Five things we learned from the Chase opener in New Hampshire

The upcoming schedule sets up well for Sunday's winner, Greg Biffle. Jason Smith/Getty Images

Five things we learned on Sunday in the first race of the Chase in Loudon, N.H.:

1. Say goodbye to your points lead, Kyle Busch. It's no secret that Kyle Busch has been the dominant driver of 2008. He's won a series-high eight races and had such a enormous lead in the standings before the start of the Chase (207 points) that he very likely would have easily cruised to the title under the old points system.

But Sunday was the start of NASCAR's postseason -- its money season -- and Busch floundered. Just 19 laps into the event, he suffered a damaged sway bar. Then, on lap 83, his Camry still wasn't completely fixed and he spun out. Then, before he came to a stop, he was hit by Jamie McMurray, which forced Busch into the garage. Busch was able to limp back out onto the track, but he finished 12 laps down and wound up 34th. Now, after leading the points for most of the season, Busch is suddenly in eighth place in the standings.

This has happened before to Busch. Back in 2006, just days after I wrote a long piece in the magazine describing how I believed Busch was going to win the title, Busch crashed just minutes into the race in New Hampshire, which ended up setting the tone for his entire Chase. Busch finished that season dead last among the Chasers, in tenth place, and his team was so bad that his crew chief that season, Alan Gustafson, ended up apologizing to me, telling me how sorry he was that he'd let the magazine down.

But now Busch is in a hole. With nine races left, there's plenty of time for him to make up ground, but he no longer has the luxury of suffering another 30th or worse finish. If that happens, his title aspirations will be dead, and all that will remain will be the hollow memory of a spectacular regular season.

2. Greg Biffle was the race's biggest surprise. Back in 2005, Biffle honestly felt that he should have won the championship. And, if not for an untimely cut tire at Texas Motor Speedway in the third-to-last race of the season, he probably would have. But instead he finished second in the standings behind Tony Stewart that year, and since then he hasn't qualified for the Chase until this season.

But on Sunday, Biffle made quite a statement. Though he's struggled recently on one-mile flat tracks like New Hampshire -- he finished 21st at Loudon earlier this summer -- Biffle was as fast as anyone in the field on short runs on Sunday, and he was able to pass Jimmie Johnson with 12 laps to go to take his first checkered flag in 33 races.

Where was Biffle's last win? At Kansas last September, which is where the Cup boys will be running in two weeks. So the schedule sets up wonderfully for Biffle. Not only is he the reigning race winner at Kansas, but earlier this year Biffle also finished third at Dover, which is where the circuit will stop next Sunday. Add it all up and the Biff could very well be atop the point standings in two weeks.

3. Jimmie Johnson had another impressive day. For the first time this season, Johnson is where he's ended up the last two seasons: in first place in the standings. On Sunday Johnson finished second and is now tied with Carl Edwards atop the points. This is nothing new for the No. 48 team. They are simply the best in the sport when it comes to racing in the Chase. Want evidence? How about this stat: In 41 career Chase races, Johnson has finished first or second an amazing 18 times.

There's been a lot of speculation in the garage that Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knaus had been holding back over the first two-thirds of the season, and that they were ready to unleash thunder -- and a whole lot of speed -- once the Chase started. Well, that's exactly what's happened. Given their track record, barring something unforeseen, it's hard to imagine that this team won't be within reach of the championship at Homestead.

4. Carl Edwards is hanging around. Before the race Edwards fretted about his team's recent poor performance on one-mile tracks. Well, his fears were allayed on Sunday. Edwards finished third and jumped from second to tied for first in the standings.

This is exactly the kind of race that Edwards needed, which is why he was celebrating on pit road afterward as if he'd just won. Edwards knows that, based on his past performance, he should have the car to beat on the 1.5-mile tracks in the Chase, and the circuit will visit four of these over the next nine races. So even though Edwards was quiet for most of Sunday, you've got to say that he's replaced Busch as the current favorite to win the championship.

5. Joey Logano's much anticipated Cup debut was a dud. You've got to go back several years, probably to 2004 when Kyle Busch ran his first Cup race, to find a debut in the Cup series that was as hyped as Logano's. He's widely viewed as the Next Big Thing in NASCAR, as people in the garage have been talking about the 18-year-old for more than four years. But on Sunday, in his first start in NASCAR's premier series, Logano finished a ho-hum 32nd. He had a poor-handling car for most of the afternoon and, showing his greenness, he suffered a pit-road penalty early in the race after dragging the jack with him as he prematurely left his pit.

Still, this a good learning experience for Logano. He'll make six more Cup starts over the next nine weeks to prepare for next season, when he jumps into Tony Stewart's old No. 20 Home Depot Camry at Daytona in February. And for the record, you heard it here first: Logano will win the '09 Daytona 500.