Greg Biffle started from the pole for the Best Buy 400 at Dover International Speedway. (Drew Hallowell/Getty Images Photo)

If Edwards got beat on pit road — and he did — Biffle’s demons were mechanical. He started from the pole and led 146 of the first 147 laps, but a failed alternator ultimately slowed his charge, forcing him to turn off the cooling fans in the car on a hot, steamy day at a very physical race track. That had two negative implications: Biffle got hot and he couldn’t run the fans that cool the front tires, which hindered his charge.

“We couldn’t run the right-front bead blower and the car got tight,” Biffle said. “We lost our alternator early – the first 100 laps. When Carl was catching us it wasn’t running at the end of the straightaway. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I kept switching (ignition) boxes and looked down and the volts were about 9 volts.”

The heat was no fun in the cockpit, either. “It was pretty tough,” admitted Biffle, who finished in the top three for the third consecutive week. “I didn’t have any oxygen inside the car. … It was a long day. We finished third, and that’s what we needed for points.”

The day’s big winner among the Roush drivers was Kenseth, who had a season’s-best fourth-place run, which moved him within 95 points of 12th in the standings, the final transfer spot to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson are the only two drivers to qualify for the Chase in each of the first four seasons.

Asked if he was pleased with his result, Kenseth said, “Yes and no. You always want to win. We were a little bit off. All the Roush Fenway cars were fast when we got here. We just got to figure out a way to make ours a little faster. … We’re going the right way. I feel like we’re on an upswing.”

Now all they have to do is figure out a way to catch Busch, which is what every Sprint Cup team is trying to do.

BEST BUY 400 RESULTS

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to