Jimmie Johnson nascar
Jimmie Johnson nascar_ Jimmie Johnson said on Friday he expected to have a "really, really" strong showing in Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. It turns out Johnson should have added a "really" or two to his expectation.
Johnson led 197 of 271 laps - the race was decided after a green/white/checkered restart - to win at Kansas, the fourth event of the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship. Many of those laps he led by 4 seconds or more and some were by 10 seconds or more.
The victory moved Johnson, who is chasing his sixth straight Cup championship, from fifth to third in the series standings. He will head to next weekend's race at Charlotte Motor Speedway four points behind leader Carl Edwards and three behind second-place Kevin Harvick.
Brad Keselowski finished third at Kansas on Sunday and Matt Kenseth fourth.
Finishing fifth was Edwards, who had to battle back from falling off the lead lap.
Rounding out the top 10 were Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Marcos Ambrose and Mark Martin.
Biffle, a non-Chase driver, started the race from the pole and was able to build leads of almost 2 seconds. But on lap 20, Bobby Labonte and Juan Pablo Montoya smacked doors and out came the first caution of the day.
Johnson, who started the race 19th but who moved up through the field during the first green-flag segment, restarted second to Travis Kvapil, who did not pit. On the restart on lap 24, Johnson moved to the lead.
But Johnson, who opted for just two tires on the pit stop, was tracked down and passed by Matt Kenseth on lap 41.
On about lap 64, green-flag pit stops began. When the field cycled through on lap 70, Biffle had the lead back but only for a lap as Johnson - this time on four fresh tires - blew past. And then blew to a big lead of 4 seconds by lap 80.
On lap 84, the caution came out for debris, and the leaders pitted. Kyle Busch took two tires and the lead.
On lap 94, Johnson took the lead back. Again, Johnson quickly moved out to a 4-plus-second lead.
Green-flag pitting began on lap 126, with Johnson holding a 4.5-second lead over second-place Tony Stewart. When the pitting cycled through, Johnson still had the lead but his margin over Stewart had been trimmed by 2 full seconds.
On lap 167, another round of green-flag stops began, with Johnson out front of Stewart by over 4 seconds. When the pitting cycled through, Johnson has added another second or so over Stewart.
Johnson steadily built on that lead, eventually stretching it to 12.2 seconds just before a debris caution was called with just over 60 laps to go.
The race went yellow again 47 laps from the end when Landon Cassill took a ride through the front stretch grass.
Johnson led many of the leaders into the pits. Staying out and evidently hoping to go the distance without pitting again were Chase drivers Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick.
When the race restarted with 43 laps to go, the running order was Kurt Busch, Harvick, Johnson, Kenseth and Gordon.
Three laps later, Johnson blew past Busch for the lead. He was again building on the lead when another debris caution was called with 27 laps to go.
While most of the lead-lap cars pitted, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin stayed out. Johnson, who took two tires, restarted third.
A lap later, and with 22 laps to go, Johnson took the lead.
With three laps to go, the caution again waved - this time when Gordon's engine exploded and with his teammate Johnson leading the race by 2.2 seconds.
But Johnson had a great restart and held off Kahne for the win.
source:yahoo
