The victory was Biffle's first of the season and 12th of his "Cup" career.

"I'm just excited to get a win this season," said Biffle.

With pole winner Jimmie Johnson forced into his backup car, Scott Riggs brought the field to the green flag for 267 laps of racing. But it was "Chase" driver Matt Kenseth who led the first laps and collected an all-important five bonus points.

Kenseth and Jeff Gordon quickly moved out to a working lead over the Busch brothers (Kyle and Kurt), who had slipped in third and fourth.

Unfortunately, rain brought the race to a halt before they had completed a dozen laps and finally officials had to bring out the red flag and wait out the storm. It took 45 minutes, but the showers subsided and they went back to racing.

Kenseth was still in control after the rain and one pit stop building the lead over Martin Truex Jr. to almost a second-and-a-half after 25 laps.

On lap 28 Kyle Busch got hit from behind by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and it spun the No.5 out. He slammed the wall with the front end and he barely limped back to the garage.

"I don't know what he was thinking," said Busch. "I just got run over...it was a pretty stupid move."

Five laps later, a second "Chase" driver suffered a major blow to his championship hopes. This time it was a right-front tire on the Truex Jr. Chevrolet that exploded and it sent the DEI driver up against the outside wall.

Also of note was Johnson's climb back to the front. By lap 39 he was 14th and cracked the top-10 on lap 42. Up front, Kurt Busch took the lead from Kenseth on lap 45.

A round of pit stops and Steve Letarte's pit crew did the job of putting Gordon in the race lead.

While Gordon and Kenseth were leading the way, Jeff Burton was struggling. He radioed that he had no fuel pressure as he coasted to a stop on lap 69. He couldn't reach pit lane and it brought out caution flag No.4.

Kenseth and Gordon were joined by Stewart and Kurt Busch at the front of the field. First Tony Stewart and then Busch took turned leading the race and collecting the five-point bonus.

Busch settled into the lead as they hit the 90-lap mark and Johnson slid into third place as he continued his charge from the back of the field.

Truex Jr. used a two-tire change to grab the race lead after the caution flag. But Kurt Busch and Kenseth were the "class" of the field and quickly asserted themselves. Stewart was third, but almost two second behind the lead pair.

At the mid-point of the race, "Chase" driver held the top-five positions and nine of the top-11 spots.

But weather was moving in and teams were concerned about whether the race would go the distance.

The leaders began a round of pit stops on lap 141. However, on lap 146 a caution flag came out to confuse everything. Stewart had yet to pit and was the leader with Biffle and Kevin Harvick just behind. Kurt Busch, the race leader before the stops began was caught one lap down in 24th place along with Johnson, Gordon, Kenseth and Denny Hamlin.

Stewart got the word on lap 147 that he had just three laps of fuel remaining and lucky for him, the rains opened up and NASCAR officials pulled the cars down pit lane and to a halt.

The rain and thunder were overwhelming but finally ended and after waiting a little over two hours the race got back underway. There was however, no way to finish the scheduled 267 laps with the amount of light left and the track not having lights. Officials announced that the race would go 225 laps only.

Everyone headed down pit lane for fuel and tires. When the green flag dropped on lap 155, Harvick was the race leader with 70 laps to go. But on the backstretch Ken Schrader got turned sideways and collected, Kenseth, Truex Jr., David Gilliland, Bobby Labonte and three others. Stewart, after locking his brakes, dove to the bottom of the track to avoid most of the melee. He emerged from the accident in seventh place, but had some left-front fender damage.

Gordon and Johnson took the opportunity to pit just before they went back to green. Would they try a fuel run like Stewart used to win in 2006?

Harvick and Biffle quickly built a lead of two seconds over Bowyer with 55 laps to go. With 52 laps to go, Biffle drove it in deep into turn four and grabbed the lead from the No.29 RCR Chevrolet. He was still in the leader when Stewart's left-front tire disintegrated and with help from Kurt Busch he slammed the outside wall. The accident also collected Edwards.

With all the additional delays, NASCAR decided that the race would now go just 210 laps.

Biffle and Harvick now had enough fuel to reach the checkered flag and they stayed out. Gordon wanted new tires and was part of a group that pitted.

The race restarted with 27 laps to go. Again they managed to make it to the backstretch before Denny Hamlin and Jamie McMurray were sent spinning through the grass.

They restarted quickly leaving 23 laps to produce a winner. Johnson was flying and up to seventh. Bowyer was also moving up, getting around Harvick for second place.

But while Bowyer and Harvick were fighting for second place, Biffle was running off into the distance. His lead was 1.407 seconds with 15 laps remaining. Johnson was now in fourth, three seconds back. Johnson flew around Casey Mears and he was now third and the fastest car on the track.

With just four laps to go, Montoya slapped the outside wall to bring out one more caution flag and set up a two-lap shootout between Biffle, local hero Bowyer and Johnson.

Then NASCAR announced that because of darkness, there would not be a green- white-checker finish. The race finished under caution and Biffle coasted across the finish line for his first win of 2007.

"I could hardly see," said Biffle.

Johnson, Mears and Gordon completed the top-five.

The next race in the series is scheduled for Sunday October 7th at the Talladega Superspeedway. .

Courtesy: ©2007 The Sports Network. All Rights Reserved