Kansas NASCAR: Joey Logano wins as next Chase segment begins

Leading 122 of the 267 laps, Logano dominated the latter half of the race, first hitting the front at half-distance with a pass on polesitter Kevin Harvick.

With Harvick removed from winning contention by a green-flag pitstop just before a caution period - the Stewart-Haas Chevrolet driver reporting a puncture over team radio - the only other driver who could rival Logano's pace late in the race was Kyle Larson.

Both Logano and Larson lost track position by opting to change all four tyres in their last pitstops, but both quickly returned to the front after the eighth and final restart, with Logano then coming under pressure from Larson's Ganassi Chevrolet in the closing laps.

But the Penske Ford driver had enough in hand to secure a fifth win of the season, while Larson missed out on a maiden Cup victory by just over half a second.

Kyle Busch was left behind at the final restart by Logano and Larson, but had the pace to secure the final spot on the podium ahead of Martin Truex Jr, Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman, who led at the final restart before dropping back.

Denny Hamlin also rose from a lowly 25th on the grid to secure a useful seventh place on a day when several key Chase contenders had disasters.

The first of these was reigning champion Jimmie Johnson, who was eliminated from contention early on in a four-car pile-up that also involved Greg Biffle, Justin Allgaier and Josh Wise.

Dale Earnhardt Jr was running in the lead at this stage, but saw his hopes of immediate qualification for the next round of the Chase dashed by a front-right puncture that pitched his Hendrick Chevrolet into the barriers.

Logano's team-mate Brad Keselowski suffered a similar fate to Earnhardt while running inside the top five, while Kasey Kahne also ended up in the wall with less than 30 laps to run.

Completing a miserable race for Hendrick Motorsports was Dover winner Jeff Gordon, who struggled with a handling imbalance in the closing stages en route to a 14th place finish behind fellow title challengers Harvick and Matt Kenseth.

Results - 267 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                      Time/Gap
 1.  Joey Logano         Penske Ford               2h49m17.000s
 2.  Kyle Larson         Ganassi Chevrolet              +0.480s
 3.  Kyle Busch          Joe Gibbs Toyota               +6.424s
 4.  Martin Truex Jr     Furniture Row Chevrolet        +6.973s
 5.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford             +12.413s
 6.  Ryan Newman         Childress Chevrolet           +12.899s
 7.  Denny Hamlin        Joe Gibbs Toyota              +14.183s
 8.  Austin Dillon       Childress Chevrolet           +14.319s
 9.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet           +15.637s
10.  Brian Vickers       Waltrip Toyota                +18.051s
11.  AJ Allmendinger     JTG Daugherty Chevrolet       +18.514s
12.  Kevin Harvick       Stewart-Haas Chevrolet        +19.165s
13.  Matt Kenseth        Joe Gibbs Toyota              +19.581s
14.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet            +20.017s
15.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford             +21.128s
16.  Danica Patrick      Stewart-Haas Chevrolet        +22.406s
17.  Tony Stewart        Stewart-Haas Chevrolet        +22.587s
18.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota                +24.421s
19.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr  Roush Fenway Ford             +24.763s
20.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                    +26.171s
21.  Landon Cassill      Hillman Toyota                +28.921s
22.  Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet             -2 laps
23.  Cole Whitt          BK Toyota                      -3 laps
24.  Michael Annett      Baldwin Chevrolet              -3 laps
25.  Jamie McMurray      Ganassi Chevrolet              -4 laps
26.  Reed Sorenson       Baldwin Chevrolet              -4 laps
27.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford                 -5 laps
28.  Casey Mears         Germain Chevrolet              -5 laps
29.  JJ Yeley            BK Toyota                      -5 laps
30.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford                 -5 laps
31.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                     -7 laps
32.  Alex Bowman         BK Toyota                      -8 laps
33.  Timmy Hill          Circle Sport Chevrolet         -8 laps
34.  Mike Wallace        Identity Ventures Toyota       -8 laps
35.  Michael McDowell    Leavine Ford                   -9 laps
36.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Ford                   -45 laps
37.  Joey Gase           Go FAS Ford                   -54 laps
38.  Josh Wise           Parsons Chevrolet             -60 laps
39.  Dale Earnahardt Jr  Hendrick Chevrolet            -63 laps
40.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet            -87 laps

Retirements:

     Justin Allgaier     HScott Chevrolet               84 laps
     Kurt Busch          Stewart-Haas Chevrolet         75 laps
     Mike Bliss          Baldwin Chevrolet              17 laps

CHASE STANDINGS: