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Dover NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson goes from last to win amid mayhem

Jimmie Johnson scored his third victory of the 2017 NASCAR Cup season and 11th at Dover after going from last to first for Hendrick Motorsports

A late caution for David Ragan's tyre-failure-induced crash with four laps remaining took the race into overtime, with Kyle Larson leading the field.

Johnson had the stronger restart to storm into first place, just managing to cross the overtime line under green flag conditions before a multi-car pile-up caused the race to finish under caution.

Ty Dillon had been fourth after a strong run late in the final stage, but he spun in front of the pack on dust used to clear up behind Ragan's burning car, triggering a big last-lap crash on the back straight in the extended 406-lap race.

A pre-race gear change sent Johnson to the back of the grid, with the seven-time Cup champion - now tied with Cale Yarborough for most wins in the series with 83 - making his way up to fifth by the end of the first stage.

He was brought into winning contention mid-way through the final stage, when he chose to stay out while his rivals pitted under green flag conditions before Regan Smith's tyre failure caused a caution.

Johnson capitalised by pitting, emerging in third and then moving into second place, before taking the lead in overtime.

Larson spent long stints in the lead but, just like the same event in 2016, he narrowly missed out on triumphing at Dover.

Martin Truex Jr won the first two stages but lost ground pitting under green flag conditions, while Johnson benefited from the following caution.

Truex was one of the few to pit late on for tyres, missing the overtime chaos to claim third.

Ryan Newman steadily made his way up the order in the first half of the race, finishing fourth, ahead of Chase Elliott and rookie Daniel Suarez - who spent a large chunk of the race in the top 10.

Jamie McMurray emerged from the late mayhem in seventh, with Denny Hamlin recovering from an early penalty for an uncontrolled tyre in the pits with eighth.

Kevin Harvick was ninth and Danica Patrick next up, scoring her second top 10 result of the season despite a mid-race spin.

Polesitter Kyle Busch was classified down in 16th, dropping down the order early on after his left-rear wheel fell off after a fumbled pitstop.

He rallied back to the front only to pit under green late on with a suspected loose front wheel.

It was a frequently-interrupted race, with 14 cautions in total - quite a few caused by drivers suffering tyre failures, eliminating several front-runners early on.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr was the first to hit trouble with his tyres, running third in stage one before two right-front tyre failures within the space of eight laps put him out of the race.

On the restart following Stenhouse's first incident, Kurt Busch lost the rear while battling for second and spun up the track, hitting Brad Keselowski.

The Penske driver retired on the spot, while Busch returned to the race, only to later crash heavily with a burst left-rear tyre.

RESULTS:

Pos Driver Team Car Laps
1 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 406
2 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 406
3 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 406
4 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 406
5 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 406
6 Daniel Suarez Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 406
7 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 406
8 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 406
9 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 406
10 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 406
11 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 406
12 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 406
13 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 406
14 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet 406
15 Erik Jones Furniture Row Racing Toyota 405
16 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 405
17 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 404
18 A.J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 404
19 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 404
20 Ross Chastain Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 403
21 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 402
22 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 402
23 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 402
24 Gray Gaulding BK Racing Toyota 402
25 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 402
26 Ryan Sieg BK Racing Toyota 400
27 Jeffrey Earnhardt Circle Sport / TMG Chevrolet 400
28 Timmy Hill MBM Motorsports Chevrolet 398
29 Matt DiBenedetto Go FAS Racing Ford 397
30 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 393
31 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 391
32 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 373
33 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 343
34 Regan Smith Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 329
35 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 283
36 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 257
37 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 93
38 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 66
39 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 62

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Pos Driver Points
1 Martin Truex Jr. 545
2 Kyle Larson 536
3 Kevin Harvick 429
4 Kyle Busch 416
5 Jamie McMurray 415
6 Jimmie Johnson 414
7 Brad Keselowski 410
8 Chase Elliott 398
9 Denny Hamlin 361
10 Clint Bowyer 349
11 Joey Logano 348
12 Matt Kenseth 328
13 Ryan Blaney 320
14 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 299
15 Ryan Newman 299
16 Kurt Busch 291
17 Trevor Bayne 287
18 Erik Jones 283
19 Daniel Suarez 278
20 Kasey Kahne 270
21 Austin Dillon 262
22 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 228
23 Ty Dillon 228
24 Paul Menard 201
25 Aric Almirola 188
26 Chris Buescher 186
27 Michael McDowell 173
28 A.J. Allmendinger 168
29 David Ragan 165
30 Danica Patrick 154
31 Cole Whitt 154
32 Landon Cassill 138
33 Matt DiBenedetto 132
34 Gray Gaulding 74
35 Reed Sorenson 63
36 Jeffrey Earnhardt 60
37 Michael Waltrip 29
38 Derrike Cope 22
39 Cody Ware 3
40 D.J. Kennington 1


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