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  • Chase hopes for Keselowski and Truex Go up in Smoke

    Chase hopes for Keselowski and Truex Go up in Smoke

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — Two of the heavy favorites to win the championship going into the Chase won’t continue on in the pursuit of a championship in 2016 following mechanical failure in Alabama.

    Martin Truex Jr. – who entered the race in seventh, 13 points above the cutoff – started the race on pole position and had a strong car in the first quarter of the Hellmann’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, leading two laps while staying near the front.

    Rounding turn 2, however, his Chase hopes went up in smoke when his engine blew up, his first since the 2014 Daytona 500.

    “Just developed a vibration and started to lose a little bit of power,” Truex said of what happened to take him out. “Originally I thought it could have been a tire because it was shaking worse and worse and worse until it was time to pit. I slowed down to hit pit road and felt the vibration still there and knew it was the engine. Definitely not the way we wanted today to go – it’s a tough way to go out, but proud of the effort and proud of all the guys.”

    This relegated him to a 40th place finish, his fifth in 401 Sprint Cup Series starts and first since the 2014 Daytona 500.

    He’s also the first pole sitter to finish last in a race at Talladega since Stacey Compton in April of 2001 and the first driver to finish last after having led a lap since Michael McDowell at Texas in November of 2013 (LASTCAR.info).

    He leaves Talladega ninth in points.

    Brad Keselowski takes his car to the garage following his engine expiring late in the Hellmann's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Photo: Sarah Crabill/Getty Images
    Brad Keselowski takes his car to the garage following his engine expiring late in the Hellmann’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Photo: Sarah Crabill/Getty Images

    Truex wasn’t alone in the engine failure department.

    Brad Keselowski, entering Talladega 11th in a seven-point hole, worked his way to the lead on the first lap and led 90 laps on nine different occasions.

    In the final quarter of the race, Keselowski allowed Ryan Blaney to take the lead so he could get behind him and clear off trash that was stuck on the grille of his car. The debris flew off, but a lap later, his engine blew up, eliminating him from Chase contention.

    “It looks like we lost an engine,” Keselowski said when asked what happened. “I’m pretty confident I lost a rod or something in the lower end. That’s just the way it goes.”

    He said he didn’t know if the engine got too hot from the debris on his grille.

    “I’m not an engine guy, but the car was really strong and we definitely kept finding debris,” he added. “I thought I got it cooled off and only got it slightly over, but I don’t know.”

    Keselowski finished 38th and leaves Talladega 10th in the standings.

  • Logano Moves on with Victory at Talladega

    Logano Moves on with Victory at Talladega

    TALLADEGA, Ala. — A jack getting stuck under the car of Joey Logano on his first stop didn’t stop him from rallying back to score the victory in Alabama.

    Martin Truex Jr. led the field to the green flag at 2:22 p.m. Brad Keselowski got a run on him going down the backstretch to lead the first lap. Truex worked his way up alongside Keselowski in Turn 1 to take the lead for the first time on the 13th circuit, only to give it back to Keselowski a lap later.

    The No. 2 Penske car spent most of the run blocking all three lanes, which allowed Chase Elliott to get under him in Turn 3 and take the lead on lap 26. Keselowski regained it briefly two laps later before Elliott powered by on the top in Turn 1 to regain the lead back on lap 29, only for Keselowski to take it back on lap 32.

    Green flag stops started on lap 37 with the first wave of cars hitting pit road. Race leader Keselowski was among the second wave the following lap. After the third wave pitted, the lead cycled back to Keselowski.

    Teammate Logano was penalized for removing equipment (jack) from the pit box under this pit cycle.

    Truex’s Chase hopes went up in smoke when his car went up in smoke in Turn 2 on lap 41.

    “Just developed a vibration and started to lose a little bit of power,” Truex said. “Originally I thought it could have been a tire because it was shaking worse and worse and worse until it was time to pit. I slowed down to hit pit road and felt the vibration still there and knew it was the engine. Definitely not the way we wanted to go. It’s a tough way to go out, but proud of the effort and proud of all the guys.”

    The race restarted on lap 47. Attempting to block Elliott’s advance, Keselowski found himself without drafting help and Elliott took back the lead, only for Biffle to get a run on him going into Turn 1 to take the lead on lap 49. Elliott worked his way back to the lead by dropping to the bottom lane going into Turn 1 and driving under Biffle on lap 78.

    Another wave of cars started pitting the following lap. The lead under the cycle went as follows: Elliott, Hamlin, Edwards, Annett and Keselowski.

    A three-car wreck involving Biffle, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Casey Mears on the frontstretch brought out the second caution with 74 laps to go.

    After the race went back green with 68 to go, it settled into a routine of going back and forth between single and double file. The most notable event during the run was Keselowski blowing an engine on the backstretch with 42 to go and bringing out the third caution. Teammate Logano assumed the lead

    The next run didn’t last a lap because the caution flew the same lap as the restart with 39 to go for a big piece of debris on the backstretch.

    Going back green with 35 to go, the race was slowed down with four to go by Kasey Kahne wrecking in Turn 3 and Alex Bowman going for a spin through the tri-oval grass coming to the line to get two to go.

    Restarting in overtime, Logano had to hold off Brian Scott to score the victory.

    “It’s never a layup here at Talladega. It’s always close,” Logano said. “You never get a big lead. A good Shell/Pennzoil Ford. Todd made some good adjustments during the race and found some speed in the car, so that was pretty neat to see some of that. We got that track position and just hung onto it. I was able to stay on the bottom and try to run the bottom and keep everyone in lane, and that worked out really well. Kevin did a good job with that, which ultimately got us all a great finish. It was fun racing there at the end. I was really confused. I didn’t know what lane to pick coming to the last restart, but I knew Kevin had a lot of experience in these situations and is great at speedway racing, so he did a good job of pushing me out and then had to defend the top lane with Brian Scott, so a couple of Fords out front here at Talladega is pretty cool.”

    It’s his 16th career victory in 287 Sprint Cup Series starts, second of 2016 and second at Talladega Superspeedway.

    Scott brought his No. 44 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford home to a runner-up finish, his career-best finish and first top-10 finish of 2016. Hamlin rounded out the podium in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

    Describing the level of stress, Hamlin said the race “was crazy. I mean, it was very tough in there not having any teammates, but there were a lot of guys that acted like teammates today to me and can’t thank enough for that. They know who they are. I don’t want to get them in trouble with their race teams because they’re probably a different team, different manufacturer, but thank those guys for that. 4 (Kevin Harvick) cut me a break at the tri-oval. I mean, just – we had something go our way for crying out loud. One time, we had something go our way and we just battled at the line right there with the 41 (Kurt Busch), so just – I’m just so happy.”

    Kurt Busch finished fourth and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top-five.

    “It was really fun. Every time I would make a mistake and get shuffled to the middle it seemed like the crew guys would bring back a solid pit stop to put us in position and to be in control,” Busch said. “It feels good when we have that plus alongside our name in points. I was trying to ease it for Tony Gibson (crew chief) and all these guys that work so hard. There was some rooting and gouging at the end and I got some damage. I don’t even know where we finished, but all I was shooting for was top 15.”

    Kyle Larson finished sixth, Kevin Harvick finished seventh, Aric Almirola finished eighth, Austin Dillon finished ninth and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top-10.

    Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Edwards, Hamlin and the Busch brothers advance to the Round of 8 while Austin Dillon, Elliott, Keselowski and Truex go no further in the Chase.

    The race lasted three hours, 11 minutes and 38 seconds at an average speed of 159.905 mph. There were 31 lead changes among 14 different drivers and six cautions for 25 laps.

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  • Harvick Moves on with Victory in the Heartland

    Harvick Moves on with Victory in the Heartland

    No matter the result next week at the Alabama roulette wheel, Kevin Harvick is moving on to the next round of the Chase after scoring the victory in America’s heartland.

    Matt Kenseth led the field to the green flag at 2:34 p.m. Debris slowed the race for the first time on the 26th circuit.

    The next two runs saw quick bursts of green followed by caution. The first saw Aric Almirola get loose, make contact with another car and spin out exiting Turn 4, and Jamie McMurray suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 3 following contact with Alex Bowman in Turn 2.

    After the race restarted on lap 48, it settled into a long green run that was interrupted by green flag stops lasting from lap 83 to lap 95. During it, the lead went as follows: Kenseth, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Casey Mears and back to Kenseth.

    Martin Truex Jr. had an issue during the stop that prevented him from getting his car completely full of fuel. As a result, he pitted well before the rest of the field on lap 114. To make matters worse, the caution flew for Josh Wise slamming the wall in Turn 4, trapped him a lap down and the fuel issue still wasn’t resolved.

    The race went back green on lap 121. After working on Kenseth for a few laps, Harvick got a run on his outside on the fronstretch to take the lead on lap 128.

    He held the lead for the next 41 laps until Chase Elliott, who spent 15 laps trying to pass him, got a run on him going into Turn 1 to take the lead. He gave up the lead four laps later to pit under green. Carl Edwards took over the lead before pitting and the lead cycled back to Elliott. However, he returned to pit road on lap 176 for a left-rear tire rub that gave the lead back to Edwards. Kyle Larson brought out the fifth caution the same lap after he slammed the wall in Turn 2.

    The race restarted on lap 184, only for the caution to fly for the sixth time with 77 laps to go for Keselowski getting loose exiting Turn 4, driving through the infield grass and destroying the front end of his car.

    He also brought out the next caution after he returned to the race with 45 to go and his engine let go on the apron in Turn 3. Austin Dillon exited pit road first by taking just right side tires.

    Edwards had little trouble passing Dillon on the restart with 42 to go to retake the lead. Regan Smith slowed the race down for the eighth time with 34 to go after making contact with the wall in Turn 3.

    The race restarted for the final time with 30 to go. Harvick got the better of Edwards on the restart and drove on to win the Hollywood Casino 400.

    “I think the best thing is that we prepare this thing for every race,” Harvick said of his motivation after his runs at Dover and Charlotte. “I try every week to find something to motivate myself and I know these guys do the same thing.  It’s hard to keep yourself motivated and continue to perform at a high level. Being able to do it for three years now says a lot about the character of this team and the things that they do.  It is like they say, anything that is really, really hard to get and come by, there are going to be some obstacles and some bumps in the road. I am just really proud of everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing.”

    It’s his 35th career victory in 569 Sprint Cup Series starts, his fourth of 2016, second at Kansas Speedway, 23rd top-10 finish of the season and 11th top-10 in 22 races at Kansas.

    “I just got two good restarts against the No 19 (Carl Edwards),” Harvick added. “He didn’t have a car quite as close to him, and I was able to break that draft before I got to the middle of one and two and get away from him, so that was pretty awesome.  I just needed to go for and that is really the mindset we go into every race in the Chase was to go for, and we did.

    “I’ve done a poor job the first half of the year.  We struggled with some ratios and timing.  We came up with some ratios that really fit what we were doing, and the processes and some other things and it has really paid off twice in the Chase.”

    Edwards led 61 laps on his way to a runner-up finish in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

    “Just the restarts. That bottom line got a good run and they got in front of me,” Edwards said in response to what made the difference at the end of the race. “And, then I got choked up and raced Kyle (Busch) for a long time and that set us back. But, man, we had a really good car so it’s frustrating to come home second here. But, Kevin (Harvick) and those guys did a really good job. They didn’t have that fast of a car, they just made the most of that restart and then took off. We’ll just go to Talladega now, but man I wanted to win. I really appreciate all of the support out here. We’ll come back next year, we’ll give it 100 percent effort. That was a lot of fun to run up front today.”

    It’s his 17th top-10 of 2016 and 13th in 19 races at Kansas.

    Logano led two laps on his way to rounding out the podium in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

    “That was hard fought,” Logano said of his day. “I am still breathing hard. We just weren’t very good on the short runs so I had to play defense instead of offense on restarts. After 15 laps we were equal to, not way better to the point we could make up a bunch of time. We did what we had to do. I think they told me I am eighth in points so we will be close on it racing at Talladega. We did what we had to do today. We wanted to get a solid top-five and if we could win that is what we wanted. We had a good effort, we just have to get our cars a little faster right now.”

    It’s his sixth top-10 in 15 starts at Kansas.

    Jimmie Johnson finished fourth in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five in his No. 18 JGR Toyota.

    Dillon led two laps on his way to a sixth-place finish, Alex Bowman finished seventh, AJ Allmendinger overcame a speeding penalty to finish eighth, Kenseth led a race high of 116 laps on his way to a ninth-place finish and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-10.

    Truex finished 11th, Kurt Busch finished 13th, Hamlin finished 15th, Elliott finished 31st and Keselowski was the lowest-finishing Chase driver in 38th.

    The race lasted three hours and 28 seconds at an average speed of 133.155 mph. There were 16 lead changes among 10 different drivers and eight cautions for 33 laps.

    Johnson leaves with an eight-point lead over Kenseth leaving Kansas.

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  • Kenseth grabs the pole in Kansas

    Kenseth grabs the pole in Kansas

    Matt Kenseth will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday afternoon in America’s heartland.

    The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota scored the pole for the Hollywood Casino 400 after posting a time of 28.112 and a speed of 192.089 mph. It’s his 18th pole in 609 career Sprint Cup Series starts, first of 2016 and third at Kansas Speedway.

    “It’s nice to get a pole,” Kenseth said of getting his first pole of the season. “I feel like our qualifying hasn’t been nearly as good this year as it has been in the rest of the years I’ve been at JGR. We barely got it – it was by a thousandth, or something like that. Obviously our Camrys have been fast. Our DEWALT FLEXVOLT Camry has been driving good and all the right adjustments. Round one we were pretty decent, it was off a little bit and then round three it was just right. We almost got beat, but it was as good of a lap as we were going to run. They did a good job today.”

    Kyle Busch will start second in his No. 18 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 28.113 and a speed of 192.082 mph. Carl Edwards will start third in his No. 19 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 28.270 and a speed of 191.015 mph. Martin Truex Jr. will start fourth in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota after posting a time of 28.304 and a speed of 190.786 mph. Alex Bowman will round out the top-five starters in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after posting a time of 28.374 and a speed of 190.315 mph.

    Joey Logano will start sixth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Denny Hamlin will start seventh in his No. 11 JGR Toyota. Brad Keselowski will start eighth in his No. 2 Penske Ford. Ryan Newman will start ninth in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. AJ Allmendinger will round out the top-10 starters in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet.

    Kevin Harvick will start 11th and Austin Dillon will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.

    Twenty-one Chevrolet’s, 11 Ford’s and eight Toyota’s will comprise the 40-car field for Sunday’s race.

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  • Johnson says if Talladega comes down to him and Elliott, he’s going for the win

    Johnson says if Talladega comes down to him and Elliott, he’s going for the win

    If it came down to a duel between him and Chase Elliott at Talladega, Jimmie Johnson says he’s “here to win the race.”

    Speaking to the media this afternoon at Kansas Speedway, the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet if he would be Elliott’s “wingman” next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway or if there were things he could do to help him advance into the Round of 8.

    “I think from an on-track standpoint Talladega is about the only place I could help him and could work with him,” Johnson said. “We want to win the race here and do all that we can and if we can’t of course we want the No. 24 to. They need to have a great day, but if there is a [duel] at the end of the race between us and the No. 24 I’m here to win the race.”

    Despite a strong run by the driver of the No. 24 HMS Chevrolet, he was caught up in a restart wreck with 76 laps to go in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and finds himself 10th in points needing to race his way into eighth before the checkered flag flies at Talladega.

    Despite this, Johnson isn’t going to just move over for his teammate and will race him for the win. He also added that the 24 team knows this.

    “I know for a fact Chase and Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) would expect us to do that,” he added. “So, there is not much we can do here other than the prep that we’ve had leading into this week and how awesome our teams have been working together and the ground we’ve covered in a short period of time. That element is still there, still going on. We have all been leaning on each other tremendously, so that will also be there, but come race time we still have to race. Talladega is probably the one place I can help him.”

    The six-time Sprint Cup Series champion led a race high of 155 laps on his way to ending a 24-race winless streak (the longest of his career) with a victory in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It’s the first time he’s advanced past the Round of 12 in the elimination format of the Chase.

    Combined with Elliott’s 103 laps led at Charlotte, Hendrick Motorsports has led over 500 laps in the four Chase races this season. In the 26-race regular season, the organization led a combined total of under 500.

    Johnson was also asked if the speed the four Hendrick Motorsports cars has shown in the Chase has been surprising.

    “I wouldn’t say surprising,” he said. “It’s tough because we try to show our optimism through interviews and social posts that we might make. I think if you look back over the course of the last few months our comments have all been directionally optimistic and been building speed. To not close on a couple events that we led a lot of laps at at the start of the Chase I think that finally showed everybody that we weren’t just ‘bs’ing’ them and that we really did have the speed. To us it was frustrating that we didn’t close and we didn’t execute like we needed to. Then Charlotte we did so. So, for the No. 48 team that has kind of been the progression and the way things have gone. It was real nice to have a clean, solid race in Charlotte and get the win.”

  • Multi-Car Wreck Ruins Day of Dillon and Eilliott

    Multi-Car Wreck Ruins Day of Dillon and Eilliott

    CONCORD, N.C. — What had been a great day in the Queen City for both Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott turned south in a flash in a multi-car wreck in a late-race restart.

    The driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was running second when the Bank of America 500 restarted with 76 laps to go. Martin Truex Jr. got into his rear to shove him ahead of race leader Jimmie Johnson, but got him loose and sent him spinning through the grass.

    He slammed hard into the inside retaining wall just past the exit of pit road.

    “I am fine, it just sucks,” Dillon said after being released from the care center. “We will have to work hard the next two weeks to get the points back.

    “I felt like I got to third gear pretty clean and then the next thing – I feel contact and I am spinning through the grass. It’s part of it and we took two tires there and you know the risk when you get into it. You just hope that doesn’t happen obviously. I got to third without spinning the tires, and I felt like we got contacted.”

    Elliott swerved down initially to avoid the wreck but turned back up to avoid Dillon who was coming down the track. This caused him to be hooked by Kyle Busch and turned into the outside wall. He hit driver-side first and was rammed by Ryan Blaney and Paul Menard.

    “I think the No. 3 they stayed out on tires and tried to get some track position,” Elliott said. “The No. 78 ended up getting him out of shape and then after that I tried to check up. I don’t think the No. 18 saw it, got into us and got us turned the wrong way. It happens we just got to go and try to have more runs like that next week.”

    Dillon and Elliott both leave Charlotte tied for ninth in points 36 points behind Johnson and three points behind Denny Hamlin for the eighth-place Round of 8 cut off.

  • Johnson Ends Winless Drought with Victory at Charlotte

    Johnson Ends Winless Drought with Victory at Charlotte

    CONCORD, N.C. — The longest winless drought of Jimmie Johnson’s career came to an end today with a dominant victory in the Queen City. The victory secures Johnson’s spot in the Round of 8 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

    The Bank of America 500 was scheduled to run on Saturday night of October 8, 2016. Torrential rain from Hurricane Matthew, however, postponed the race to Sunday.

    Under clear blue skies, Kevin Harvick led the field to green at 12:05 p.m. He led the first 12 laps before ceding the lead to Chase Elliott on the 13th circuit. The first caution flew on lap 25. It was a scheduled competition caution. Five cars – 20, 27, 32 and 43 for crew over the wall too soon, and 46 for speeding – were sent to the tail end on the restart.

    The race went back to green on lap 31. A two-car wreck brought out the next caution on lap 62. Alex Bowman was running second when he suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed into Casey Mears in Turn 3.

    Twenty laps after the lap 71 restart, Kyle Busch made an unscheduled stop from third for a right-front tire issue. Kyle Larson also made an unscheduled stop a few laps later for the exact same issue. A cycle of green flag stops started on lap 111, the lead changed from Elliott to Joey Logano and Logano brought out the third caution on lap 117 after suffering a right-front tire blowout and slamming the wall in Turn 2. This handed the lead to Johnson.

    Denny Hamlin beat Johnson on the ensuing restart on lap 125 and assumed the lead. Harvick was in third when his car started sputtering and losing power on lap 156. On the same lap, Logano suffered another right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 2 again the same lap to bring out the fourth caution.

    After the restart on lap 162, Johnson worked on Hamlin and took the lead back on lap 177. He held the lead until the next round of green flag pit stops started on lap 213. The lead went as follows: Johnson, Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer and back to Johnson.

    Debris on the frontstretch brought out the fifth caution on lap 228.

    The race went back green with 98 laps to go. The sixth caution flew with 81 to go for AJ Allmendinger suffering a right-front tire blowout and slamming the wall in Turn 2.

    On the ensuing restart with 76 to go, a multi-car wreck brought out the seventh caution and the red flag. Chase drivers Austin Dillon and Elliott were among those collected.

    The penultimate green flag stretch went for 43 laps before the eighth caution flew for Hamlin’s engine letting go on the frontstretch. Matt Kenseth exited pit road ahead of Johnson.

    On the final restart with 18 to go, however, Johnson edged out Kenseth to take the lead and drove on to score the victory.

    “We knew we would be back; it was just slower than we thought it would be,” Johnson said in the media center after the race. “We feel like the day conditions helped us and the Sun definitely helped. This has opened up some opportunities for us now. It’s just fantastic, we can race hard now. We take (the Chase) day at a time and one race at a time. I still feel like we can bring better race cars to the track. We can’t sit back and celebrate too much. Tomorrow, we’ll be back at work.”

    It’s his 78th career victory in 537 Sprint Cup Series starts, his third of the season, eighth in 19th starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway and 19th top-10 finish in 31 races in 2016.

    It also ends a 24-race winless drought, the longest of his NASCAR career.

    When asked if he was starting to think if he would ever win again, he said he “didn’t wonder, I just knew it was taking way too long. When you drive for Rick Hendrick and have all the great people at Hendrick Motorsports working for you, the great support from Lowe’s and everyone in their stores and Chevrolet…..there are just so many great people behind us and that support us to make this happen. We knew we would get back. Yes, it was slower than we wanted it to be but to be here today and have this victory is great.

    “This is something very special to our team.”

    Kenseth led five laps and overcame being sent to the rear on the initial start for unapproved adjustments and an early penalty for his crew being over the wall too soon to finish runner-up in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

    On his team fighting back to a second-place finish, he said that his crew “did a great job. Honestly, last two years in a row pretty much Charlotte has kind of taken us out of the Chase – mostly my doing, different things happening the last couple years here – so had a lot of problems last year, this year we had a lot of problems again, but we were able to kind of rebound from them and just kind of take our time. We knew it was a long day and they had good pit stops, good strategy and got us back where we needed to be there at the end.”

    Kasey Kahne rounded out the podium in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

    Ryan Newman led one lap on his way to a fourth-place finish in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Larson overcame his tire issue to round out the top-five in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

    Busch, who led one lap, also overcame his tire issue to finish sixth in his No. 18 JGR Toyota. Brad Keselowski finished seventh in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford. Kurt Busch finished eighth in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Tony Stewart finished ninth in his No. 14 SHR Chevrolet. Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-10 in his No. 1 CGR Chevrolet.

    Carl Edwards finished 12th, Martin Truex Jr. finished 13th, Hamlin finished 30th, Dillon finished 32nd, Elliott finished 33rd, Logano finished 36th and Harvick was the lowest-finishing Chase driver in 38th.

    The race lasted three hours, 42 minutes and 47 seconds at an average speed of 134.929 mph. There were 17 lead changes among nine different drivers and eight cautions for 51 laps.

    Johnson leaves with a five-point lead over Kenseth in the points standings.

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