Kansas NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson beats Kevin Harvick after rain delay

Martin Truex Jr had led the majority of the 267 laps in a race littered with caution periods and frenetic restarts, but Johnson benefited from staying out on old tyres to hold on in a tight seven-lap dash to the flag.

Kevin Harvick finished just behind Johnson in second place after a long battle with Truex, who faded to ninth at the end. Dale Earnhardt Jr came home third.

Joey Logano had led the field away from pole position under cloudy skies, but his grip on the head of the race proved to be shortlived.

Kurt Busch passed him on the evening's second restart, then Harvick and Truex came by, with the Furniture Row driver taking control of the next two stints.

Truex extended his lead through a green-flag pitstop sequence and had opened up an advantage of 6.4 seconds by one-third distance, shortly before the third caution of the night was caused by Jeb Burton - who had also triggered the first in an early incident with JJ Yeley - spinning again.

That interruption helped Johnson and Jeff Gordon as the Hendrick Motorsports pair were in danger of falling a lap behind, with Truex having lapped everyone up to Gordon in 15th.

The long-expected rain arrived on lap 98 and a two hour and 15 minute delay ensued.

Once the jet dryers had cleared the standing water, the race got back under way with laptimes significantly faster than they had been before the stoppage.

Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin moved to the front for a spell by staying out as most pitted amid a pair of yellows for first a tangle between David Ragan and Jose Wise, then a spin for Matt Kenseth that led to Tony Stewart being punted into the wall as the pack slowed in avoidance.

But everyone's strategies realigned during another spate of full course yellows heading into the second half of the race.

First Clint Bowyer was tapped into a spin by Ricky Stenhouse Jr, then 18-year-old Eric Jones's fully-fledged debut in Kyle Busch's regular Joe Gibbs Toyota ended on lap 195 when he spun into the wall while under pressure from Johnson.

Just a few laps later, Hamlin brought out the eighth full course yellow by slamming into the wall on the main straight shortly after an extra pitstop to assess damage from a midfield incident.

A longer stop for Truex during that caution meant that when the race restarted with 55 laps to go Harvick held the lead over Kyle Larson.

Truex passed Larson and set about hunting down Harvick before the final caution was brought out when Stenhouse rubbed along the Turn 2 wall.

That yellow negated lingering concerns over fuel saving and set up the grandstand seven-lap dash to the chequered flag.

Harvick and Truex were among those who pitted to get fresh tyres, while Johnson stayed out and moved to the front.

Although Harvick quickly shot up from sixth to third and then passed Earnhardt with four laps to go, his new rubber could not help him overhaul Johnson, who held on for the victory.

Gordon ended up fourth ahead of Logano, who had twice been relegated to the back of the pack for pitlane infringements, and Kenseth.

Keselowski came home seventh, with Busch, Truex and Ryan Newman completing the top 10.

RESULTS - 267 LAPS:

LEADING CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

PROVISIONALLY IN THE CHASE: Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr