Jimmie Johnson stays out, steals the victory at Kansas
Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick dominated, by strategy ultimately decided who would come out victorious at Kansas Speedway.
Photo by: NASCAR Media
Jimmie Johnson has won for the third time in 2015, collecting his 73rd career NASCAR Sprint Cup win at Kansas Speedway after leading just ten laps ... The final ten.
“I could tell he (Chad Knaus) was having a hard time making the decision," said Johnson of the call to stay out. "I’m kind of running through the events in my mind. We have two wins, we are locked in the Chase, and we are here to win a race, let’s gamble. Let’s go for it. Sure enough it paid off."
He was able to fend off Kevin Harvick, who came from sixth on the final restart with just six to go and challenged for the win. Dale Earnhardt Jr. backed up his Talladega triumph with a third place result this weekend, ahead of teammate Jeff Gordon and Joey Logano (who likely passed more cars than anyone after fighting back through the field due to two separate penalties).
"Just racing hard there at the end," Harvick said. "We had a lot of speed. The guys did a great job of adjusting on the car. Just didn't have enough laps."
36 laps shy of halfway, the skies opened up and caused a two hour and 16 minute rain delay. At the time, Martin Truex Jr. was leading and was one of the dominant cars the rest of the race, falling to ninth on the final restart when he found himself stuck behind a slower car.
"It was a lot of fun all night long to run like that," Truex said. "We had a shot to win it if that last caution didn't come out." He added that he doesn't fault his crew chief for the end result, saying 'it's the first mistake he's made all year.'
The race saw a total of nine cautions and ten different leaders.
POS. | CAR# | DRIVER | STARTING POS. | LC | LL | STATUS | POINTS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | 19 | 267 | 10 | Running | 47 |
2 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | 6 | 267 | 53 | Running | 43 |
3 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | 17 | 267 | 0 | Running | 41 |
4 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | 11 | 267 | 0 | Running | 40 |
5 | 22 | Joey Logano | 1 | 267 | 29 | Running | 40 |
6 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | 18 | 267 | 1 | Running | 39 |
7 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | 3 | 267 | 43 | Running | 38 |
8 | 41 | Kurt Busch | 8 | 267 | 20 | Running | 37 |
9 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr | 4 | 267 | 95 | Running | 37 |
10 | 31 | Ryan Newman | 15 | 267 | 0 | Running | 34 |
11 | 43 | Aric Almirola | 14 | 267 | 0 | Running | 33 |
12 | 16 | Greg Biffle | 7 | 267 | 0 | Running | 32 |
13 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | 9 | 267 | 0 | Running | 31 |
14 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | 29 | 267 | 0 | Running | 30 |
15 | 42 | Kyle Larson | 10 | 267 | 3 | Running | 30 |
16 | 9 | Sam Hornish Jr | 26 | 267 | 0 | Running | 28 |
17 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | 2 | 267 | 0 | Running | 27 |
18 | 27 | Paul Menard | 22 | 267 | 0 | Running | 26 |
19 | 13 | Casey Mears | 24 | 266 | 0 | Running | 25 |
20 | 19 | Carl Edwards | 5 | 266 | 12 | Running | 25 |
21 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | 21 | 266 | 0 | Running | 23 |
22 | 3 | Austin Dillon | 28 | 266 | 0 | Running | 22 |
23 | 46 | Michael Annett | 43 | 266 | 0 | Running | 21 |
24 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | 20 | 266 | 0 | Running | 20 |
25 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto | 35 | 266 | 0 | Running | 19 |
26 | 33 | Ty Dillon | 32 | 266 | 0 | Running | 0 |
27 | 10 | Danica Patrick | 27 | 265 | 0 | Running | 17 |
28 | 98 | Josh Wise | 40 | 265 | 0 | Running | 16 |
29 | 40 | Landon Cassill | 41 | 265 | 0 | Running | 0 |
30 | 51 | Justin Allgaier | 25 | 265 | 0 | Running | 14 |
31 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | 30 | 265 | 0 | Running | 13 |
32 | 38 | David Gilliland | 38 | 263 | 0 | Running | 12 |
33 | 55 | David Ragan | 23 | 263 | 0 | Running | 11 |
34 | 34 | Brett Moffitt | 39 | 263 | 0 | Running | 10 |
35 | 35 | Cole Whitt | 34 | 263 | 0 | Running | 9 |
36 | 95 | Michael McDowell | 31 | 262 | 0 | Running | 8 |
37 | 23 | J.J. Yeley | 37 | 262 | 0 | Running | 0 |
38 | 32 | Joey Gase | 42 | 262 | 0 | Running | 0 |
39 | 14 | Tony Stewart | 16 | 258 | 0 | Running | 5 |
40 | 18 | Erik Jones | 12 | 242 | 1 | Running | 0 |
41 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | 13 | 205 | 0 | Accident | 3 |
42 | 26 | Jeb Burton | 33 | 153 | 0 | Rear Gear | 2 |
43 | 7 | Alex Bowman | 36 | 125 | 0 | Vibration | 1 |
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