If the Chase were to begin today, the field of contenders would include three Ford cars - and nine Chevys. That’s in part due to the Hendrick domination in Car of Tomorrow contests, as well as Richard Childress Racing’s strong season that has three cars in the top 10 to this point. And Greg Biffle isn’t sure if he and his friends with Fords can close the gap.

“To be honest with you, Chevy has been ahead of us for probably the last year, or last year and a half, since 2005,” said the Roush Fenway racer. “Three and four of the Chevys were a little bit ahead of us. We managed to win championships in (2003 and 2004) as a manufacturer, but really competitive-wise they were better than us. We were probably the best in 2005 as a manufacturer, and then in ‘06 and ‘07, Chevy is back on top, where they’ve been most of the time. And it’s not really a surprise to us to see them running as well as they are. They’ve got a bunch of great teams, Gibbs, Hendrick, Childress, just off the top, are very, very strong race teams.”

Ford, meanwhile, is carried by the Roush group, which teams with Robert Yates Racing for its engines. That limits the amount of information being shared, and, resultingly, limits the speed of progress.

Concord Monitor