Matt Kenseth wins 2015 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway

Matt Kenseth started first and ended the night in the same position. All he had to do in-between was endure four red flags due to rain, escape myriad incidents that took out several contenders and complete a flawless late restart to win Sunday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Persistent rain wreaked havoc on a race that was supposed to begin shortly after 1 p.m. ET, but didn’t take the green flag until almost 90 minutes after its scheduled start. Twice showers forced NASCAR to put the Food City 500 under the red flag.

The last stoppage occurred following a wreck involving Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch and several others eight laps from the finish. Edwards was enjoying what had been his best run of the season when trying to pass Gordon for second, but he overdrove and slapped the Turn 1 wall. Busch then rear-ended Edwards, triggering a chain reaction behind them.

But before the race could restart, rain began falling and after having cars circle for several laps, officials called drivers to park on pit road.

Once the rain dissipated, a green-white-checkered finish featuring Kenseth, Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman holding the top three positions determined the race. Kenseth got the jump on the restart and pulled away for his first victory of the season, snapping a 51-race winless streak dating to September 2013.

“It means a lot,” Kenseth said of winning. “Last year was tough and not winning again this year had been tough. I’ve been trying to put myself in a position to finally get one.”

Jimmie Johnson finished second, followed by Gordon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Newman. Tony Stewart finished a season-best sixth, with Kyle Larson seventh. Justin Allgaier placed a career-best eighth. Danica Patrick and Austin Dillon were ninth and 10th, respectively.

Johnson was one of several drivers who were involved in one of 11 cautions that slowed the race, at one point falling a lap down after being pushed into the wall by Kurt Busch. After that incident Johnson triggered a multi-car wreck when he spun rookie Jeb Burton. In the aftermath, Kevin Harvick -- who led a race-high 184 laps -- and David Ragan sustained significant damage.

“Sometimes when you race back there with the squirrels, you find a nut sometimes,” Ragan said. “That’s just Bristol. You’re racing hard and (Burton) was a little slower and I know Jimmie is probably a little impatient trying to get back to the front.”

The first caution of the nine-hour race came when Brad Keselowski spun in front of teammate Joey Logano on Lap 19. Both Team Penske drivers suffered heavy damage and never contended as expected. It was during the cleanup of the accident when the rain returned, necessitating a 3 hour, 58 minute red flag period.

When the race resumed Joe Gibbs Racing had replaced Denny Hamlin with Erik Jones as driver of the No. 11 car. Hamlin began feeling stiffness in his neck on Lap 12 and elected to not get back behind the wheel with his discomfort worsening

A JGR developmental driver in the Xfinity and Truck Series, Jones had never raced in NASCAR’s top division previously. He finished 26th, six laps down in relief.