A record setting day with a track all-time caution record of fourteen, occurred Sunday afternoon at the Kansas Speedway.

Fourteen cautions at Kansas was also the most in any race this season.

Matt Kenseth was slightly involved in an incident, but Kenseth still came out on top. Kenseth struggled early in the Chase, putting him behind in the point standings. Now with two wins, he still sits far back in the Chase standings.

Many Chasers experienced troubles today but the points were only slightly affected.

Pole-sitter Kasey Kahne couldn’t even hold the lead for one lap, as Mark Martin quickly got around Kahne to lead the first lap.

Aric Almirola had a very strong car for much of the afternoon and took the lead for the first time on lap seven.

The first caution of the day came out on lap 31 for the No.13 of Casey Mears who blew a tire and hit the turn two wall hard. That type of incident occurred all race long.

There was also a very rare occurrence on the restart, with three non-Chasers leading the race. With all Chase drivers competing for a championship, to see none of them in the top three at this point in the race is very rare.

Running second at the time, Kyle Busch brought out the second caution of the day when he spun off turn four.

A.J Allmendinger brought out the third caution of the day when he blew his tire and hit the turn three wall hard. Allmendinger had been running in the top five up until that point.

Jimmie Johnson beat Aric Almirola off pit road to gain the lead for the first time in the race.

The fourth yellow-flag of the day came out on lap 83 for Jeff Burton who hit the wall in turn four after slight contact with Tony Stewart. The contact got Burton loose and he slapped the wall.

Jimmie Johnson pitted from the lead on lap 119 to start the cycle of green-flag pit stops and he handed the lead over to Aric Almirola.

The fifth caution of the day came out on lap 122 for leader Aric Almirola, who got into the wall coming off of turn four. Almirola had little damage and eventually made his way back to the front.

Last week’s winner Clint Bowyer was the new leader on the restart.

Matt Kenseth took his first lead of the afternoon on lap 128.

At the halfway mark of the race, there were almost twice as many cautions than in the April Kansas race. The new Kansas surface proved to be exciting and tough to maneuver throughout the race.

Kenseth led, followed by Bowyer, Biffle, Gordon and Menard.

A potentially devastating blow to Jimmie Johnson’s championship hopes occurred on lap 135. Johnson got loose in turn four and backed into the wall. Johnson never went to the garage and his team repaired the back end of the car under the caution. Johnson had been running very well up until this point.

Not even one lap after the restart, trouble struck again. Bobby Labonte wrecked in turn three after slight contact with David Gilliland. Labonte spun up the track and backed into the outside wall. Labonte brought his car to the garage and ended his day.

The eighth yellow-flag of the day appeared on lap 155 for Danica Patrick and Landon Cassill. Cassill and Patrick had been running roughly around the track for quite a few laps and Danica didn’t lay off Cassill’s bumper, going into turn two. Cassill and Patrick spun and when Danica tried to save her car, she took a hard right turn into the outside wall. Patrick suffered a lot of damage and Cassill got away with minimal damage. Danica’s crew chief Greg Zipadelli told her after the incident that “you (Danica) know better than that.” Patrick said in an interview that she had to “stand up for myself or everybody is going to do it (race rough with her).”

On the restart Mark Martin moved to the lead.

The ninth caution of the race came out on lap 165 for Tony Stewart who spun down the backstretch. Stewart managed not to hit anything and continue the race.

The tenth yellow-flag waved with 99 laps to go for Trevor Bayne and Marcos Ambrosem who drove into turn three hard and then he tried to slow up but he moved up and got into Trevor Bayne, turning them both into the outside wall.

On the ensuing restart, Aric Almirola spun down the backstretch, while battling Mark Martin for the lead. No caution came out and the race continued.

Chaser Greg Biffle had his day go down the drain when he wrecked off turn four. Biffle got loose coming off turn four and then slapped the wall hard, then spun through the infield grass, leaving Biffle to take his No.16 car behind the wall.

The twelfth caution of the day came out with 86 laps to go. Kyle Busch was tapped from behind by Ryan Newman coming off turn four and Busch backed into the outside wall, then slid through the infield grass. Newman was then tapped from behind by Sam Hornish Jr and Newman slid through the infield grass which tore up Newman’s front end. Busch said after the incident that “he’ll (Newman) get another one before the year’s out.”

With 60 laps to go drivers, including Denny Hamlin, began making their green-flag pit stops.

The record-tying thirteenth caution came out with 54 laps to go for Aric Almirola cut a tire down then went full speed into the turn four wall with an incredible impact. Almirola said after the incident that he had the wind knocked out of him during the hit. Almirola said “I never had a race car that good.”  Almirola was having his best run of the year up until this point and led a career high number of laps in the race.

Kenseth was the leader on the restart.

The fourteenth record-breaking and final caution of the afternoon came out with 33 laps to go, for Sam Hornish Jr, who blew a tire and hit the turn one wall.

Kasey Kahne was expected to challenge Matt Kenseth for the lead on the upcoming restart but when Kahne didn’t maintain pace car speed under caution, he was penalized. Kahne fell back to sixth and that mistake cost him a potential victory.

Matt Kenseth was able to hold off Martin Truex Jr for the final laps. Kenseth then crossed the line first for the third time this season and the second time in three weeks. Kenseth won at Talladega two weeks ago and his win at Kansas is second for the 2012 Chase races. Kenseth was emotional in victory lane because this could be his final win for Roush-Fenway Racing. Kenseth is moving to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2013.

Other notable Chaser finishes are Martin Truex Jr in second, Kahne in fourth, Stewart fifth, Bowyer sixth, Keselowski eighth, Johnson ninth, Gordon tenth, Harvick eleventh, Hamlin thirteenth and Biffle twenty-seventh.

Almost half the Chasers were involved in an incident throughout the afternoon. Jimmie Johnson went from wrecking and being counted out of a good finish, to a top ten finish. If Johnson is to win the championship, this race will be the race seen as his best performance.

Brad Keselowski still leads the point’s standings by seven over Jimmie Johnson. Hamlin trails Keselowski by twenty and Bowyer trails Keselowski by twenty-five. A record fourteen cautions shook up the Chase field once again. Johnson and Hamlin continue to Chase Keselowski heading into Martinsville.

Martinsville has been very good to drivers like Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin and they could finally make their move on Keselowski. More drama is expected next week at Martinsville; tune in next Sunday to see another wild Chase race.

Results via Nascar.com

FIN	ST	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	PTS/BNS	LAPS	STATUS
1	12	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Zest	48/2	267	Running
2	16	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	42/0	267	Running
3	14	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Menards / CertainTeed	42/1	267	Running
4	1	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	Farmers Insurance	41/1	267	Running
5	33	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Office Depot / Mobil 1	39/0	267	Running
6	3	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	5-Hour Energy Benefiting Avon Foundation for Women	39/1	267	Running
7	39	88	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	National Guard / Diet Mountain Dew	37/0	267	Running
8	25	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Miller Lite	36/0	267	Running
9	7	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe’s	36/1	267	Running
10	19	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	DuPont	35/1	267	Running
11	10	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Budweiser	33/0	267	Running
12	18	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	Black & Decker	32/0	267	Running
13	9	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Freight	31/0	267	Running
14	17	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Fastenal	30/0	267	Running
15	21	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Arctic Cat	29/0	267	Running
16	24	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Taylor Swift / Target	28/0	267	Running
17	31	93	Travis Kvapil	Toyota	Burger King / Dr Pepper	28/1	267	Running
18	26	83	Landon Cassill	Toyota	Burger King / Dr Pepper	26/0	267	Running
19	8	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	Dollar General	25/0	267	Running
20	37	34	David Ragan	Ford	Client One Securities, LLC	24/0	267	Running
21	32	21	Trevor Bayne	Ford	Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center	0	267	Running
22	42	32	Timmy Hill	Ford	Southern Pride Trucking / U.S. Chrome	22/0	267	Running
23	38	38	David Gilliland	Ford	Long John Silver’s	22/1	267	Running
24	2	55	Mark Martin	Toyota	Aaron’s Dream Machine	21/1	267	Running
25	29	78	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	Furniture Row / Farm American	19/0	265	Running
26	15	22	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	Shell / Pennzoil	0	234	Accident
27	11	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M / Sherwin Williams	17/0	227	Running
28	20	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	16/0	214	Running
29	5	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	Farmland	16/1	212	Accident
30	6	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Code 3 Associates	14/0	188	Accident
31	4	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M’s Halloween	13/0	181	Accident
32	40	10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	0	154	Accident
33	22	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	Kingsford	11/0	140	Accident
34	35	195	Scott Speed	Ford	B&D Electrical	10/0	77	Electrical
35	13	51	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	Phoenix Construction	9/0	69	Accident
36	30	119	Mike Bliss	Toyota	Plinker Tactical / Crowne Plaza	0	47	Vibration
37	28	13	Casey Mears	Ford	GEICO	7/0	29	Accident
38	43	179	Kelly Bires	Ford	Bestway Disposal / Re-Load.biz	0	28	Rear Gear
39	41	36	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	TBR / TMone	5/0	25	Brakes
40	36	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	AM / FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves	0	22	Rear Gear
41	34	191	Reed Sorenson	Toyota	Plinker Tactical / Crowne Plaza	0	18	Overheating
42	27	37	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	MaxQworkforce .com	2/0	11	Vibration
43	23	98	Michael McDowell	Ford	K-Love / Curb Records	1/0	7	Vibration