Denny Hamlin takes Kansas NASCAR Sprint Cup victory by beating Martin Truex Jr

Truex seemed poised to give Michael Waltrip Racing a deserved first win of the season as he led 173 of the first 236 laps. However, he struggled with a loose car as the sun came out during the final run following the last round of stops, allowing Hamlin to get a run at him after the JGR driver had been in his mirrors but not looking able to pose a real threat.

Hamlin made the pass for the lead on the inside at Turn 3 with 31 laps remaining and was able to remain up front despite Truex charging back to put the pressure on him in the last few laps. The MWR racer eventually tried to dive down the inside of Hamlin twice in desperate attempts to reclaim the lead, but he did not have enough to prevent Hamlin from snatching victory.

"When we came out from that final green-flag pitstop and we were side-by-side, I knew that that was pretty much the race for the win," said Hamlin. "When he cleared me I though it was over and we just kind of got in a rhythm there, he continued to fight with the car and we were able to make the pass."

Truex was disappointed to come so close to his maiden victory for MWR and see it slip away in the final run, where he complained his car suddenly lost the edge it had for most of the day.

"If I had made a mistake or we'd made a bad adjustment or something, it would probably be a little bit easier to swallow to be honest," said Truex. "But to put tyres on and touch the car and all of a sudden the car drives worse than it has all day, it is pretty frustrating when you haven't won in a while."

Jimmie Johnson finished a distant third after being in contention with Truex up front. The fastest car on track a number of times, he struggled to translate his superior pace into a pass for the lead. During the final caution Johnson pitted from second place while most of the field stayed out, costing him track position and perhaps, another shot at the lead.

"Today we ran well but we weren't a dominant car and kind of finished where we should have," said Johnson. "Today doesn't bother me. Sure, I'd love to do it, but the #56 [Truex] and the #11 [Hamlin] at the end had more pace than we did."

Roush Fenway's Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle had yet another solid day with fourth and fifth respectively but neither were a threat for victory during the afternoon.

Richard Childress Racing's Kevin Harvick recovered from running out of fuel before his second stop to finish sixth ahead of Hendrick's Dale Earnhardt Jr, while Kasey Kahne also charged back from running out of fuel pressure a few laps after Harvick, finishing eighth.

There were plenty of engine issues for some of the top runners including Penske's AJ Allmendinger, who had started from pole position. Truex's team-mates Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin also succumbed to engine woes.

For the second week in a row a new event-record for the fewest number of cautions was set, the yellow flags waving only three times to beat the previous record of five. Only 13 cars finished on the lead lap as a consequence, the last of them being reigning champion Tony Stewart.

Results - 267 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                         Time/Gap
 1.  Denny Hamlin        Gibbs Toyota                 2h46m44.000s
 2.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota                   + 0.700s
 3.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet               + 3.324s
 4.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford                + 8.017s
 5.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford               + 14.317s
 6.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet             + 14.498s
 7.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet              + 18.621s
 8.  Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet              + 21.953s
 9.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford               + 24.049s
10.  Kyle Busch          Gibbs Toyota                    + 24.433s
11.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                    + 27.615s
12.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt-Ganassi Chevrolet     + 28.404s
13.  Tony Stewart        Stewart-Haas Chevrolet          + 30.714s
14.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt-Ganassi Chevrolet       + 1 lap
15.  Joey Logano         Gibbs Toyota                      + 1 lap
16.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                        + 1 lap
17.  Kurt Busch          Phoenix Chevrolet                 + 1 lap
18.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet               + 1 lap
19.  Sam Hornish Jr      Penske Dodge                      + 1 lap
20.  Ryan Newman         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet           + 2 laps
21.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet               + 3 laps
22.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet              + 3 laps
23.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                       + 3 laps
24.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet          + 4 laps
25.  Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota                        + 4 laps
26.  Casey Mears         Germain Ford                     + 4 laps
27.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford                   + 4 laps
28.  Reed Sorenson       FAS Lane Ford                    + 4 laps
29.  David Reutimann     Baldwin Chevrolet                + 5 laps
30.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford                   + 5 laps
31.  JJ Yeley            Robinson-Blakeney Toyota         + 6 laps
32.  AJ Allmendinger     Penske Dodge                    + 10 laps

Retirements:

     Mark Martin         Waltrip Toyota                   255 laps
     Landon Cassill      BK Toyota                        214 laps
     Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota             132 laps
     Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota                   125 laps
     Dave Blaney         Balwin Chevrolet                  82 laps
     David Stremme       Inception Toyota                  80 laps
     Josh Wise           Front Row Ford                    65 laps
     Michael McDowell    Parsons Ford                      58 laps
     Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                      47 laps
     Mike Bliss          Humphrey Smith Toyota             27 laps
     Scott Riggs         R3 Chevrolet                      18 laps