Jimmie Johnson: 3-Time All-Star

 Jimmie Johnson's week started with a win at Darlington for Hendrick Motorsport's 200th Victory in Sprint Cup competition.  Jimmie Johnson capped off his week with his third trip to Victory Lane in the Sprint All-Star Race. 

Jimmie Johnson celebrates his All-Star Victory (Courtesy Getty Images)

The night started with the Sprint Showdown, a last-chance race for those not already in the All-Star Race.  Pole-sitter AJ Allmendinger had to pit before the race even began with a flat tire.  That made Martin Truex Jr. the leader when the green flag fell, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. wasn't okay with his former protege leading the race, and he quickly took over the lead.  Junior led all the way until the competition caution fell on lap 20.  The teams were allowed to pit during the caution, and everyone came in except for leaders Earnhardt and Truex. 

On the restart, Earnhardt was able to hold off Martin Truex Jr., but Truex wasn't able to hold off Jamie McMurray for second.  With 12 laps to go, AJ Allmendinger came back from his flat tire, and was able to get around Truex for third.  With two to go, Allmendinger and McMurray got together a little bit in Turn 2, but going into Turn 3, Allmendinger was able to get the spot.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. was able to win, and AJ Allmendinger finished second.  Earnhardt and Allmendinger were able to race their way into the Sprint All-Star Race, while Bobby Labonte was announced as the Sprint Fan Vote Winner. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Sprint Showdown (Courtesy Getty Images)

After some (not) very funny intro videos from NASCAR fans, the Sprint All-Star Race was ready to begin.  Kyle Busch led the field to the green, and jumped out to the early lead when Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin raced side-by-side for second.  On lap ten, Jimmie Johnson passed Ryan Newman for second place, and set his sights on Kyle Busch.  On lap 15, Jimmie Johnson was able to get around Kyle Busch for the lead.

Kevin Harvick and Paul Menard got together coming off of Turn 2, and Harvick tried to retaliate coming off of Turn 4.  Unfortunately for Harvick, his plan backfired and he slapped the wall hard.  He came in to the pits under the first competition caution, along with most of the field.  Denny Hamlin was the leader when the race restarted, after he stayed out under the caution.  On the restart, Jimmie Johnson used a plan that is used at Talladega; he dropped to the back of the field.  By winning the first segment, Johnson would come into the pits first before the final segment, regardless of where he finished at the end of segment 4.

Mark Martin and Regan Smith (Courtesy Getty Images)

On lap 26, Carl Edwards blew an engine and caught fire, causing the second caution of the night to come out.  On the restart, Denny Hamlin was under pressure from Marcos Ambrose for a lap, but he eventually faded back to fourth.  The pressure from Ambrose was replaced with pressure from Matt Kenseth.  On lap 37, Kenseth was able to get around Hamlin to take the lead.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. was able to get to Hamlin's bumper, and he was able to pass him before the field got back to the line for the competition caution.  Before the caution came out, Trevor Bayne got very loose, and made a fantastic save in Turn 3.  Matt Kenseth was able to win the second segment, ensuring that he would have good position going into the final segment.

Brad Keselowski stayed out under the caution, and he restarted first for the third segment.  Throughout the entire segment, Kasey Kahne was applying pressure to Keselowski, and Brad was able to hold him off for the entire segment.  Kahne had a huge run coming to the complete lap 60, but Keselowski was able to hold him off in a photo finish.

Kurt Busch didn't pit under the caution, and he led the field to the green flag to begin segment 4.  He only led until lap 64, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the lead away from Busch.  AJ Allmendinger was able to move into second.  On lap 68, Greg Biffle's Roush-Yates Engine expired, just like his teammate Carl Edwards.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the field to the green flag on lap 75, and jumped out into the lead.  Marcos Ambrose got a big run on the restart, and shot past Allmendinger and Kahne to take second place.  Earnhardt Jr. won the fourth segment, after winning the Sprint Showdown.

Greg Biffle's car catches fire after his engine expired. (Courtesy Getty Images)

The field was reset under caution, with Jimmie Johnson in first, Matt Kenseth second, Brad Keselowski third, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. fourth.  When they came in for their mandatory pit stop, the leaders stayed in the same order, and Johnson led the field when the race restarted for the final ten lap segment.  Johnson and Keselowski jumped out front, after Kenseth spun the tires on the restart.  Keselowski was able to hang with Johnson for a few laps, but Johnson was able to pull away from Keselowski to win his third Sprint All-Star Race.  Brad Keselowski finished second, Matt Kenseth third, Kyle Busch fourth, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fifth.  Kevin Harvick, Marcos Ambrose, Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, and Ryan Newman finished positions 6-10.  Some other notables: Jeff Gordon was 13th, Tony Stewart 17th, fan-vote winner Bobby Labonte was 19th, Denny Hamlin 20th, and Mark Martin 21st.  Teammates Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards finished 22nd and 23rd, respectively, after engine failures.

Jimmie Johnson won for the second week in a row, and next week he should be strong again.  The Sprint Cup Series returns to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the longest race in NASCAR, the Coca-Cola 600.  The race will be shown on FOX at 5:30 p.m. next Sunday.

Photo courtesy Getty Images

Johnson, Hendrick Celebrate 200

Hendrick Motorsports has been waiting to celebrate their 200th Sprint Cup victory since Jimmie Johnson won No. 199 at Kansas last October.  The wait finally ended, with Jimmie Johnson winning Hendrick Motorsports' 200th victory at Darlington Raceway.

Hendrick Motorsports now has 200 wins (Courtesy Getty Images)

Points-leader Greg Biffle started on the pole for the second time this season, and took the early lead.  But it wasn't even ten laps before Jimmie Johnson, who started second, began catching Biffle for the lead.  Johnson couldn't get around Biffle, however, and began to back off of Biffle's back bumper.  Biffle began to lap some of the field, and on lap 29 he passed the 10 car, driven by Danica Patrick.  Patrick was making her second career Sprint Cup Series start; her first start was in the Daytona 500, where she finished 38th after getting involved in a crash on lap 2.

Greg Biffle began to be slowed by lapped cars, and Jimmie Johnson was almost able to complete the pass.  He couldn't do it, and Kasey Kahne was able to work his way around his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.  Brad Keselowski came into the pits on lap 47 to begin the first round of pit stops.  By lap 53, pit stops were over, and there was a new leader.  Kyle Busch assumed the race lead after he was one of the first to come into the pits, getting fresher tires sooner than Biffle, Kahne, and Johnson.

Kasey Kahne (5) passes David Ragan (Courtesy Getty Images)

Busch was able to hold the lead for 20 laps, but on lap 72, Greg Biffle and Jimmie Johnson charged past Busch.  On lap 98, Johnson came in to begin another round of green flag pit stops.  Pit stops were done by lap 101, and Johnson was the leader after stops cycled through.  Johnson came in before Biffle, and he was able to make up all his time due to one lap with fresher tires. 

Johnson was the leader when Greg Biffle learned from his mistakes, and became one of the first drivers to come in when more green-flag pit stops occurred on lap 144.  Unfortunately for Biffle, Johnson was able to retain the lead, even after he pitted a whole four laps after Biffle.  Johnson led all the way to lap 172, when debris was spotted in turn 2, to bring out the first caution of the race.

Jimmie Johnson led the field to the green on lap 180, and Kyle Busch was able to jump out to the lead on the restart.  Johnson started on the inside, but Busch was able to use the outside lane to his advantage.  By lap 189, Busch was under fire from Johnson and he was able to make the pass for the lead.  Jeff Gordon's season of bad luck continued, when on lap 194 he cut down his left rear tire.  The caution came out on lap 195 for debris from Gordon's tire.  Denny Hamlin stayed out when all the leaders pitted, and he led the field to the green flag on lap 200.  He restarted on the inside lane, and once again the outside prevailed; Kasey Kahne pulled away from Hamlin with the lead.

Denny Hamlin was running a retro Cale Yarborough paint scheme (Courtesy Getty Images)

On lap 205, Jeff Gordon suffered another flat left rear tire.  Gordon pulled onto pit road so that his team could find out what was wrong.  On lap 222, Jeff Gordon pulled the car behind the wall.  Denny Hamlin was starting to get worried because he was going to have to make a green flag pit stop, but the caution flew for debris on lap 230, and the leaders were able to pit once again.  Hamlin was able to beat Greg Biffle off of pit road, and he became the leader once again. 

On the restart, Biffle dove off into the first corner and almost passed Hamlin, but his car got extremely loose and he made the best save of the night.  In the process, however, he was passed by Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch and dropped to fourth.  Biffle continued to fall while battling a loose race car, and he was the first to hit pit road on lap 278 to begin another round of green flag pit stops.  Following the pit stops, Martin Truex Jr. was able to get ahead of Denny Hamlin.  During pit stops, Danica Patrick hit the pit cone, and she had to come in for a pass-through penalty.

The caution came out again on lap 298 for a single-car spin by Bobby Labonte.  Following pit stops, Martin Truex Jr. was able to retain the lead after making a two-tire stop.  He led Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, and Denny Hamlin to the green flag on lap 303.  The race only stayed green for three laps, when Regan Smith spun trying to get to pit road.  Smith had front end damage and was trying to make it to pit road for a tire rub.  Some of the leaders pitted, but most of the front-runners stayed out and tried to save fuel.  Jimmie Johnson was shutting his engine off during the caution trying to save as much fuel as possible.

Jeff Gordon (24) and Danica Patrick both had disappointing finishes (Courtesy Getty Images)

Jimmie Johnson led the field to the green flag on lap 311, and held off Kyle Busch for one lap, before Busch was able to make the pass the lap after the restart.  Busch dove into turn 1, slid up the track, and allowed Johnson to get under him.  Johnson couldn't make the car stick, and he had to pull in behind Busch, while Greg Biffle began breathing down his neck.  On lap 316, Jamie McMurray got loose under AJ Allmendinger's car, and they both ended up in the wall, bringing out the sixth caution of the race. 

Kyle Busch picked the outside lane on the restart, and he was able to hold off Johnson to pull away with the lead.  Tony Stewart, who restarted fifth, dove under Greg Biffle for fourth on the restart, almost taking them three-wide with Denny Hamlin.  Joey Logano, who had been running up front, also slapped the wall after the restart, but he was able to continue on.  On lap 324, Jimmie Johnson was able to get around Kyle Busch to retake the lead.  The caution came out once again on lap 330 when Reed Sorenson spun.  It looked as though Jeff Gordon may have made contact with Sorenson's car to turn him around.

The restart came on lap 334, and Johnson was able to hold off Kyle Busch, but Tony Stewart blew by Busch to take second place.  Johnson and Stewart pulled away from Busch, but Stewart could not get up to the back bumper of the 48 car.  With 13 laps to go, Busch's car began to tighten up and he started to reel in the leaders.  As his brother was catching the leaders, Kurt Busch got his first Darlington stripe of the day.  Then a few laps later, his right rear tire went down, causing him to spin in front of a group of cars.  While the 51 car was spinning, Ryan Newman's car was hit, and Newman spun and slapped the inside wall.  The simultaneous spins brought out the eighth caution on lap 361. 

Kurt Busch (51) and Ryan Newman spin (Courtesy Getty Images)

Johnson led Stewart, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Matt Kenseth to the green flag, and for the second week a row, Tony Stewart had trouble getting through the gears on the restart.  Jimmie Johnson sped away from the pack and was able to win Hendrick Motorsports' 200th Cup Series win.  Denny Hamlin finished second, Tony Stewart was third, Kyle Busch fourth, and Martin Truex Jr. was fifth.  Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, Marcos Ambrose, and Joey Logano rounded out the top ten.  Pole-sitter Greg Biffle finished 12th, while last week's winner Brad Keselowski finished 15th.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 17th, and Mark Martin finished 20th.  Danica Patrick finished 31st in her second Sprint Cup Series race.  Jeff Gordon finished 35th after suffering mechanical problems.

Hendrick Motorsports has been waiting since last season to celebrate their 200th win, and it finally came at one of NASCAR's most historic tracks, Darlington Raceway.  Next week, the Sprint Cup Series' best drivers put it all on the line for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.  The festivities start at 7 PM next Saturday, and everything can be seen on SPEED.

Courtesy Getty Images

Keselowski Tames Talladega

When Brad Keselowski won at Talladega, he played the villain when he flipped Carl Edwards into the catchfence.  That race saw Carl Edwards get out of the car and run across the start/finish line, just like Ricky Bobby in the movie "Talladega Nights."  In a race that saw Kurt Busch drive Ricky Bobby's "ME" car, Brad Keselowski returned to victory lane after out-smarting the competition.

Brad Keselowski celebrates his sixth career Sprint Cup race (Courtesy Getty Images)

After early-morning rain, the race started about 30 minutes later than scheduled.  But when the race went green, Jeff Gordon led the field from the pole.  The pole was Gordon's 71st of his career, and he has now won at least one pole in all 20 of his Sprint Cup seasons.  Gordon got a huge push from Marcos Ambrose to start the race, but Gordon quickly lost the lead.  Tony Stewart, with drafting help from Matt Kenseth, was able to lead the first lap.  Stewart was able to hold off all the cars behind him, until a caution came out on lap 16 for Regan Smith.  Smith's engine expired, and many believed that it was due to overheating in the engine.  But Smith came on the radio and said, "Zero heads-up.  No heads-up whatsoever."  The leaders came in to pit, and most cars only took fuel.  Matt Kenseth's team was able to get him out in front of Tony Stewart, and Kenseth led the field to the green flag on lap 21.

When the race went green, Matt Kenseth was able to grab the lead with a bump from teammate Greg Biffle.  Tony Stewart had other plans however, and worked his way in between the 17 and 16.  Kenseth was able to lead until lap 25, when Michael Waltrip got a huge push from Denny Hamlin to take the lead.  Waltrip was running in the 55 car, which was vacated by Mark Martin for this race.

At around lap 44, Ryan Newman began to overheat, and his Chevrolet soon began to push water out of the engine.  Newman took his car to the garage, and his crew went to work on getting him back out.  On lap 58, Denny Hamlin pulled off the track to begin a round of green flag pit stops.  By lap 62, everyone pitted and Jimmie Johnson inherited the lead.  Johnson's lead only lasted two laps, when his car began to smoke and his engine let go.  Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus said that it was a broken belt.  Johnson's crew took the car to the garage, while Dale Earnhardt. Jr. inherited the lead from his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.

Johnson's day ended early with engine problems (Courtesy Getty Images)

On lap 72, Matt Kenseth was able to get around Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the lead, and Earnhardt's teammate Jeff Gordon left him hung out to dry and Junior fell all the way to 19th place.  Eventually, Kasey Kahne and Michael Waltrip led laps as well.  Juan Pablo Montoya was the leader when another round of green flag pit stops began on lap 99.  Following the round of pit stops, Greg Biffle found himself out front.  On lap 120, Kurt Busch got a push from former teammate Matt Kenseth to take the lead away from Biffle.  Busch was driving a Talladega Nights-inspired "ME" paint scheme, and when he took the lead I'm sure someone said, "Look Mama! I'm going fast!"

"Shake and Bake" (Courtesy Getty Images)

Just two laps later, Greg Biffle pushed Matt Kenseth around Ricky Bobby, aka Kurt Busch, to take the lead once again.  Busch regained the lead on lap 132, but then, one lap later, the Roush duo drove by Busch again.  This time, however, Kenseth couldn't keep Biffle on his bumper, and Biffle was shuffled back to eighth place while Kenseth took the lead.

With about 50 laps to go, many drivers began to run out of fuel.  This problem caused the Big One.  On lap 141, Aric Almirola got into Dave Blaney who shot across the track into Juan Pablo Montoya and Carl Edwards.  The wreck also collected Landon Cassil, Jeff Gordon, Martin Truex Jr., Terry Labonte, and Joey Logano.  Paul Menard led the field to the green flag.  Menard was on pit road when the caution came out, and he inherited the lead when everyone else pitted under the caution.

The first "Big One" (Courtesy Getty Images)

Menard couldn't hold off a hard-charging Brad Keselowski who restarted second, and he fell to third when Keselowski's Penske teammate AJ Allmendinger got around him for second.  With 25 laps to go, Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin, and Matt Kenseth all got their cars out front to lead at least one lap.  Kenseth was finally able to take the lead and hold onto it in front of Brad Keselowski and Hamlin with 20 laps to go.

On lap 176, Casey Mears spun around after contact from Marcos Ambrose.  As he was trying to save it, he clipped Trevor Bayne and turned him around.  The restart came with 9 laps to go, and Matt Kenseth led the field to the green flag.  On lap 181, Kurt Busch got turned by Brad Keselowski going through the trioval.  Then, in a move that had shades of Ricky Bobby, he drove up pit road the wrong way to get to his pit stall.

The restart came with four laps to go, with Kenseth and Keselowski the leaders.  The race didn't go green for long, as AJ Allmendinger tried to block Denny Hamlin and started a melee at the front of the field.  Also involved were the cars of Paul Menard, Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, Michael Waltrip, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, and Robert Richardson.  Under the caution, Denny Hamlin's left rear tire erupted and tore the rear window out of the car, as well as spreading foam and everything else inside the car all over the track.

The caution set up a green-white-checker finish, and it put some stress on Brad Keselowski, who was going to be close on fuel.  Matt Kenseth led Keselowski to the green flag with two laps to go.  When the field took the green, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle blew away from the field, and it may have cost them the race.  The field caught up to them and sped by, with the tandem of Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch pulling away from everyone else.  Kyle Busch pushed Keselowski into Turn 3, and got off the back bumper of the 2 car.  It seemed like Busch was going to use the draft to slingshot around him, but he couldn't get close enough.  Keselowski was able to hold off the field to win the second Talladega race of his career.

Brad Keselowski pulls away from Kyle Busch (Courtesy Getty Images)

Kyle Busch followed Keselowski across the line to finish second.  Matt Kenseth, who led a race-high 78 laps, finished third, and Kasey Kahne had some good luck and finished fourth.  Greg Biffle finished fifth.  Clint Bowyer, David Ragan, Trevor Bayne, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jeff Burton rounded out the top 10.  Michael Waltrip finished 19th, and Ricky Bobby, I mean, Kurt Busch finished 20th.  Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, and Joey Logano finished 23rd-26th respectively.  Martin Truex Jr. finished 28th, Carl Edwards 31st, Jeff Gordon 33rd, and Jimmie Johnson 35th.

After a month-long stretch of races without wrecks, Talladega did not disappoint, delivering two Big Ones.  Next week, the Sprint Cup Series races on Saturday night under the lights at "The Track Too Tough to Tame," Darlington Raceway.  The Bojangles' Southern 500 will be run next Saturday, and can be seen at 6:30 on FOX. 

Courtesy Getty Images

Kyle Busch Wins Four in a Row

Kyle Busch had won the spring Richmond race for the past three years.  As the Capitol City 400 was being run, it didn't look like Kyle Busch had anything for the top two drivers.  But on two consecutive restarts, Busch was able to defeat the best to win his fourth-consecutive Sprint Cup Richmond race.

Kyle Busch celebrates his 24th career victory (Courtesy Getty Images)

Mark Martin, who first won the pole here 31 years ago in 1981, led the field to the green after he won his 53rd career pole.  Martin held the lead until lap 30, when Carl Edwards, who started second, passed him for the lead.  Martin's car was starting to get very loose, and he quickly began to lose spots on the track.  A competition caution came out on lap 50, and by that point Mark Martin had fallen all the way to eighth place. 

On the restart, Jeff Gordon got loose and got into Greg Biffle, and it sent his car into Kurt Busch's car.  Gordon was forced to pit with a flat tire. Carl Edwards was able to lead the entire green flag run, until lap 116, when Kurt Busch spun coming out of turn 4.  Edwards' pit crew once again got him off of pit road first.  On the restart, he was able to pull away from Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch.  Tony Stewart had been closing on Carl Edwards for about 20 laps, and finally, on lap 201, Stewart passed Edwards for the lead.  The same time that Stewart took the lead from Edwards, green flag pit stops began for most of the field. 

Carl Edwards leads Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch (Courtesy Getty Images)

Stewart and Edwards made pit stops together, and Edwards was able to beat Stewart off pit road.  Following pit stops, however, Kevin Harvick was scored as the leader.  Harvick made his pit stop about five laps sooner than Stewart and Edwards, and that was all he needed to take the lead.  Harvick held onto the lead for a few laps, but Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart quickly passed him again for first and second place.  On lap 227, the third caution of the day came out for debris.  The leaders pitted, and Carl Edwards' crew got him off pit road first again, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, and Kyle Busch. 

Carl Edwards pulled away from the field on the lap 236 restart.  Jimmie Johnson tried to fend off Tony Stewart, but to no avail; Stewart quickly got around Johnson and was soon on the back bumper of Carl Edwards.  On lap 250, Stewart was able to complete the pass on Edwards, and regained the lead.  Edwards quickly fell to fourth, as he was soon passed by Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson.  Green flag pit stops soon followed, and most of the leaders came in.  Carl Edwards missed pit road, which actually helped him.  While Jimmie Johnson was on pit road, Jeff Burton hit the wall on lap 311 to bring out the fourth caution.  Carl Edwards made his pit stop, and restarted first.

On the restart, Carl Edwards jumped out into the lead when Tony Stewart spun his tires.  But he may have jumped out to the lead a little too soon; Edwards was black-flagged for jumping the restart.  He came in to make his pass-through penalty, and Tony Stewart was handed the lead.  Kyle Busch tried to catch up to Stewart, but he began to pull away from the 18.  Stewart led until lap 386, when the fifth caution came out for debris.  The caution allowed Carl Edwards to get the lucky dog.

Edwards' crew chief, Bob Osborne, talks with a NASCAR official about his penalty (Courtesy Getty Images)

The field pitted for tires, and Kyle Busch's pit crew got him out first.  On lap 391, Kyle Busch brought the field to the green flag and pulled away from the field.  Tony Stewart had another bad restart, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was able to get around him for second place.  Earnhardt Jr. wasn't able to catch Busch, however, and Busch was able to win his fourth straight spring race at Richmond.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. came close to winning his first race since 2008, but fell short and finished second.  Tony Stewart led 112 laps, but could not get going on the final restart and finished third.  Denny Hamlin finished fourth, Kasey Kahne fifth, and Jimmie Johnson sixth.  MWR teammates Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin finished seventh and eighth, respectively.  Mark Martin will not be in the car next weekend at Talladega, and his next race will be at Darlington for the Bojangles' Southern 500.  Brad Keselowski finished ninth, and Carl Edwards came back to round out the top 10.  Points leader Greg Biffle finished 18th, while Jeff Gordon finished 23rd after troubles on the first restart. 

Kyle Busch's car is in a cloud of smoke following his post-race burnout (Courtesy Getty Images)

The Capitol City 400 had more cautions than we'd seen in the past few races, and Kyle Busch returned to his old form.  But what most people will be talking about this week will be how Carl Edwards lost the race.  The class of the field all day, Edwards lost the race in a confusing turn of events where Edwards may or may not have been the leader of the race when he was black-flagged for jumping the restart.  We'll see what happens next week, when NASCAR returns to the fastest track on the Sprint Cup circuit; Talladega.  The pack is back, and the race promises to be full of excitement.  The race can be seen next Sunday at 12 p.m., only on FOX.

Victory Slips Through Truex's Fingers

Martin Truex Jr.'s only career victory came at Dover in 2007.  He came as close as he could come to his second career victory, but Denny Hamlin proved too strong to overcome.  Hamlin was able to hold on to get his second win of 2012.

Hamlin celebrates his first win at Kansas (Courtesy Getty Images)

AJ Allmendinger led the field to the green flag at Kansas.  He jumped out to an early lead, but was soon dogged by Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr.  Harvick was not able to get around Allmendinger, and Truex Jr. decided to try his chances at getting around Allmendinger.  When the first round of green flag pit stops took place around lap 43, AJ Allmendinger had some trouble on pit road and when stops cycled around, Martin Truex Jr. found himself in the lead.  Less than 10 laps later, on lap 52, Clint Bowyer spun trying to get to pit road.  Bowyer, who had been having engine troubles, took his car to the garage under the caution.

Clint Bowyer's day didn't go as planned; his engine began to lose power just 50 laps into the race (Courtesy Getty Images)

Martin Truex Jr. jumped out to a big lead on the restart.  While Truex drove away, Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne had a tough battle for second place.  Kahne was able to get beside Harvick, but he was unable to pass him, and Harvick was able to hold onto second place.  Pole-sitter AJ Allmendinger began to experience engine problems, much like Clint Bowyer.  Truex Jr. eventually lapped Allmendinger, and his promising day turned sour before lap 100.

On lap 87, Kevin Harvick began to run out of fuel, so he came in for a green flag pit stop.  That soon forced everyone else to pit.  On lap 92, one lap before he was scheduled to come in, Kasey Kahne also ran out of fuel.  Martin Truex Jr. was able to hold onto the lead, and he held an 8-second lead over Matt Kenseth when the second caution of the race came out on lap 132.  Jamie McMurray was caught on pit road by the caution, but he was able to take the wave around under the caution.  The rest of the field pitted under the caution, and Martin Truex Jr. was able to beat everyone off pit road.  During pit stops, AJ Allmendinger's crew went under the hood to look at his failing engine.  Bobby Labonte's engine also let go while the cars came onto pit road.  Right as the field was about to go green, Clint Bowyer's engine officially let go, and he took it to the garage for the second time today.

Martin Truex Jr. was on top of his game at Kansas (Courtesy Getty Images)

The race went green again at lap 142, and Martin Truex Jr. wasted no time in pulling out to a one-second lead over second-place Denny Hamlin.  By lap 163, Jimmie Johnson got up to the back bumper of Truex and was looking to take the lead.  Johnson's spotter told Johnson to not push the issue because Truex "will mess up."  Unfortunately for Johnson, Truex never messed up and was able to hold off Johnson.  Green flag pit stops happened again at lap 177, and Martin Truex Jr. found himself in the lead once again when the field cycled around.  The caution came out 10 laps later on lap 187, when Juan Pablo Montoya slapped the wall and dropped some debris on the track.  Under the caution, only a few drivers pitted, including Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, and Mark Martin.

The race restarted on lap 192, and Martin Truex Jr. led Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the line, and he jumped out to another one-second lead.  Truex held the lead for the entire green flag run, and the final round of pit stops came on lap 220.  Hamlin came in a lap before Truex, and Hamlin was right there when the 56 came out of the pits.  Following the pit stop, Hamlin's car began running .2 seconds faster than Truex Jr.'s.  With 31 laps to go, Hamlin was able to take the lead from Truex, who began to complain that the car was "wrecking loose" when the sun finally came out.

The 56 pit crew was on top of it's game at Kansas (Courtesy Getty Images)

At around the same time that Hamlin took the lead, two Hendrick engines began to fail; Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch both believed that they were only running on 7 cylinders.  The engine woes continued on lap 262; Mark Martin began to complain of his engine losing power.  Martin's MWR teammate Clint Bowyer lost his engine early on in the race.

Martin Truex Jr. began to find something with about 10 laps to go, and he started to eat into Hamlin's lead.  Truex got within .3 seconds of Hamlin, and he dive-bombed it into the corner with 3 to go, but his car didn't stick and it slid up the track.  Hamlin won his second race of the year, and his first at Kansas.  Truex Jr., who hasn't won since 2007, will have to continue looking for his second career win.  He led 179 laps today, while Hamlin only led 32 laps on his way to victory.

Denny Hamlin takes the checkered flag (Courtesy Getty Images)

Jimmie Johnson finished third, and Roush Fenway teammates Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle finished fourth and fifth, respectively.  Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, and Kyle Busch rounded out the top 10.  Jeff Gordon limped home in 21st, 3 laps down.  AJ Allmendinger, who won the pole and lead early, finished 32nd after having engine problems, 10 laps down.  Mark Martin ran in the top 10 all day, but a blown engine about 10 laps from the end relegated him to a 33rd-place finish.  Martin's teammate Clint Bowyer finished 36th after engine problems.  

The STP 400 had long green flag runs for the second race in a row, and the ending was once again an exciting finish.  Next week hopes to be even more exciting when the Sprint Cup Series rolls into Richmond International Raceway for 400 miles under the lights.  The next race can be seen on Saturday night, at 7 p.m., only on FOX.

Biffle Wins Texas Shootout

Greg Biffle's last victory came at Kansas in 2010, 49 races ago.  This season, the points leader had four top 10 finishes in the first six races.  Biffle was able to grow his points lead tonight, when he overtook Jimmie Johnson to win his first race of 2012.

Greg Biffle celebrates his first win since 2010 (Courtesy Getty Images)

Michael Waltrip Racing has been on a roll lately, and the off week did not slow them down; Martin Truex Jr. won the pole for the race, and Mark Martin qualified fourth.  Truex Jr. took the green flag first, and jumped out to an early lead.  Matt Kenseth began to have some problems at around lap 20.  He believed that something was on fire in the engine, after his water temperature shot up and he got some smoke in the cockpit.  But that didn't stop he and teammate Greg Biffle from catching Martin Truex Jr., and on lap 32, Biffle took the lead from Martin Truex Jr. 

Trevor Bayne, shown here on pit road, brought out one of the race's two cautions (Courtesy Getty Images)

On lap 43, Jeff Gordon hit pit road with a worn right-front tire, and it forced the rest of the field to make green flag pit stops.  During the stops, Kasey Kahne, who has had bad luck in almost every race this year, got boxed in on his stop and lost most of his track position.  At about lap 64, Matt Kenseth reported that he may have had a loose wheel, and that he would have to come in to fix it.  But then, on lap 67, they caught a break when the first caution came out, for debris.

Following pit stops, Martin Truex Jr. retook the lead from Greg Biffle, but Biffle took the lead on the high side on the ensuing restart.  He lead all the way until lap 82, when his Roush Fenway teammate Matt Kenseth took the lead.  On lap 93, the second caution of the night came out when Trevor Bayne slapped the outside wall.  Kenseth lost the lead during pit stops, and Martin Truex Jr.'s team got him out front once again.  On the restart, however, Greg Biffle was able to drive away from the field and retake the lead.

Biffle was only able to hold the lead until lap 113, when Jimmie Johnson got a run coming off turn 4 to take the lead away.  Johnson lost the lead on the next round of green flag pit stops, after he pitted five laps after Martin Truex Jr., who took the lead away from Johnson while he was in the pits.  It took Johnson until lap 180 before he was able to take the lead away from Truex.  Just a few laps later, green flag pit stops began again, and this time Jimmie Johnson was able to hold on to the lead.  While Johnson was able to hold onto his position, Martin Truex Jr. was shuffled back to fifth after pit stops.  Truex's Michael Waltrip Racing teammate Mark Martin moved up to second following the round of green flag pit stops.

Jimmie Johnson leads Greg Biffle during the Samsung Mobile 500 (Courtesy Getty Images)

Jimmie Johnson did not give up the lead over the next green flag run.  During the green flag pit stops, Johnson did not lose any time on Greg Biffle or Mark Martin, who were running second and third, respectively.  Johnson was dominating the race, but with 60 laps to go, Greg Biffle began to cut into Johnson's lead a little bit, partly due to the fact that Johnson was catching a lot of lapped traffic.

Right before the last set set of green flag pit stops, Greg Biffle cut into Jimmie Johnson's lead dramatically as Johnson was trying to get some trash off of his grille.  Following the green flag pit stops, the top three remained the same; Jimmie Johnson led Greg Biffle and Mark Martin with about 50 laps to go.  With 30 laps to go, Biffle was finally able to get around Jimmie Johnson to take the lead.  Biffle started to build a big lead on Johnson, and it got even bigger when the 48 car slid up into the outside wall with about 17 laps to go.  Biffle was able to keep his lead over Johnson at around 3.2 seconds, and easily captured his 17th career win.  Biffle led 91 laps on his way to victory.

Mark Martin stands in front of his car before the race; he would finish third (Courtesy Getty Images)

Jimmie Johnson, after leading a race-high 156 laps, was able to nurse his car home second.  Unfortunately for team owner Rick Hendrick, they will have to take the 200th Win hats to Kansas with them.  Mark Martin was running the fastest laps at the end of the race, but it was too little too late, and he came home third.  Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top 5. Pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr. was able to come home sixth, while Kasey Kahne had some good luck and finished seventh.  Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished eigth, ninth, and  tenth, respectively.  Marcos Ambrose had a strong run all day, but ran out of gas on the last lap and ended up 20th.  Tony Stewart had to go to a back-up car before the race, and couldn't make up any ground; he finished 24th.  Brad Keselowski had engine troubles about halfway through the race, and wound up 36th, 22 laps down. 

The race at Texas was not very exciting, but any race with a 234-lap green flag run isn't exactly the epitome of excitement.  The next race will be Sunday at Kansas, where the Sprint Cup stars will run 400 miles to see who is the best-of-the-best.  The race will be at 12:30, and can be seen only on FOX. 

Greg Biffle: Winner of the Samsung Mobile 500 (Courtesy Getty Images)

Victory Falls Into Newman's Lap

If there was a "Look What Fell Into My Lap" award, Ryan Newman would be an early candidate to win it.  Newman took full advantage of his opportunity when he was able to avoid a wreck that collected the top three cars of Clint Bowyer, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson.

Ryan Newman celebrates his Martinsville victory (Courtesy Getty Images)

Kasey Kahne led the field to the green flag.  After a dismal start to the season, many were hoping that he would be able to hold onto the lead for at least one lap.  But unfortunately for Kahne, Kevin Harvick, who won the Truck Series race Saturday, took the lead and led the first lap.  Harvick actually led the first 21 laps, until Jeff Gordon took the lead.  Gordon started ninth, and quickly moved his way up through the field. 

Gordon believed that he had a tire going down, but he was able to hold off Brad Keselowski until the first caution came out at lap 97.  Kyle Busch smacked the wall in Turn 3 after what they believe to be a broken track bar.  Jeff Gordon was able to win the race off pit road, and he remained the leader.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third at Martinsville (Courtesy Getty Images)

Gordon led all the way until lap 229, when his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the lead.  Following green flag pit stops, however, Jeff Gordon was able to regain the lead from Earnhardt Jr.  At the same time, Kasey Kahne's bad luck continued; his engine began to lose power.  Kahne took his Chevrolet to the garage as Dave Blaney spun on lap 244 to bring out the second caution.

 The caution flag flew again on lap 263 after Juan Pablo Montoya got a bump from Ken Schrader and went around.  The fourth caution flew for Kasey Kahne, who's woes continued.  After coming back out on the track after getting his engine serviced, his engine completely blew on lap 315.  On his way into the pits, he spun in his own oil and blocked the entrance to pit road.

Kasey Kahne's woes continued at Martinsville (Courtesy Getty Images)

The race went back green on lap 329, and Jeff Gordon still led the field.  Gordon led until lap 356, when Jimmie Johnson, who has won six Martinsville races, took the lead.  Johnson led up until the fifth caution, which came out on lap 361 when Travis Kvapil spun in Turn 2.  On the restart, Denny Hamlin beat Jeff Gordon out of the pits and took the lead.

Hamlin held the lead, but soon had to deal with Jimmie Johnson.  Johnson and Gordon got up to Hamlin, and Johnson raced Hamlin for about 20 laps in the closest racing we had seen all day, before Johnson finally was able to make the pass.  Gordon followed him through to move back up to second. 

Jeff Gordon led 328 laps en route to a 14th place finish (Courtesy Getty Images)

With 4 laps to go, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were beating and banging for the lead, when David Reutimann's car stalled on the track for the sixth caution.  Jeff Gordon was the leader on the restart, but he quickly lost the lead.  Clint Bowyer dove into the first turn 3-wide, and Jimmie Johnson spun before Jeff Gordon's car clipped Bowyer's car, spinning him out as well.  Ryan Newman took the lead, and under the caution Jeff Gordon ran out of gas.

Clint Bowyer (15), Jeff Gordon (24), and Jimmie Johnson (48) wreck in Turn 1 (Courtesy Getty Images)

Ryan Newman led AJ Allmendinger, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., and Matt Kenseth on the restart.  Newman was able to hold off AJ Allmendinger to win his first grandfather clock.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third, Matt Kenseth fourth, and Martin Truex Jr. fifth.  Points leader Greg Biffle had a very quiet day, and went on to finish 13th.  Jeff Gordon, who led a race-high 328 laps, finished one lap down in 14th.

The ending of the Goody's Fast Relief 500 was amazing.  The one thing that is shocking is that Hendrick Motorsports failed to win their 200th race.  Between Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports led 443 of the 515 laps run.  Rick Hendrick will have to wait at least two weeks to win the milestone victory, because the Sprint Cup Series is off next weekend.   The next race will be at Texas under the lights for the Samsung Mobile 500.  The race can be seen on Saturday, April 14 at 7 P.M. on FOX.