Jimmie Johnson Wins At Kansas, Moves Back Into Sprint Cup Title Contention [VIDEO]

It’s been a long time coming but Jimmie Johnson is back in the win column after holding off Kasey Kahne in a green, white, checkered finish at Kansas Speedway.  Johnson dominated the race leading 197 laps for his 55^th career victory.  But it came down to those final two laps after Jeff Gordon’s engine blew up.  Johnson stayed on the track with old tires and was still able to hold off Kahne and Brad Keselowski.

In case you’re wondering – it’s Johnson’s first win since April.  And with the victory the six-time defending Sprint Cup champion moves up to third in the Chase standings, four points behind Carl Edwards.

Keselowski came in third and moved up to fourth in the standings.

Edwards was down a lap at one point but battled back to finish fifth and that was good enough to move him one point up on Kevin Harvick for the Sprint Cup lead.  Harvick was right behind Edwards and came in sixth.

Tony Stewart has had trouble after winning the first two Chase races.  He finished 25^th at Dover and on the final caution yesterday he decided to come into the pits for tires, but overshot his pit.  By the time his crew backed him up and he got back on the track he’d fallen back to 17^th .  He finished 15^th.  So now Stewart is in 7^th place, 19 points back.

Six races left – next up is a Saturday night visit to Charlotte Motor Speedway.