KANSAS CITY, Kan. - As much as Joe Nemechek would love to be part of NASCAR's new championship playoff, he's happy enough just beating the title contenders.

Nemechek won the Banquet 400 Sunday to complete a weekend sweep at Kansas Speedway, stealing the spotlight from series leader Kurt Busch and the other drivers in the Chase for the Nextel Cup championship.

"It's kind of cool to see guys outside the top 10 up there leading laps and battling," Nemechek said. "We're giving them everything we can throw at them. The guys in the championship chase have more to lose than we do. We're on the offense, not on defense."

Nemechek's win was almost as close as his half car-length victory over Greg Biffle in the Busch Series event Saturday.

Racing side-by-side and bumping Ricky Rudd once with a lap to go, Nemechek took control and beat Rudd to the finish by 0.081 seconds - about 1¼ car-lengths.

Busch, who gained the series lead when Dale Earnhardt Jr. was docked 25 points last week for cursing during a live TV interview in Victory Lane at Talladega, increased his lead from 12 to 29 points with a sixth-place finish. Earnhardt finished ninth.

Busch wasn't surprised that the top three finishers Sunday were not among the drivers in the championship battle.

"There's a competitive field over 40 cars that can win and it's no different if the guys are locked in (to the championship) or not," Busch said. "You've got to compete against them."

Nemechek did a backward victory lap on the 1½-mile oval to honor the memory of his brother, John, killed in a truck race in Homestead, Fla., in 1997. He was relieved to win after nearly getting too conservative at the end.

"There at the end I was trying to save gas, and here comes Ricky Rudd out of nowhere," Nemechek said. "I was like, 'Holy Moley.' I had to get back on it. He got beside me one time, but I wasn't going to let it happen."

Rudd drove onto the apron and nearly spun out on the late restart before breaking out of the pack to chase down Nemechek.

"I caught him somehow and I got to his door, but my car was slipping and I had to ease off so I didn't take us both out," Rudd said.

Nemechek was among 10 drivers who stayed on track when cars ahead of them pitted during a caution period late in the race, moving from 14th to fourth as leaders Biffle and Jeremy Mayfield went to the pits..

"It worked out just perfect for us," Nemechek said.

Another yellow flag on the ensuing restart left him in the same spot, but Nemechek, who started from the pole for the second straight race, raced to the front once the green flag waved for lap 218 of the 267-lap event.

He passed Rudd and Jamie McMurray and dueled with Elliott Sadler before grabbing the lead on lap 231, staying out front the rest of the way for his fourth career victory and first since May 2003 at Richmond. He is the first driver other than a title contender to win since the championship began last month at New Hampshire.

Biffle finished third Sunday, followed by Sadler, Mayfield, Busch, McMurray and Dale Jarrett. Among that group, only Sadler, Mayfield and Busch are title contenders.

Mayfield led a race-high 72 laps and Biffle was next with 64, but neither could get back in contention.

Jeff Gordon, who finished 13th, is third in the standings, 79 points back after four of 10 races in the new championship format.

Busch avoided damage when he spun midway through the race, rallying to finish in the top six. He is the only driver to finish that high in each race since the playoff began.

"We avoided a big pitfall today," Busch said. "I closed my eyes and turned the wheel and don't know how I didn't hit anything."

Earnhardt got his fourth straight top-10 finish.

"There were just guys out there that were a lot better than us," Earnhardt said. "If we get a top 10 finish at the rest of the races I'll be real proud of my team and myself. That's what it's going to take to win this championship."

Sadler is fourth in the standings, 143 points behind Busch. Mark Martin, who finished 20th, is next, 150 points back.

Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman, last year's winner at Kansas City Speedway, each hit the wall in separate accidents. Johnson finished 32nd and is eighth in the standings, while Newman slipped to ninth with a 33rd-place finish.