NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson wins Saturday night’s SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas

Jimmie Johnson was willing to gamble and the payoff was a big one.

Johnson elected to remain on the track while most of the lead-lap cars pit with 10 of 267 laps to go and managed to hold off Kevin Harvick to win Saturday night’s rain-delayed SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway.

The win is Johnson’s third this season and came after a two-hour and 17-minute rain delay.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third, Jeff Gordon was fourth and Joey Logano overcame several issues on pit road throughout the race to finish fifth.

Harvick has now finished first or second in the last seven races held on intermediate tracks. In the four races in which he finished second, Johnson won each one.

Turning point

With 11 of 267 laps remaining, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s wreck set up a wild finish. Johnson, Earnhardt, Kurt Busch and Gordon elected not to pit and restarted in the top four positions with six laps to go. Truex took fuel only and lined up fifth, followed by Harvick and Kyle Larson.

Jimmie Johnson: A pit road gamble gives Johnson his third series victory of the season, the most of any driver.

Martin Truex Jr.: He was fast before the rain delay and after and led the most laps but dropped to ninth in the final six-lap dash to the finish.

Erik Jones: He wrecked late in the race in his first official Cup start but up until then, he was racing toe-to-toe with the Cup series’ best and more than holding his own.

Observations

▪  All throughout the day Saturday, weather forecasts showed severe weather was going to hit the area around the track, it was only a question of when. As usual, NASCAR waited until the first rain drops fell before it halted racing action on the track. Right afterward, lightning could be seen nearby and fans ran from the grandstands. Waiting until severe weather is on top of the track is not good policy for fans in attendance. And it’s silly to assume they will leave on their own if cars are racing on the track.

▪  Truex and his Furniture Row Racing team seem to be on the verge of winning almost every week. Although he’s not made it to Victory Lane yet, he has been one of the most consistent drivers the entire season so far.

▪  Before the race Saturday, JTG Daugherty Racing announced its driver A.J. Allmendinger had signed a contract extension which will keep him with the team through the 2020 season. Allmendinger victory last season at Watkins Glen, N.Y., was his and the organization’s first in the Cup series.

N@SCAR

Three tweets from Saturday night’s race:

This story was originally published May 10, 2015 at 1:35 AM with the headline "NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson wins Saturday night’s SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas."