NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, foreground, celebrates in victory lane. Biffle held off Jimmie Johnson to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300 on Sunday in Loudon, N.H.

Loudon, N.H ? Greg Biffle began the Chase for the championship as a long shot, at best.

Winless for almost a year and seeded a distant ninth in the 12-driver field, few considered him a serious contender. But “The Biff” never counted himself out, believing a strong run Sunday in the opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway would put him in position to race for the Sprint Cup title.

Biffle used a self-described “textbook pass” on Jimmie Johnson with 12 laps to go to snap a 33-race winless streak and vault all the way to third in the Chase standings. He trails co-leaders Johnson and Carl Edwards, his teammate at Roush Fenway Racing, by just 30 points.

“I felt like we were a definite threat for the Chase if we made it because of the momentum we’ve had and how good the (Chase) race tracks are for me,” Biffle said. “There were some that I was a little nervous about, and one was Loudon. We’ve gotten through the one a little better than I expected, which is here, so I feel like we’re definitely the darkhorse.”

Johnson, the two-time defending series champion, seemed to have the first round of the Chase locked up after leading a race-high 96 laps. But Biffle was saving his Ford, hopeful that a late caution or two would give him the chance he needed to run Johnson down.

He got it when Patrick Carpentier spun late, setting up a restart with 13 to go. Biffle slid past Johnson on the next lap to grab the surprise win and leave Victory Lane with a noted swagger. It was his first victory since Kansas last September.