KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Jimmie Johnson barely held off a strong challenge from Carl Edwards on Sunday at Kansas Speedway, winning the race and vaulting into first place in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

            Edwards, who overcame a poor starting position and two pit lane incidents, to catch and pass Johnson for the lead, lost the top spot to Johnson on a pit stop with 47 laps to go. He finally caught him again on the last lap, shooting past Johnson on the low side of the banked 1.5-mile oval in turn three — but just a little too fast.

            Edwards slid up the track and bounced off the wall as Johnson drove back past and on to his fifth victory of the season, with Edwards holding on for second.

            ‘‘That was cool,’’ Johnson said moments after crossing the finish line.

            Edwards was grinning after the race.

            ‘‘I planned on hitting the wall, but I didn’t plan on the wall slowing me down that much,’’ Edwards said. ‘‘In video games, you can just run into the wall and run it wide open. That’s what I did, but it didn’t quite work out the same as the video game. I just really, really wanted to win this race.’’

            Greg Biffle, who came into the third race of the 10-race Chase for the championship with two straight victories, followed the leaders across the finish line to stay close in the points.