Jimmie Johnson steals Cup race at Kansas

Jimmie Johnson got the good end of a fuel mileage battle in Saturday evening's Sprint Cup race at Kansas, winning the rain-delayed SpongeBob SquarePants 400, which was filled with characters from the Nickelodeon show. Five drivers - Greg Biffle, Ty Dillon, Michael McDowell, Casey Mears and David Ragan - had paint schemes inspired by these characters on their cars. Finishing second and third, respectively, were the Hendrick-powered Stewart-Haas #4 Chevrolet of Kevin Harvick and Johnson's teammate, the #88 Chevrolet of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Johnson now has three wins to Harvick's two and six other drivers' one, and has passed Harvick to top the Chase grid.

Polesitter Joey Logano led the first several laps before Harvick and then Martin Truex Jr. in the #78 Furniture Row Chevrolet took over. Johnson almost crashed a few laps into the race and had to head to pit road to sort out issues on his car. There was a caution on lap 8 for BK Racing teammates Jeb Burton and J.J. Yeley getting together, and then a competition caution after 25 laps. On lap 93, Burton spun again, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. getting the free pass and most of the rest of the field taking the wave-around during pit stops. Logano was penalized after his stop and ended up in 16th behind Earnhardt and Johnson, who had fought his way back to the lead lap. A line of rain showers had been on its way to the Kansas City area from the start of the race, and during this third caution the skies opened up, prompting a red flag at lap 98. After the Air Titans dried the track, the cars got back racing following just over two hours of stoppage.

Another pair of quick cautions followed, including one delayed caution following an incident in which Denny Hamlin hit the backstretch wall with the #11 Toyota. His teammate for the race, Erik Jones in the #18 Toyota, making his first series start, had a good run during much of the race and even led a lap earlier during green flag pit stops, but crashed late in the race and finished 40th. David Ragan also spun his SpongeBob-themed #55 Toyota into the rain-soaked infield. There was a somewhat long green-flag run near the end that resulted in Truex (who led the most laps - 95 of 267) and Kyle Larson having to pit from the lead after running low on fuel. Besides Truex, Harvick and Brad Keselowski also led high numbers of laps throughout the race. After one last caution during which some of the leaders skipped pit road, Earnhardt tried to take the lead at the lap 261 restart but was passed by Johnson and Harvick. Johnson was surrounded by SpongeBob characters in victory lane and got a cool SpongeBob trophy. There was also a Johnson-Harvick-Earnhardt top three at 1.5-mile quad-ovals Atlanta and Texas earlier this year.

The Cup series will now head back home to Charlotte, North Carolina for the next two weeks. The non-points All-Star Race will be contested at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord next Saturday, preceded by the Sprint Showdown and Fan Vote the night before which will place three last drivers into the main feature. The week after that will be the Coca-Cola 600, held on Sunday late afternoon and evening following the Indianapolis 500 earlier in the day.

Race Results:

1. (19) 48-Jimmie Johnson - Chevrolet - 267 laps, led 10 laps
2. (6) 4-Kevin Harvick - Chevrolet - 267 laps, led 53 laps
3. (17) 88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Chevrolet - 267 laps
4. (11) 24-Jeff Gordon - Chevrolet - 267 laps
5. (1) 22-Joey Logano - Ford - 267 laps, led 29 laps
6. (18) 20-Matt Kenseth - Toyota - 267 laps, led 1 lap
7. (3) 2-Brad Keselowski - Ford - 267 laps, led 43 laps
8. (8) 41-Kurt Busch - Chevrolet - 267 laps, led 20 laps
9. (4) 78-Martin Truex Jr. - Chevrolet - 267 laps, led 95 laps
10. (15) 31-Ryan Newman - Chevrolet - 267 laps