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 It was his first-career win at Kansas, leaving only two tracks on
the Sprint Cup schedule -- Charlotte Motor Speedway and Pocono
Raceway -- at which he is still winless.
Kevin Harvick finished second, Kurt Busch third, Matt Kenseth fourth
and rookie Ryan Blaney finished fifth, respectively.
Kenseth started second to Kyle Busch on a restart just inside 20
laps to go, but quickly lost positions to Harvick and Busch. Harvick
battled Busch closely for the lead for several laps after taking
over the second spot but faded in the final five laps.
Martin Truex Jr. dominated the 267-lap race until a cycle of
green-flag pit stops that started on lap 211. After leading 172
laps, he had to pit twice during the cycle, the second stop coming
because of a bolt that lodged between a wheel hub and brake caliper.
Truex went from race leader to a lap down.
Busch and Kenseth ran second and third to Truex before the
green-flag cycle. After Tony Stewart stayed out later to lead laps
before heading for pit road, Busch and Kenseth benefitted from
Truex's trouble to take over the top two spots in the running order.
 Busch and Kenseth stayed out during a lap 233 debris caution, while
everyone behind them pitted. Busch was able to remain up front,
despite being on older tires, but Kenseth lost several positions
when the race returned to green.
Kenseth's drop wound up being a blessing in disguise, as drivers who
passed him for position -- Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin
and Brad Keselowski -- got tangled in a wreck fighting for positions
just behind leader Busch. The wreck handed second back over to
Kenseth.
Truex dominated the first half of the race and was the leader at the
halfway point. He led 99 of the first 134 laps.
After starting on the pole, Truex pulled away from the field and had
a lead of more than four seconds by the time the first yellow flag
of the race waved for debris on lap 23. He temporarily lost the lead
to another Toyota driver, Kyle Busch, on pit road. Truex, along with
most of the other drivers in the race took four tires, while Busch
and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Carl Edwards, elected to take
two. As a result, Busch and Edwards restarted first and second.
Edwards lost spots on the restart, while Truex got back up to second
to challenge Busch. When the yellow waved again on lap 56, Truex got
off pit road first to reassume the lead. He continued to lead
throughout the remainder of the race's opening half.
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Toyota led the entire first half of the race. Aside from Truex and
Busch, BK Racing Toyota drivers Matt DiBenedetto and David Ragan
also were each credited with a lap led during caution as drivers
worked their ways on and off pit road.
Larson, meanwhile, made the most of the second and third restarts of
the race, running at the top of the track and picking off multiple
positions when the race returned to green. On the restart following
the lap 56 caution, he moved into the top five.
On a restart just past lap 100, he moved up to second. The driver he
passed for second was Kenseth. A few laps later, Kenseth retook the
spot.
NOTES: Martin Truex Jr. led a Toyota sweep of the top-three in
qualifying. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin
joined Truex for the manufacturer's top-three on the starting grid.
... Truex led a race-high 95 laps in last year's GoBowling.com 400
but a late-race pit stop for fuel took him out of contention. ...
Jimmie Johnson won the 2015 GoBowling.com 400, but Joey Logano won
the most recent Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas, winning at the
track during the last year's Chase for the Sprint Cup championship
postseason. Logano's win last fall was his second in three Kansas
races. ... Johnson suffered an engine issue in his No. 48 Hendrick
Motorsports Chevrolet during practice on Friday. ... Heading into
Saturday night's race, the first 10 races of the season produced six
different race winners, including four two-time winners, including
Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson. ...
Emporia, Kan., native Clint Bowyer was the only Sprint Cup Series
regular who competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race
at Kansas on Friday night. He finished fifth, while Truck Series
rookie William Byron claimed his first truck win.
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