BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Jimmie Johnson's 30th-place finish Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway ended his reign atop the NASCAR Nextel Cup points standings. His bad day came in crew chief Chad Knaus' first race back from a four-race suspension. Johnson's woes allowed Matt Kenseth to take the lead.

Johnson suffered a cut tire on the first lap and his day never got better.

"We were going to recover from that OK and I thought I was clear off of turn 2, but Matt evidently still had his nose tied in there and came across and hit the wall and just didn't have a good day,'' Johnson said.

He was five laps down shortly after hitting the wall and never got closer, finishing 13 laps behind race winner Kurt Busch.

Johnson fell to third in the season standings, 19 points behind Kenseth.

Taking the points lead did little for Kenseth, who was bothered that he was bumped out of the race lead with five laps left and finished third.

"Although after five weeks being in the point lead is no guarantee at all of making the Chase, it certainly puts you in a better position than ... last year,'' said Kenseth, who was 28th in points at this time last year.

Strong recovery

Winner Kurt Busch wasn't the only driver to come back from two laps down to finish in the top 10. Greg Biffle suffered a flat tire on lap 58 and had to pit, losing two laps.

He finished seventh. That was pivotal because Biffle entered the race 21st in points. Only two drivers as far back at this point last season recovered to make the title chase.

Biffle's performance helped him climb six spots to 15th.

"I had a good enough car to win today, but not after everything that happened,'' Biffle said.

His charge through the points wasn't the largest of the day. Busch gained 11 spots to 16th in the points. Runner-up Kevin Harvick gained 10 spots to 13th.

Fast car

Bobby Labonte scored Petty Enterprises' first top-five finish since 2001 when John Andretti finished second at this race. Labonte finished fifth.

"After last week, we were confident we could run good,'' said Labonte, who led 13 laps at Atlanta before his engine blew and he finished last. "We just had to put everything together. I think the guys in the pits stepped it up a little bit after we got going good. We're not out of cars, but we didn't have many cars to start with. The guys are building better cars. They're working hard and it was a good team effort.''

Testing

NASCAR is scheduled to test its car of the future today. The car is scheduled to make its debut here next spring.

Scheduled to test are Roush Racing with Carl Edwards, Ganassi Racing with Reed Sorenson, Richard Childress Racing with Jeff Burton and Penske Racing South with development driver Billy Wease. Brett Bodine will drive NASCAR's car.

NASCAR is scheduled to test the car at Martinsville on April 3. Rusty Wallace is scheduled to drive NASCAR's car at that test.

Also, NASCAR has scheduled a test for the car at Lowe's Motor Speedway the day after Memorial Day.

Pit stops

Robby Gordon was held a lap by NASCAR for complaining on his radio about a NASCAR penalty. ... Jimmie Johnson has replaced Ken Schrader for Goodyear's tire test Tuesday and Wednesday at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Schrader and the Wood Brothers pulled out of the test because of a schedule conflict. Johnson will join Kevin Harvick, Scott Riggs and Bobby Labonte at the test. ... Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer attended Sunday's race.