Johnson takes Kansas win, points lead

Johnson had started the race from pole position, lost the lead early on to Matt Kenseth but following adjustments to his car during pitstops he was able to get back up front in the second half of the race, looking unbeatable at one point.

However Edwards emerged as a tough opponent, catching him and taking the lead away from him on lap 191. The Roush Fenway driver seemed to be able to pull away but a caution flag with 40 laps remaining gave Johnson and his team another break.

Once again the No. 48 pit crew performed a perfect four-tyre stop, filled the car up with fuel and and even made a couple of adjustments, putting Johnson ahead of Edwards for the final sprint of the race.

The pair pulled away from the rest of the field in their own battle, which only took shape when the leaders hit traffic. Edwards was then able to get very close to Johnson, but not quite enough to attempt a pass.

But even when it looked like game over for him, Edwards put his car on the limit on the last two laps as he saw his rival approaching more traffic. He brushed the wall in an attempt to drive around the outside of the Hendrick driver at turn two on the last lap and then made an impossible dive on the inside of Johnson at the penultimate corner of the race.

The No. 99 car bounced against the turn-three wall in front of Johnson, while Edwards tried to get it back into the racing line to complete his optimistic move, but in the end he had to see his rival go by and take not only an unlikely victory away from him, but also the points' lead.

"I'm not sure where the 99 came from," Johnson said about the last lap. "I thought I got through traffic a little better than he did and thought I had it under control and [my car] was certainly a little bit tight and I was nervous about that, but he found some speed somewhere and he closed up on me.

"I knew he was a dirt track racer and the slide job was coming so I just got ready for it. He went in there probably thirty car lengths too far and pounded the wall. Watching him I was more impressed that he didn't wreck and he stayed on the gas and didn't hit the wall and I'm like 'oh yeah this is for the checkers' I've got to keep my focus where I need to."

Edwards did his utmost in the end and was not disappointed with the end result. He said he was anticipating hitting the wall, but didn't expect the impact would scrub off as much speed from him as it eventually did.

"We didn't come here to run second," Edwards said. "I was just doing everything I could. That works in the video games sometimes, you just bounce off the wall and keep going. But it just didn't work. Jimmy did a great job. I really wanted to win this thing but we'll be back to try it again."

The reigning Nationwide series champion made a great recovery from a bumpy start to his afternoon at Kansas. He tangled in the pits with Brian Vickers to begin with and then had further contact while leaving his pit stall following a later stop under caution.

His teammate Greg Biffle didn't have such an eventful race but he managed in the end what Edwards didn't. 'The Biff' had a tight battle for third with Jeff Gordon in the closing laps and got the position from under the Hendrick driver's nose on the last lap of the event.

"We had a battle with Jeff for the top groove there," Biffle said. "I just got a little run on him there at the end on the bottom and got inside of him. It was a hard fought battle for third. We came long ways since we unloaded of the truck a 37th place-car and ended up third. We're pretty happy."

Gordon had one of his most solid races for weeks, running in the top-five all afternoon despite feeling ill during the weekend. His fourth place finish backed up his good showing during this week's test at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and allowed him to move up to sixth in the Chase standings.

"I guess I need to be sick more often," Gordon said. "That was a good run and a good car. I know if I had been healthy, I would have gotten more out of it. That was a tough day. It was a good car.

"Hey, I gave that position up to Biffle there in the end. I came up on the No. 96 (Joey Logano) and he went high the lap before that so I thought I should go to the middle and then he went to the middle and Biffle got a good run inside of me."

Matt Kenseth rounded up the top five recovering from an early extra stop for a missing lug nut and a spin following contact with Casey Mears. Despite that he only moves up only one place in the points up to ninth.

RCR teammates Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton rounded up a top-seven made up exclusively of Chase contenders, followed by David Ragan and an impressive AJ Allmendinger, who gave his bosses some food for thought by claiming his best Cup result to date on what could have been his last outing for Red Bull Racing Team.

Denny Hamlin saved the day in some way for Joe Gibbs Racing, the team having yet another tough weekend. Kyle Busch was hit by engine problems early in the race, while Tony Stewart damaged the splitter on his car after an off-road excursion on the front stretch, following contact with Brian Vickers.

'Smoke' ran into a Red Bull crew member during a stop and seemed like trying to retaliate with the team's driver on the track, but ended up paying a high price for his antics by finishing in 40th place.

Local hero Clint Bowyer was another Chase driver hitting trouble with a penalty for overtaking before the start-finish line at the green flag. He dropped a lap down but managed to recover and finish 12th ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr, who struggled with a loose car all day long.

Patrick Carpentier was the highest finishing rookie in 29th place.

Pos  Driver              Car        Laps
 1.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet   267
 2.  Carl Edwards        Ford        267
 3.  Greg Biffle         Ford        267
 4.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet   267
 5.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        267
 6.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   267
 7.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet   267
 8.  David Ragan         Ford        267
 9.  A.J. Allmendinger   Toyota      267
10.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge       267
11.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota      267
12.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet   267
13.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet   267
14.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet   267
15.  Brian Vickers       Toyota      267
16.  Ryan Newman         Dodge       267
17.  Jamie McMurray      Ford        267
18.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet   266
19.  David Reutimann     Toyota      266
20.  Juan Montoya        Dodge       266
21.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge       266
22.  David Gilliland     Ford        266
23.  Tony Raines         Chevrolet   266
24.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge       266
25.  Bill Elliott        Ford        266
26.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge       266
27.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet   266
28.  Kyle Busch          Toyota      266
29.  Patrick Carpentier  Dodge       266
30.  Kurt Busch          Dodge       265
31.  Dave Blaney         Toyota      265
32.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet   265
33.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge       265
34.  Travis Kvapil       Ford        264
35.  Michael Waltrip     Toyota      264
36.  Marcos Ambrose      Ford        264
37.  Robby Gordon        Dodge       264
38.  Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet   263
39.  Joey Logano         Toyota      263
40.  Tony Stewart        Toyota      260
41.  Kyle Petty          Dodge       257
42.  Scott Riggs         Chevrolet   235
43.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet   229

Chase For The Cup - Points Standing:

Pos  Driver              Change  Points
 1.  Jimmie Johnson        +1     5575
 2.  Carl Edwards          -1     5565  + 10
 3.  Greg Biffle                  5545  + 30
 4.  Jeff Burton                  5454  +121
 5.  Kevin Harvick                5439  +136
 6.  Jeff Gordon           +2     5432  +143
 7.  Clint Bowyer          -1     5411  +164
 8.  Dale Earnhardt Jr     +1     5385  +190
 9.  Matt Kenseth          +1     5383  +192
10.  Denny Hamlin          +1     5332  +243
11.  Tony Stewart          -4     5320  +255
12.  Kyle Busch                   5264  +311