Gordon holds on in Kansas

Sprint Cup points leader Jeff Gordon has registered his first race win of the season with victory in Kansas.

Gordon, who is celebrating the 20th anniversary since his first win at the Cup level, held off Kevin Harvick over the final laps to secure his 89th career victory taking the chequered flag in the 5-Hour Energy 400.

It’s the four-time champion’s first win since Martinsville last autumn and it earned him a place in the record book as the first winner of a night race at the track.

“I knew we had a fast race car. We’ve had a fast race car every single week. And that’s just given me so much confidence,” said Gordon.

“Kevin was tough. He was so strong. I did not know if I could hold him off and I almost didn’t there at the end.

“This is so sweet. What a huge weight lifted on this team’s shoulders.”

Kasey Kahne, Gordon’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, finished third while Joey Logano was fourth. In fifth was a third Hendrick driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Rounding out the top 10 were Carl Edwards, Danica Patrick, Aric Almirola, Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth. Patrick had by far her most impressive effort on a non-restrictor plate track.

Pole sitter Harvick led the most laps in the race. After dominating the opening period of the race, Harvick’s night was put on the back foot when a spin by Australian Marcos Ambrose on Lap 110 produced a caution. Harvick had pitted as the leader six laps earlier while most of the rest of the field did not. That put him a lap off the pace. He did get the free pass, but when the race went green, he was outside of the top 15. His effort in climbing back through the pack came up just two car lengths short at the finish.

The biggest incident of the night occurred when Justin Allgaier and David Gilliland came together in a hard wreck. Both drivers walked away with Gilliland left sore after the hard hit.

“The 51 (Allgaier) came back up the track and I hit him and from there a lot of stuff happened,” said Gilliland.

“We are alright though. Just a little sore obviously. That is one of the hardest hits I have had in awhile. Hopefully it will be the hardest one for awhile to come too.”

A disappointing night for Ambrose who’s spin came after battling handling issues. He would come home 25th at the finish.

Next week the racing action continues for non-championship points with the All-Star event in Charlotte.

VIDEO: Gordon wins in Kansas

VIDEO: Gilliland and Allgair crash

 

RESULTS: 5Hour Energy 400 – Kansas Speedway 

POS	Car #	Driver	Make	Start Pos.	Laps	Laps Led	Final Status	Points	Bonus Points
1	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	13	267	9	Running	47	4
2	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	1	267	119	Running	44	2
3	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	17	267	22	Running	42	1
4	22	Joey Logano	Ford	2	267	63	Running	41	1
5	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	Chevrolet	22	267	9	Running	40	1
6	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	4	267	6	Running	39	1
7	10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	9	267	0	Running	37	0
8	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	12	267	0	Running	36	0
9	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	14	267	24	Running	36	1
10	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	28	267	1	Running	35	1
11	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	7	267	0	Running	33	0
12	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	5	267	0	Running	32	0
13	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	3	267	13	Running	32	1
14	55	Brian Vickers	Toyota	15	267	0	Running	30	0
15	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	24	267	1	Running	30	1
16	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	10	267	0	Running	28	0
17	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	16	266	0	Running	27	0
18	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	30	266	0	Running	26	0
19	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	19	266	0	Running	25	0
20	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	8	266	0	Running	24	0
21	78	Martin Truex Jr	Chevrolet	26	266	0	Running	23	0
22	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Ford	20	265	0	Running	22	0
23	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	23	264	0	Running	21	0
24	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	25	264	0	Running	20	0
25	7	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	34	264	0	Running	19	0
26	13	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	27	264	0	Running	18	0
27	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	21	263	0	Running	0	0
28	26	Cole Whitt	Toyota	36	263	0	Running	16	0
29	41	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	6	263	0	Running	15	0
30	47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	29	262	0	Running	14	0
31	66	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	43	262	0	Running	0	0
32	36	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	37	261	0	Running	12	0
33	98	Josh Wise	Ford	32	261	0	Running	11	0
34	32	Travis Kvapil	Ford	41	258	0	Running	10	0
35	23	Alex Bowman	Toyota	33	257	0	Running	9	0
36	51	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	18	186	0	Accident	8	0
37	38	David Gilliland	Ford	39	184	0	Accident	7	0
38	34	David Ragan	Ford	38	171	0	Running	6	0
39	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	11	149	0	Accident	5	0
40	33	Timmy Hill	Chevrolet	42	137	0	Engine	4	0
41	44	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	35	136	0	Engine	0	0
42	40	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	40	63	0	Accident	0	0
43	83	Ryan Truex	Toyota	31	57	0	Accident	1	0

 

STANDINGS: