By NICK SCHWIEN

nschwien@dailynews.net

The race played perfectly into the hands of C.J. Johnson.

When it did, it was a familiar site Friday night at RPM Speedway in Hays.

The Quinter racer slowly crept up on the field. Then, when the leader got in lap traffic, Johnson made his move en route to winning the United Rebel Sprint Series 305 sprint car feature -- his fourth win in as many tries this season in Hays.

"I would almost rather lay back and wait to catch up to the lap traffic," Johnson said.

That's when his experience and talent took over. Without that, it might have been a completely different ending.

Ken Lutters led the field the first few laps before everyone started to catch up with the Ransom driver. Then a host of cars one by one pulled each other around him to the front of the pack.

That left Taylor Velasquez leading the field, and he slowly started to distance himself.

But the first caution bunched the field back up, giving the rest of the drivers a chance to pull within striking distance of the 17-year-old Velasquez.

"I was setting in sixth at the first yellow," said Johnson, who started 10th. "It seemed like we had ran a lot of laps."

Johnson slowly made his way up the pecking order. And after the second and final caution, Johnson was within striking distance.

Then he road the cushion to slingshot around the cars in front of him to reach Velasquez's bumper. When more lap traffic came within the leader's sight, Johnson made his move.

"In (turns) one and two, nobody else was up there," he said. "There wasn't much cushion up there, and I don't know if that spooked some of the other guys."

Johnson passed Velasquez coming off turn two late in the race, then quickly distance himself from the field.

"Right now, I'm not as good in traffic as I should be," said Velasquez, who's in only his second year of racing in the URSS. "Last year, I was better. It just seems like I can't get around them. C.J. can fly through traffic, and one day hopefully I can do that, too."

Velasquez would finish second, followed by La Crosse's Kirby Hagans and Liberal's Jason Martin, who was running with the World of Outlaws last year.

"You just hope you can get out early and get away (from Johnson)," said Hagans, who started sixth. "You know he's going to get there eventually."

Thirty-five cars checked in for the races, and 20 qualified for the 25-lap feature. It was one of the largest turnouts this year for the series.

And the field was loaded with top-notch talent. Along with Johnson and his father, veteran Jon Johnson (seventh), the A-Main also featured Brian Herbert (fifth), Justin Schwien (sixth), Ray Seeman (eighth) and Smokey Fairbank (10th).

"I'd like to say this was the best of any starting lineup we've had as a group so far," Johnson said. "You look at that top 10, and there's some big names in there."

The URSS will finish up two consecutive nights of racing at Norton's Elmwood Park Speedway tonight.

The next action at RPM Speedway will be the Fall Nationals on Sept. 12 to 13. It will be the final races in Hays this summer.