Advertisement

Johnson outruns Harvick for Kansas win

Jimmie Johnson scored his Sprint Cup Series-leading third win of the season after holding off Kevin Harvick in the closing laps of Saturday night's SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway.

This 400-mile race was stopped for 2 hours and 16 minutes due to a heavy shower that moved over this 1.5-mile racetrack after 98 of 267 laps had been completed.

Advertisement

Johnson, the six-time Sprint Cup champion, elected not to pit during the last round of pit stops under caution and took over the lead with 10 laps to go. His Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon, also did not pit. Johnson started 19th and was not much of a factor for most of the race.

After the final restart with six laps left, Johnson pulled away from Earnhardt and Harvick, who had pitted. Johnson beat Harvick to the finish line by 0.487 seconds, while Earnhardt crossed the line in third. Gordon and Joey Logano, the pole sitter, rounded out the top-five.

Advertisement

Johnson, who led only the last 10 laps, won at Kansas for the third time, which placed him in a tie with Gordon for most victories at this track. Gordon won last year's night race here.

Of Johnson's 73 career victories in NASCAR's top series, 23 of them have occurred on 1.5-mile tracks. He won the March 1 race at Atlanta and the April 11 event at Texas, which are both a mile and a half in length.

[SportsNetwork.com]

Latest Headlines