It's two in a row as Jimmie Johnson wins rain-delayed Food City 500

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Jimmie Johnson won his second consecutive Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race Monday at Bristol Motor Speedway by claiming the Food City 500.

The race was originally scheduled for a Sunday green flag, but rain pushed the start to Monday afternoon.

Clint Bowyer passed Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick with 16 laps to go to take runner-up honors. Harvick finished third, Matt Kenseth was fourth and Joey Logano rounded out the top five.

Johnson took the lead from Logano with 107 laps remaining in the 500-lap race and led most of the remaining distance.

Before Logano had taken the lead by getting off pit road first during a caution with 177 laps to go, Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. had combined to lead most of the race. Both, however, were assessed pit-road speeding penalties in the last 100 laps.

Larson was hit with a penalty during a caution with 80 laps to go, but he got back near the front with a two-tire stop during the final caution with 39 remaining. During that final caution, Truex was slapped with his penalty, too late to recover.

Harvick and Denny Hamlin stayed out during the final yellow flag to restart on the front row.

While Harvick was able to maintain his lead for a few laps, Hamlin quickly gave way to Johnson and Larson on a battle for second. Johnson cleared Larson and got by Harvick to take his final lead of the race with 21 laps to go.

Larson dominated early by leading the first 202 laps, and in the process took the stage one win. Logano battled Larson for the top spot in lapped traffic around lap 180 but failed, winding up losing second to Truex.

Once Truex got by Logano for second, he was more successful than his predecessor at surpassing Larson for the lead. Truex became the first race leader, other than Larson, on lap 203.

Larson was back to third by a caution on lap 210 when Kyle Busch hit the wall because of a right-front tire issue. He lost more spots by the time the yellow flag waved on the restart when Dale Earnhardt Jr. hit the wall after driving through fluid put down by his own car because of an oil-cooler issue.

Truex was still up front at the halfway point of the race that marked the end of the second stage. By that point, Larson was seventh in the running order.

Landon Cassill stayed out and Hamlin took only two tires during the caution after the conclusion of stage two, and as a result, restarted the race on the front row. Logano also got off pit road ahead of Truex, shuffling Truex back to fourth for the restart.

Truex reclaimed his lead when the race returned to green. Larson got back up to second on lap 284, but gave positions gained back up to Logano, Harvick and Johnson a few laps later.

NOTES: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regulars Erik Jones, Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney were impressive in the Saturday NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Jones was the race winner and leader of 29 laps, Larson was the dominant driver in the race by leading 180 laps and Blaney led 61 laps and finished second. ... A VHT resin was added to the bottom groove of the race track heading into the Bristol race weekend to entice drivers to race the bottom line, but rain at the track throughout the weekend affected the resin, so it was reapplied Monday morning. ... Teams were given an extra set of tires, and since qualifying was rained out Friday, cars started the race with new tires and have eight additional sets. ... Chris Buescher started the race in the back in a back-up car because of a crash in practice. He crashed again early in the race. ... Carl Edwards, who isn't racing in 2017, was the winner of last year's Food City 500. Kevin Harvick won the most recent Cup Series race at Bristol last August. ... Brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch are tied for most Bristol wins among active drivers with five apiece, but both crashed out of Monday's race. They're tied with Jeff Gordon and David Pearson for fifth on the all-time Bristol wins list.

Bristol Motor Speedway

Bristol, Tenn.

Monday, April 24, 2017

1. (11) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 500.

2. (9) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 500.

3. (10) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 500.

4. (22) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 500.

5. (5) Joey Logano, Ford, 500.

6. (1) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 500.

7. (2) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 500.

8. (3) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 500.

9. (19) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 500.

10. (16) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 500.

11. (12) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 500.

12. (8) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 500.

13. (21) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 500.

14. (13) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 500.

15. (24) Ty Dillon #, Chevrolet, 500.

16. (26) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 499.

17. (14) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 499.

18. (23) Daniel Suarez #, Toyota, 498.

19. (32) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 498.

20. (17) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 498.

21. (31) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 498.

22. (18) Aric Almirola, Ford, 497.

23. (33) David Ragan, Ford, 497.

24. (35) * Corey LaJoie #, Toyota, 497.

25. (15) Kurt Busch, Ford, 494.

26. (28) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 494.

27. (37) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 491.

28. (34) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 490.

29. (36) Gray Gaulding #, Toyota, 487.

30. (25) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 482.

31. (39) * Derrike Cope, Toyota, 465.

32. (30) Landon Cassill, Ford, 458.

33. (6) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 452.

34. (4) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 433.

35. (7) Kyle Busch, Toyota, Accident, 383.

36. (29) Danica Patrick, Ford, Accident, 320.

37. (38) * Timmy Hill(i), Chevrolet, Suspension, 234.

38. (20) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, Accident, 218.

39. (27) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, Accident, 53.