Last weekend, Dale Earnhardt Jr. led 67 laps en route to victory in the GEICO 500 at Talladega as the tens of thousands of Junior fans stood and cheered in the grandstands as he did his victory lap for the sixth time in his career at the 2.66-mile track.
Earnhardt and Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon were far and away the class of the field in the 10th Sprint Cup race of the season. The trio led 164 of the 188 laps.
MORE: Memorable photos of Kansas Speedway | Erik Jones will drive the 18 at Kansas | Junior compares driving style to . . . DW's?
This week the circuit moves to one of Gordon's best tracks, Kansas Speedway.
Gordon boasts a track-record 10 top fives in 18 starts at the 1.5-mile oval, a whopping 55.6 percent. He will look for the first win of his final season as a full-time driver at a track where he has won three previous times.
This week's events are the Sprint Cup SpongeBob SquarePants 400 and the Camping World Trucks Toyota Tundra 250. Check out the full schedule (all times Eastern):
THURSDAY
3 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice
4:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice
FRIDAY
12:00 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, Fox Sports 1
2:30 p.m..: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, Fox Sports 1
4:45 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying, Fox Sports 1
6:45 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, Fox Sports 1
8:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Toyota Tundra 250, Fox Sports 1 (167 laps, 250.5 miles)
SATURDAY
7:30 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series SpongeBob SquarePants 400, Fox Sports 1 (267 laps, 400.5 miles)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: 2014 Kansas spring race recap
Gordon earned his first win of the season by holding off pole winner Kevin Harvick over the final laps of the 5-Hour Energy 400.
Kasey Kahne finished third, followed by Joey Logano and Earnhardt. Danica Patrick was the surprise of the race with her seventh-place finish, the best of her Sprint Cup career.
A major wreck involving Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger and David Gilliland delayed action with 81 laps to go. Allgaier was sent straight into the path of Gilliland and both slammed the wall hard. Gilliland said the crash was one of the biggest hits he's ever experienced.
Results
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (13) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 267 laps, 119.4 rating, 47 points.
2. (1) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 267, 137.7, 44.
3. (17) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 267, 115.5, 42.
4. (2) Joey Logano, Ford, 267, 128.7, 41.
5. (22) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 267, 109, 40.
6. (4) Carl Edwards, Ford, 267, 103, 39.
7. (9) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 267, 101.4, 37.
8. (12) Aric Almirola, Ford, 267, 90.4, 36.
9. (14) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 267, 100.2, 36.
10. (28) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 267, 81.3, 35.
11. (7) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 267, 92.7, 33.
12. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 267, 89.4, 32.
13. (3) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 267, 89.9, 32.
14. (15) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 267, 82.9, 30.
15. (24) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 267, 75.3, 30.
16. (10) Greg Biffle, Ford, 267, 79, 28.
17. (16) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 266, 70.4, 27.
18. (30) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 266, 70.6, 26.
19. (19) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 266, 68.5, 25.
20. (8) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 266, 94.9, 24.
21. (26) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 266, 59, 23.
22. (20) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 265, 62.1, 22.
23. (23) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 264, 59.9, 21.
24. (25) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 264, 58.2, 20.
25. (34) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 264, 49.1, 19.
26. (27) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 264, 52, 18.
27. (21) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 263, 60.8, 0.
28. (36) Cole Whitt, Toyota, 263, 42.2, 16.
29. (6) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 263, 66.9, 15.
30. (29) A J Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 262, 50, 14.
31. (43) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 262, 32.6, 0.
32. (37) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 261, 32.1, 12.
33. (32) Josh Wise, Ford, 261, 29, 11.
34. (41) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 258, 41.7, 10.
35. (33) Alex Bowman, Toyota, 257, 35.8, 9.
36. (18) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, accident, 186, 64.5, 8.
37. (39) David Gilliland, Ford, accident, 184, 40.9, 7.
38. (38) David Ragan, Ford, 171, 31.5, 6.
39. (11) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, accident, 149, 86.2, 5.
40. (42) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, engine, 137, 32.9, 4.
41. (35) J.J. Yeley, Chevrolet, engine, 136, 42.2, 0.
42. (40) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, accident, 63, 28.4, 0.
43. (31) Ryan Truex, Toyota, accident, 57, 38.8, 1.
Race statistics
Average speed of race winner: 128.149 mph.
Time of race: 3 hours, 7 minutes, 31 seconds.
Margin of victory: 0.112 seconds.
Caution flags: Eight for 47 laps.
Lead changes: 25 among 10 drivers.
Recent winners (spring)
2014: Gordon
2013: Kenseth
2012: Hamlin
2011: Keselowski
Recent winners (fall)
2014: Logano
2013: Harvick
2012: Kenseth
2011: Johnson
Top five drivers at Kansas since 2011 (eight races)
Kenseth (two wins, four top fives, one pole, 6.2 average finish)
Harvick (one win, two top fives, three poles, 7.6 average finish)
Edwards (four top fives, 8.2 average finish)
Kahne (four top-fives, one pole, 8.8 average finish)
Johnson (one win, three top fives, 9.8 average finish)
News and notes
— Kansas Speedway is the "hometown track" for three drivers: Bowyer (Emporia, Kan.), McMurray (Joplin, Mo.) and Edwards (Columbia, Mo.). None of them has won a Sprint Cup race at Kansas, but 12 different competitors have won the track’s 18 races since it opened in 2001.
— Thanks to his nine top 10s this season, Truex is second in the points standings behind Harvick. The only other time Truex was as high as second in the points standings was after the eighth race of the 2012 season … at Kansas.
— Although Earnhardt captured his sixth victory at Talladega last week, he has never won at Kansas. Despite not reaching victory lane, the 12-time most popular driver has had decent luck at the track with eight top 10 finishes (47.1 percent) in 17 starts.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: 2014 spring race recap
Pole winner Kyle Busch used that position to lead a race-high 104 laps, including the final 22, and capture his 37th win in the series.
Matt Crafton, the 2013 Truck Series winner at Kansas, Matt Crafton, finished second. Logano finished third in his first Truck Series start of the season. Austin Dillon, also making his first series start in 2014, was fourth. Tayler Malsam rounded out the top five.
The race had nine cautions for 46 laps, with eight of those cautions coming in the first 85 laps of the race.
Xfinity Series
The series returns to action May 17 with the Iowa 250 from Iowa Speedway.