Jimmie Johnson took victory in Monday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol, which was postponed from Sunday by rain.

With no qualifying session taking place, pole was given to Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson ahead of Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr based on championship standings.

Drivers fought to take the sticky, resin-covered inside line and avoid the slick outside line until the final stage, when grip levels increased.

Johnson, Larson and Kevin Harvick battled in close quarters for the last 30 laps after a caution triggered by Kasey Kahne on lap 461.

Eventually, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Harvick finished third behind team-mate Clint Bowyer, who was anonymous for most of the race but benefited from numerous late cautions and some rapid pit-stops.

Bowyer tried to challenge Johnson for victory in the closing stages, but finished one second behind.

Logano fell back to fifth at the finish, having been bullied into traffic and onto the outside line by Bowyer and Harvick.

Kenseth played a patient game to finish fourth, having been just outside the top ten in both stages one and two.

Polesitter Larson also succumbed to traffic and ended up sixth, a second behind Logano, which was disappointing given his performance in stages one and two.

Larson won stage one having led all 125 laps, followed by a pacey Truex and his rookie team-mate and Xfinity race winner Erik Jones, whose promising run was set back when he hit the wall on lap 420 and collected AJ Allmendinger.

Furniture Row Racing’s Truex won stage two with an excellent lap 229 restart on four new tyres, with Logano and Johnson in tow for second and third respectively.

Larson fell behind on that restart, with tyre wear eventually pushing him back to seventh. Truex lost a shot at victory having sped in the pits late on and finished eighth overall.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr continued his solid record at Bristol in ninth, following on from second in 2016.

RESULTS

Jimmie Johnson wins postponed Bristol NASCAR race