Kenseth led the final 125 laps and held off Kasey Kahne to win the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol, his series-best fifth win of the year. If the Chase For The Cup started this week, Kenseth would be the top seed.
Johnson’s day ended when his engine blew on lap 55 and he eventually finished 40th, but still maintained a healthy lead in the Sprint Cup point standings. He leads Clint Bowyer by 41.
Johnson finished eighth at Watkins Glen, posting his series-best 15th top-10 result. His lead in the Sprint Cup point standings is 75 over Clint Bowyer.
Johnson started from the pole at Pocono but found trouble on lap 76 when he cut a tire and hit the wall. Despite the damage, he finished 13th and actually increased his lead in the points standings to 77 over Clint Bowyer.
Johnson controlled the Brickyard 400 until a slow pit stop late in the race likely cost him any chance at the win. He finished second behind Ryan Newman and still maintained a healthy led in the Sprint Cup point standings.
Johnson was dominant at Daytona and held on after several late restarts to win the Coke Zero 400. Johnson became the first driver to sweep both Daytona races since Bobby Allison in 1982.
Kenseth’s gamble to take no tires during pits stops on the final caution paid off handsomely, as he collected his fourth win of the year with a win at Kentucky. He is now fifth in the Sprint Cup point standings, 82 behind Jimmie Johnson.
Jimmie Johnson: While in pursuit of Greg Biffle in the lead, Johnson’s No. 48 Chevy cut a tire and slammed hard into the wall at Turn 2. Biffle went on to win, while Johnson finished 28th, one lap down. He remained the points leader, and holds a 31-point cushion over Carl Edwards.
Johnson dominated at Pocono, leading 128 of the first 160 laps, and won the Party At The Poconos 500. His sizable lead in the point standings is now even larger, a 51-point cushion over Carl Edwards.
The 2021 Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led a race-high 277 of 300-scheduled laps en route to the first Xfinity victory for himself and Hendrick Motorsports at the Last Great Colosseum.
Brandon Jones followed his Darlington win with a fifth-place run to lead Toyota in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday evening.
The three-time Daytona 500 pole winner from Tucson, Arizona, posted a pole-winning lap at 128.675 mph in 14.912 seconds, which was enough to claim his second Cup Series pole position of the 2025 season and his second in a row at Thunder Valley.
