it difficult as well. Certainly, we need to average top-five finishes. It depends what the other guys do."