by Lee Spencer

Around the track

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• Action from Daytona
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Read all about it:

• Stewart spins Busch for Daytona win
• Mayfield stays away from Daytona

Analysis:

• Spencer: Smoke goes the wrong way
• DW: Let's be clear

Carl Edwards was leading the Camping World 400 when the final caution occurred on Lap 351 and the crew opted for two tires to maintain the lead. Following the restart, it took all of 11 laps until his teammate Matt Kenseth caught him.

Kenseth's car and pit crew were extremely competitive throughout the event and he led the most laps --136. Once he took the point from Edwards on Lap 377, Kenseth had to protect his position and block the high line from Biffle while holding off the No. 99.

All things being equal, Biffle had to outfox his teammates. And his strategy was in place long before the race began. Knowing how congested Dover can be, Biffle had to be able to circumvent traffic with ease. He had trouble passing in the June race and came back with a better spring package. He offered Edwards and Kenseth a preview of what was to come on Lap 302 when he took Jimmie Johnson and the No. 99 car three-wide for the lead at the line. Fast forward to Lap 392. With momentum coming off the outside lane, Biffle swept down for the lead on the frontstretch and held the point for the final nine laps.

The moral of this story: nice guys finish second.

"It was kind of fun a little bit racing with Matt, because Matt is so smart," Biffle said. "When I got to him and got underneath him, he just moved up. He didn't give me a chance to get on his outside because he knew I passed him twice or three times earlier that day on the top. Matt knew not to let me up there, so Matt decided to take that line and give me the bottom.

"This isn't his first rodeo. And then Carl came up there and gave me ... a little bit of help, got Matt a little loose off (Turn 4). He really didn't clear a lap car down the frontstretch and then I said, 'I know what I'm doing here, I'm going three-wide right in the middle of these guys, and right down on Matt's door. I'm going to try to get the upper hand on the outside.' That's what happened. I went down on the corner. I figured the lapped car would go high. I was able to drive in the middle of him, take his groove away from the corner, and get to Matt's outside. I bet he was spitting nails down there in Turn 3 and 4 once I got to his outside because I had a little bit faster car. Being on the bottom here you just can't get the gas down, get up off the corner. Matt was loose already. He was leaving black marks when he was racing Carl out there for 20 laps, so I just sat back there and watched them for a little bit. Figured it was my time to try him."

When Kenseth was asked whether team orders played a part in the outcome of the race he quipped: "The plan was have Greg win. We just tried to make it look really good."

Then Kenseth became serious.

"First of all, Jack's never given me a team order in the car before, and if he did and it was for a race win I'm sure I would be fired on Monday because you're all going to race as hard you can race to win," Kenseth said. "It's really, really hard to win these races. It's harder from some of us than others this year, but it's tough to win -- you're going to do everything you can to try to do that."

After a mediocre season for the No. 17 crew in the absence of long-time crew chief Robbie Reiser, Kenseth had to battle to squeak into the final spot in the Chase with two top fives and one top 10 in the last three races leading up to Richmond. After Kenseth wrecked at Richmond and Loudon, he remained 12th in the point standings entering Dover. In 28 starts this season, Kenseth's second-place showing on Sunday was his best finish. He moved up to 10th in the point standings, 167 behind Edwards.

In contrast, Edwards has been in contention most of the season. Despite a setback at Las Vegas after the No. 99 was fined 100 points for a missing oil cap cover, the title battle during the regular season was a two-man race between Edwards and Kyle Busch, who struggle significantly in the first two races of the Chase.

Despite Edwards' run-ins with Busch throughout the year, he's not concerning himself with the No. 18's issues -- or any other team for that matter. He's simply concentrating on the title.

"I believe there's too much going on in the sport to hang on to some sort of little grudge or something like that," Edwards said. "So to me I just think of each of the other 11 guys in the Chase, you know, as people I have to beat. You know, if they have trouble or if they have a bad day or something, and we finish in front of them, that's good.

"But, individually, it doesn't matter which one of them it is. You know, if you're sitting there at the end of the year at the banquet, there's somebody in front of you in points, it doesn't matter who it is or what their name is, they're still in front of you in points. So, I think of them as the same."

Biffle has not been out of the top 12 all season long, but he's picked the perfect time to get hot. He's won titles in two of NASCAR's top three tours and came close to locking down the Sprint Cup in 2005. With age and experience on his side, Biffle admittedly feels "stronger now" and in a "better position" to contend for the championship.

"I don't know if it has anything to do with it, but simply for the fact that we won five of the first 15 races of the season in 2005, and then we were pretty good -- actually, we were just sort of so-so through the middle part of the year leading up to the start of the Chase," said Biffle, who lost the title to Tony Stewart by 35 points. "And then we were pretty decent in the Chase.

"We've worked hard this season to get our cars and team to where they need to be, and I guess if you want to use the term 'peak at the right time,' I feel like we have worked very hard all season and now our hard work is starting to show up. What we worked so hard for was to get a great pit crew, great race cars, great engine and then we've been able to wheel the car into Victory Lane. But I feel better right now, a lot better now, about this championship than I did in 2005."

The rivalry that pushed these racers to the most competitive contest of the season will likely take the greatest toll on team owner Jack Roush. The Cat in the Hat usually sits on the pitbox of the driver with the best shot of winning the race. On Sunday, there were times when musical chairs appeared to be in order. With the streak his drivers are on, that could be the case over the final eight races. But despite a quick moment of relief on Sunday, he stayed the course with Biffle.

"I got off the 16 box one time when I made a mid-race trip to the bathroom," Roush said. "Except for that, I was right there, and I picked it between stops where I was pretty sure nothing was going to happen for that moment. I've got so many different places I can go. I need to set up shop so I can have my own little command center, you know, for me.

"Of course, since I had the 6 car for so long and that was Mark Martin's pit, I always stayed there. Then, of course, when Mark retired, we put the mantle of being the elder, senior guy on Greg. I moved in with him. I will move off the 16 pit box when it's clear that one of the other cars is going to win, just because I can show the right amount of support for what they're doing. Except for that, my home is the 16's pit box, and I was there all day."