It had all the makings of a missing scene from the Wizard of Oz, but Greg Biffle survived a day of attrition to win at Kansas Speedway in a wild race that challenged NASCAR's ability to make numerous critical rulings and decisions throughout the day.

All Kansas puns aside, if you had planned to see today's race from beginning to end, l hope you didn't have anything else on your schedule. With two red flag delays for rain that spanned a total of three hours, this race stretched from early afternoon to sunset. Credit NASCAR, however, for trying to squeeze in as much racing as they could between the day's thunderstorms.

It was a bittersweet race for drivers and fans who enjoy the kind of racing that the "old" car offers, since it won't be long until the car is permanently retired, and every race is a Car of Tomorrow race.

Sunday's event started off on time under a severe thunderstorm warning, with gusty winds blowing and rain showers approaching on the weather radar. Friday's pole sitter Jimmie Johnson moved to the back of the field, the result of losing the handle on the 48 just six laps into Happy Hour, in that treacherous turn 3 that we talked about in our Kansas race preview,

With pole sitter Johnson moving to the back, it was third-place qualifier Scott Riggs who led the field to the green, but it took less than a lap for outside pole sitter Matt Kenseth to get past the 10 for the lead. Drivers were barely settling into the race's first run when rain brought out the red flag on lap 16.

After the shorter of the day's two rain delays, the green flag flew again on lap 19 with Kenseth still being shown in the lead.

The most controversial incident of the first half of the race occurred on lap 28 when Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had a strong run coming off the high groove, got into the back of Kyle Busch and sent him hard into the wall. The incident had several layers of back story: Kyle Busch is a Chase contender, but Earnhardt Jr. is competing to be the highest non-Chase finisher overall. And Junior is going to Hendrick Motor Sports in 2008, Busch's current team, which he is leaving at the end of the season.

Kurt Busch took the lead from Matt Kenseth on lap 47 and led much of the middle part of the race until the red flag flew again for a more severe thunderstorm about a hundred laps later. While most cars were forced to pit for fuel just before the rain started, a few teams gambled by staying out, most notably Tony Stewart, who was then scored as the race leader. With more than half the race completed, Stewart would have been declared the winner if the weather hadn't cleared.

The rain stopped almost as fast as it started and after track drying, the race restarted, with NASCAR hoping to make it to lap 225 of a planned 267-lap event before nightfall. The cars that stayed out before the rain delay pitted for fuel under caution and the green flag flew at lap 156 with Tony Stewart still in the lead.

Just a lap later, several cars were collected in the a multi-car wreck including Chase contenders Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr. Tony Stewart's 20 car had less damage than most, but he did suffer a crumpled left front fender that was rubbing on his tire. Stewart's team made the controversial decision to try and stay out, but the rub soon caught up with him, and as his tire went down, he was hit hard from behind by Kurt Busch. Carl Edwards was the innocent bystander caught up in the wreck.

Meanwhile, eventual race winner Greg Biffle was one of the drivers who had thus far survived the attrition. He had passed for the lead on lap 176, just as the caution flew for Stewart's wreck, and he led the field to the green again on lap 184. Biffle was out ahead of Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson when the caution came out again on lap 207. Due to impending darkness, NASCAR called the race on lap 210 and Biffle was credited with the win - despite the contention by some that he did not maintain pace speed coming to the checkers.

Four Chase drivers finished the day in the top 10 in unofficial post-race results, including Clint Bowyer (2nd), Jimmie Johnson (3rd), Jeff Gordon (5th), and Kevin Harvick (6th), with Kurt Busch just outside the top 10 in 11th. On the flip side, the remaining Chase drivers all finished 29th or worse: Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., Tony Stewart, and Kyle Busch. As a result, only one driver of the 12 title contenders maintained his spot in the standings - Denny Hamlin, still in 12th place. Every other spot in the top 12 was shuffled, with Kevin Harvick the biggest climber, up four spots to 5th. Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer and Kurt Busch each moved up two spots, while Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton each fell two spots.

Hendrick Drivers are now 1-2 in the Chase standings with Jimmie Johnson leading Jeff Gordon by just six points. Clint Bowyer is in third, nine points behind Johnson.

The biggest impact of today's maelstrom is that the gap separating 3rd place from 4th and the rest of the contenders has widened dramatically. The margin between Clint Bowyer in 3rd and Tony Stewart in 4th is 108 points, and the distance from 1st to 12th a whopping 248 points, splitting the top 12 into two distinct classes - those drivers within the 161-point margin that can be gained in a single race, and those outside that gap. The four drivers now more than 161 points behind the leader (meaning they need more than one race to catch up to 1st place) are Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth, and Denny Hamlin.

Among non-Chase contenders, Greg Biffle obviously had the best finish with his race win, but Casey Mears, Reed Sorenson, Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. also finished in the top 10. There was one Ford, six Chevys, and three Dodges in the top 10, with David Ragan the highest finishing rookie at 16th.

Next week the circuit visits Talladega, for the first restrictor appearance of the Car of Tomorrow. If you thought today was crazy, stay tuned …