NASCAR at Kansas 2015 Results: Winner, Standings, Highlights and Reaction

Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 was the second of three races in NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup Contender Round at Kansas Speedway. Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth battled down the stretch, and with mere laps remaining, Logano bumped Kenseth and spun him out en route to Victory Lane.     

Logano was the defending champion in this race and acquitted himself well to say the least, though it took a controversial move to get the job done, as captured by NASCAR's official Twitter account:

"Hard to drive a car with the rear tires off the ground. I've always been one of [Logano's] biggest fans. I'm not anymore," said Kenseth afterward, per Fox Sports: NASCAR on Twitter.

Logano could have let his foot off the gas having already qualified for the Eliminator Round thanks to last week's triumph at the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. NASCAR's best young gun had little to lose Sunday, was afforded the ability to be aggressive thanks to his prior win and fully capitalized on the circumstances.

Here is a look at the standings for the top finishers from the Hollywood Casino 400:

Place	Driver	Seconds off Lead
1	Joey Logano	—
2	Denny Hamlin	0.491
3	Jimmie Johnson	0.517
4	Kasey Kahne	0.869
5	Kyle Busch	1.164
6	Kurt Busch	1.641
7	Ryan Blaney	1.883
8	Carl Edwards	2.300
9	Brad Keselowski	2.587
10	Jeff Gordon	2.594

Car troubles plagued Kenseth last week after he qualified on the pole at Charlotte, and his outing at Kansas Speedway ended in even more heartbreaking fashion. Kenseth led 153 laps to Logano's 42, only to see that superiority not matter as he settled for 14th.

Ryan McGee of ESPN The Magazine emphasized how dominant Kenseth was for much of the afternoon:

"I got raced hard, I got fenced twice. I wasn't going to put up with it," said Logano about the Kenseth incident, per Athlon Sports' Geoffrey Miller.

SiriusXM Radio personality Jim Noble weighed in on the controversial duel that will dominate the Chase conversation until next weekend:

The green-white-checkered finish Logano triggered because of his late collision with Kenseth made it a bit more difficult. Upon the final restart, the 25-year-old managed to create separation from Denny Hamlin and was comfortably out in front in the end.

Brad Keselowski started on the pole in Kansas City and led for the first 28 laps before giving way to Kevin Harvick. Keselowski made slight contact with the wall after pitting for four new tires approximately two-thirds of the way through the race and fell back thereafter before settling for ninth place.

Although Harvick overtook Keselowski early on, he couldn't stay out in front for long—he led 21 laps in total—before a combination of Kenseth and Logano led the way for the majority of the rest of the race.

A rules violation caused Harvick to be knocked out of contention; the same was true for fellow Chase contender Martin Truex Jr., as USA Today's Brant James reported:

The most notable wreck of the day besides the Logano-Kenseth tangle among the seven caution flags came from Clint Bowyer's scary accident.

Unable to advance past the Challenger Round of 16, Bowyer was still hoping to do well in his home state but unfortunately lost control and got into the wall. NASCAR's official Twitter feed had the highlight:

ESPN's Bob Pockrass passed along an encouraging update regarding Bowyer's health status:

Instead of allowing for a different driver to claim glory on Sunday and automatically qualify for the Eliminator Round, Logano finished first for the second time in as many weeks, marking his fifth win of the season.

The Contender Round finale takes place next Sunday at the CampingWorld.com 500 held at Talladega Superspeedway. Kevin Harvick has taken the checkered flag in each of the past two years and also won in 2006, so he has to be considered the prohibitive favorite.

Harvick won at Dover International Speedway earlier this month and followed with a runner-up finish in his next start. Since he grabbed an early lead Sunday and ultimately wound up 16th, it stands to reason Harvick will continue his roll at a track he's had immense success on.

But with how hot Logano is, it wouldn't be a shock to see him rattle off a third victory in as many races.

Note: Stats courtesy of NASCAR.com unless otherwise indicated.