The top two finishers Saturday night at Kansas Speedway also hold the top two spots in the Sprint Cup points standings through 11 races this season.
Kevin Harvick couldn’t catch race winner Kyle Busch in the GoBowling.com 400, but he maintained his grip in the rankings with a runner-up finish. Harvick leads Busch by 4 points, followed by Carl Edwards (-23), Jimmie Johnson (-37) and Kurt Busch (-40).
Joey Logano, who finished 38th at Kansas after a late crash, fell two spots in the standings to seventh.
Tony Stewart, who missed the first eight races with a fractured back, gained a spot to 37th in the standings. The three-time series champion needs to finish the regular season in the top 30 in points with a victory if he wants to qualify for the playoffs in his final season.
With a 12th at Kansas, Stewart shaved 12 points off the gap to 30th. He is 59 points out of the cutoff spot with 15 races left in the regular season.
Here are the points standings after Kansas: