It was Jimmie Johnson’s race to lose when the final caution of the Hollywood Casino 400 flew on lap 266 sending the race into a green-white-checkered scenario. But the driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet was ready.
When the green flag flew again on lap 271, Johnson got the restart he needed from the outside of the front row and cruised to Victory Lane for the 55th time in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) career and the second time at Kansas Speedway.
Leading a race-high 197 laps, Johnson secured the 199th NSCS win for Hendrick Motorsports and the 35th NSCS Manufacturers’ Cup for Chevrolet.
The battle in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup remains heated. With a dramatic rally after fighting handling problems early in the race, Kevin Harvick finished sixth behind the wheel of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet. Harvick sits second in the standings, one point out of the lead, with four of 10 championship races in the record books.
Johnson now sits third in points, three points down to Harvick as the series heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway for race 31 of the 36-race season.
Kasey Kahne (Toyota), Brad Keselowski (Dodge), Matt Kenseth (Ford) and Carl Edwards (Ford) complete the top-five finishers. Edwards is now the points leader.
“This sport is so tough, look at all the second places we have this year, we have been close but just have not got the job done. We were glad to get the win done today. Big win for Mr. Hendrick, 199 and also Chevrolet winning the Manufacturing Championship, couldn’t do without all them and all the great people at Lowes’, they have been behind us since day one. We did our job today and hopefully we can do it six or seven more times.” said Jimmie Johnson.
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 2 4 Kasey Kahne Toyota 3 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 4 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 5 99 Carl Edwards Ford 6 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 7 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 8 16 Greg Biffle Ford 9 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 10 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 11 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 12 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 13 22 Kurt Busch Dodge 14 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 15 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 16 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 17 51 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 18 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 19 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 20 6 David Ragan Ford 21 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 22 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 23 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 24 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 25 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 26 198 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 27 38 Travis Kvapil Ford 28 32 Mike Bliss Ford 29 20 Joey Logano Toyota 30 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 31 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 32 34 David Gilliland Ford 33 46 Scott Speed Ford 34 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 35 0 David Reutimann Toyota 36 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 37 71 Andy Lally * Ford 38 7 Reed Sorenson Dodge 39 66 Michael McDowell Toyota 40 30 David Stremme Chevrolet 41 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 42 13 Casey Mears Toyota 43 55 J.J. Yeley Ford
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