FORT WORTH, Texas — While most people have all but handed the NASCAR Nextel Cup championship to former champion Tony Stewart or two-time runner-up Jimmie Johnson, there is at least one more driver who believes he can steal the title from them.

Greg Biffle, third in the Chase for the championship, is ready to make a strong run in the final three races of the 10-race playoff-style format.

Heading into the Dickies 500 Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, Biffle, who has not finished better than 17th in his two full seasons in Cup, is third, just 75 points behind Stewart and 32 in back of Johnson.

"Let them have the attention," Biffle said. "I believe we've got a great chance to win this thing. It could get real interesting."

And Biffle isn't the only one who could conceivably beat Stewart and Johnson. Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards are tied for fourth, trailing the leader by 107 points, Mark Martin is 143 behind and Matt Kenseth 155 back.

Newman won another pole Friday, his eighth of the season and 35th overall, but crashed on his second lap and will have to move to the rear for the start of the race. Later Friday, Newman also topped qualifying for the Busch Series race Saturday.

Four-time champion Jeff Gordon, who did not make this year's Chase, was second in the Nextel Cup qualifying, followed by Kenseth. Biffle qualified seventh, Martin eighth, Johnson 11th, Stewart 16th and Edwards 30th.

Biffle ended last season with a victory at Homestead, Fla., then got off to a fast start in 2005, winning five of the first 15 races. One of them was a dominating victory in April on the 1½-mile Texas track.

The Roush Racing driver cooled off after that, and is winless in his last 18 races. But Biffle does have a history of running well on intermediate-length tracks such as Texas, and he's the most recent winner at two of the three remaining tracks.

The only negative for Biffle as he faces the culmination of NASCAR's second Chase is his last showing at Phoenix, site of next week's race. An engine problem relegated Biffle to 41st place in the spring race there.

Still, Biffle, the only driver to win championships in both the Busch (2002) and Craftsman Truck series (2000), likes his chances.

"I believe that we can win these races," he said. "We've got our best race cars and I'm prepared. And we've had some success (at Texas) in all three NASCAR series."

Biffle isn't feeling any undue pressure.

"We're going to do the best we can," he said. "If we can win, we're going to win. If we can run in the top five, we'll run in the top five. We'll take what we can get and see where we are.

"I know my team is more focused than I've ever seen them. It's an exciting position to be in right now."

Crew chief Doug Richert said the team brought the same Taurus that Biffle won with here in April.

"It's had some body updates, but it is also the same car we finished seventh with at Atlanta last weekend," Richert said.

Biffle gained some ground on Stewart and Johnson in Atlanta, finishing seventh. Stewart was ninth and Johnson 16th.

"Yeah, there's really nothing decided yet," Stewart said. "I extended my lead over Jimmie (from 15 to 43 points), but Biffle gained on both of us, and those guys behind him aren't out of it, either."