While everyone was discussing how Jimmie Johnson had momentum and Carl and Kyle were the class of the field, Greg Biffle, just like he has over the last ten races, snuck up on Johnson, passed him with 12 laps to go, and went on to win the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Apparently Biffle learned a lot in his other two championships, one in the Nationwide Series and the other in Craftsman trucks. While Johnson was seemingly running away from the field in the latter stages of the race, Biff was conserving gas or "playing possum." It's an old trick most effectively used by the Wood Brothers in Daytona testing in the 1960's and 1970's.

The Woods always had a fast car in those days, but never showed their hand. They would run all out in a certain section of the track and back it down in another. No one knew what they had until the Daytona 500. Biff must have been talking to Leonard Wood these last few weeks. Anyway, the tactic worked, and Biffle got by Johnson and moved out to an impressive victory in Race One of the Chase.

Here's the lesson in this. Never count anyone out. No matter how well a driver or team has done, they can be in the wrong place at the right time or have a mechanical failure. Just ask Kyle Busch or Matt Kenseth. And never underestimate how good these 12 drivers are. There will probably be more surprises in the next nine races. You can count on that.

That said, has anyone figured out that the rich just got richer through Brian France's brainstorm we now call the Chase? There are 12 teams in the Chase, Three each from Hendrick Motorsports, Roush-Fenway Racing, Richard Childress Racing, and Joe Gibbs Motorsports. This is the royalty of the sport who sport big time sponsors like DuPont, Lowe's, Pepsico, 3M, Office Depot, DeWalt Tools, Jack Daniels, AT&T, and the list goes on. Given the medias fascination with the Chase, those sponsors will be rewarded for sponsoring a Chase team and the Chase teams will be able to keep the bounty that having a major sponsor offers. What of the other 31 contestants? Little air time, even if your sponsor is Budweiser or UPS. Maybe that's why UPS will be on a Roush-Fenway car next year? It sounds about right. So, the rich will get richer and the distance between the haves and the have-nots will widen. Just like the NFL, right?