Last Lap Thriller: Johnson bests Edwards, Biffle

Jimmie Johnson won the Camping World RV 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, narrowly missing a last lap takeover by Carl Edwards.

Johnson had a sizable lead over Edwards before catching lapped traffic within the closing laps. With two laps to go and nothing but a clear racetrack ahead, Edwards, Missouri native, used his desire to win on his home track as motivation and began his charge, making good use of the high lane. With Edwards tight on his bumper, Johnson moved his No. 48 Chevrolet high, taking Edwards' groove. Edwards then dropped his No. 99 Ford low, sailing into the lead on the backstretch.

At full speed and with a full load of momentum, Edwards's red Ford was unable to stick the position, sliding high and into the wall in Turn 4. Johnson overpowered Edwards as he rode the wall, claiming his fifth win of the season, his first in the Chase.

“I thought I was sitting in great shape with two to go — had a nice, comfortable lead. Next thing you know, that 99 is all over me. I had a battle on my hands," Johnson said. “I was cruising down the backstretch, had a decent lead. I knew he would go to the bottom. My concern was just making sure I was at his quarter panel coming off of Turn 2. Next thing you know, that car goes flying by. I knew instantly, there was no damn way he's making the turn. I just stayed on the brake, tried to get redirected and turned down. I was so in awe of how fast he drove it in, I watched him pound the wall and jump back on the gas. I thought, 'Man, he's serious about this win, I better get back on the gas myself.'"
 
“There at the end my car was just a little too loose,” Edwards explained. “I could just hang with Jimmie. I couldn't get him until the last couple laps when I just started bonsaiing it around on the top there. He saw what I was doing, so he went up there to block. That last lap, I just figured, hell with it, I don't want to finish second here, I want to win this race more than anything in the world, so I kind of bonsaied it in there. I wanted to make sure I cleared Jimmie. I went probably just a little too far and hit the wall harder than I planned on hitting it, he got back by me.

“It was fun. Always wanted to kind of try to do that. Now I know it doesn't work quite the same as video games."

Johnson, driving for Hendrick Motorsports and Roush Fenway Racing's Edwards swapped positions in the point standings with Johnson now leading Edwards by 10 points following the third race in the Chase. Greg Biffle, who edged out Johnson's Hendrick teammate Jeff Gordon for third place at the stripe, remains third in points after winning the first two Chase events.

Gordon was under the weather all weekend and for precautionary measures, kept future Hendrick Motorsports teammate Brad Keselowski on standby. With his fifth championship still mathematically possible as he sits sixth, Gordon stuck out his ailments and remained in his familiar No. 24 Chevrolet, finishing fourth.

Matt Kenseth led 49 laps on the day before being turned after contact from Casey Mears on lap 123. Kenseth rebounded to finish fifth.

Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, David Ragan, A.J. Allmendinger and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top 10.

Burton's Richard Childress Racing team was forced to change the tachometer in the No. 31 Chevrolet before the race. He was then dropped to the rear of the field at the start.

Allmendinger notched his career-best finish of ninth on Sunday, less than a week after learning he would not be returning to the No. 84 Red Bull Toyota next season.

Chasers Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. fell just outside of the top 10, finishing 11th through 13th, respectively.

Kansas-native Bowyer started his day off on a sour note, being black flagged at the start of the race for passing prior to the green flag. He was forced to make a pass through penalty on pit road. He served his penalty and got back on track but was quickly passed by Johnson, who was the pole-sitter and dropped him a lap. He later received the free pass and contended within the top 10 throughout the day but was penalized for speeding on pit road on lap 220.

Kyle Busch's downward spiral in the Chase continued on Sunday, suffering engine troubles throughout the 400-miler and finishing 28th.

His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Tony Stewart, had troubles of his own, spinning on lap 129, forcing the team to make later repairs under green flag conditions to the front splitter. Stewart's weekend was rough from the start, qualifying 41st and getting penalized early in the race for speeding. He finished the race 40th.

The JGR camp isn't faring too well thus far in the Chase, holding down the 10th (Hamlin), 11th (Stewart) and 12th (Busch) positions in the 12-man point race.

Though challenged at the finish, Johnson had the best car all weekend. Initially, he qualified second for the race but pole-sitter Juan Pablo Montoya's time was disallowed after failing post-qualifying inspection for issues surrounding the shock absorbers. Johnson then inherited the pole slot. He led 124 of the 164 laps Sunday. Edwards led 31.

On lap 219 the yellow flag waved after Travis Kvapil bounced off of the wall. Edwards led at the time and led the field down pit road for the final round of stops. Johnson's Lowe's-sponsored pit crew gave their driver the lead at the exit of pit road and Johnson maintained the track position until temporarily losing it on the last lap.

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