In a race marred by repeated cautions and culminating in a green-white-checkered restart in the final three laps, Jimmie Johnson held on under the lights on Saturday night to pick up the win in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. The victory was the first for Johnson in the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup series and was the long-awaited 200th Sprint Cup victory for owner Rick Hendrick.
Johnson took over on Lap 324 out of 367 and never looked back, holding off Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin to take home the checkered flag. With the win, Johnson jumps up to fifth place in the overall Sprint Cup points standings. Points leader Greg Biffle, who lead for over 30 laps to begin the race, finished 12th.
Here are the full results for Saturday night's Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway:
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Tony Stewart
4. Kyle Busch
5. Martin Truex Jr.
6. Matt Kenseth
7. Carl Edwards
8. Kasey Kahne
9. Marcos Ambrose
10. Joey Logano
11. Clint Bowyer
12. Greg Biffle
13. Paul Menard
14. Regan Smith
15. Brad Keselowski
16. Kevin Harvick
17. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
18. Jeff Burton
19. Aric Almirola
20. Mark Martin
21. Kurt Busch
22. Casey Mears
23. Ryan Newman
24. Juan Montoya
25. David Gilliland
26. Landon Cassill
27. Dave Blaney
28. David Ragan
29. Bobby Labonte
30. Reed Sorenson
31. Danica Patrick
32. Travis Kvapil
33. A.J. Allmendinger
34. Jamie McMurray
35. Jeff Gordon
26. David Reutimann
37. J.J. Yeley
38. Cole Whitt
39. David Stremme
40. Joe Nemecheck
41. Mike Skinner
42. Scott Speed
43. Jose Wise
For all news and information regarding the 2012 Sprint Cup Series, please visit NASCAR Ranting & Raving or check out SB Nation's dedicated NASCAR hub.
