Gordon, Johnson positioned to take Chase

Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin have all but conceded the Nextel Cup title, while Jeff Burton and Martin Truex Jr. are pretty close to waving white flags.

Only four races into this Chase for the championship and the realization is setting in: If Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson don’t struggle in tonight’s race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., nobody else has a shot at the Nextel Cup title.

It’s fitting that Gordon, the four-time series champion, and Johnson, the defending series champion, are at the top of the leaderboard. The Hendrick Motorsports teammates combined to win 10 races during the “regular season” and Gordon built a lead of more than 300 points in the standings.

But it was all jumbled back together when the Chase began last month, and everyone had high hopes for an intense 10-race push to the title. It was on course for it, too, as the top six drivers were separated by a mere 18 points after two events.

Then a bizarre race in Kansas jumbled the standings, and last week’s 1-2 finish by Gordon and Johnson blew them right open. Gordon heads into tonight’s event with a nine-point lead over Johnson, and Clint Bowyer sits in third, 63 points out.

Two-time series champion Tony Stewart is fourth, but fading at 154 points back, and everyone else is 200 or more out.

Busch Series

Jeff Burton came from the back of the field to win the crash-filled NASCAR Busch Series race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

The Nextel Cup star had a fast car, but was overshadowed for much of the 200-lap race by runaway points leader Carl Edwards and pole-winner Greg Biffle, who swapped the lead back and forth several times before both went out in multicar accidents just seven laps apart.

Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished a distant second and third.

Biffle changes mind

NASCAR teams shopping for a driver in 2009 can look elsewhere. Greg Biffle is staying put.

Biffle, in his fifth full season with what is now Roush Fenway Racing, has a contract through the 2008 season, but plans to stick around beyond that. Earlier this year, he had said that any extension on that deal would have to be done by the end of this season.

Jarrett plans shortened season

Michael Waltrip said farewell to Dale Jarrett, then introduced a partner who he believes will help his fledgling race team become competitive.

The 50-year-old Jarrett will run just seven races in 2008 – the first five points events, the All-Star race and the season-opening exhibition event at Daytona – before turning the No. 44 Toyota over to David Reutimann.