By NICK SCHWIEN

nschwien@dailynews.net

The scenario played into C.J. Johnson's hands perfectly.

So did the largest payout in the history of the United Rebel Sprint Series featuring the 305 sprint cars.

Johnson bought his time after working his way from his starting spot inside the fifth row of Sunday night's feature race of the inaugural Wheatshocker Rebel Nationals at RPM Speedway in Hays.

Then, when given the opportunity, he took advantage, taking the lead from Mike Woodruff and holding off the rest of the field in the 30-lap feature that pocketed him $2,000.

"I got into second, and I ran there for a long time," Johnson said. "I knew if I kept showing Mike my nose, I'd eventually wear him down. Then we got into lap traffic, and that helped."

Johnson won the first day of the nationals Saturday night, and Woodruff was 11th. The top 10 finishers in Saturday's feature automatically qualified for Sunday's A main.

But when two drivers were disqualified after inspections earlier Sunday, Woodruff moved into the feature race -- along with Taylor Velasquez, who was 12th Saturday night.

Woodruff was dialed in Sunday, taking the lead early, followed closely by the 17-year-old Velasquez.

Johnson eventually worked his way around Velasquez and into second place behind Woodruff. The Satanta driver used the high line around the track, while Johnson used a combination.

But then Woodruff's early driving line went away, allowing Johnson to close the gap.

"It was a tricky race track, actually," Woodruff said. "The fast guys ran on top in (turns) one and two, then on the bottom in three and four. I was running on the top in three and four early, then the middle went away.

"I saw C.J.'s nose a couple times. C.J. could just stick on the bottom better than me."

That opened the door, and Johnson jumped through it. He worked the high side in turns one and two and hugged the bottom in turns three and four and drove his way to victory.

"I expected it to be almost exactly like it was (Saturday) night," Johnson said about the track. "I couldn't have asked for a better track."

Neither Woodruff nor Velasquez had anything for Johnson on a late restart, and Johnson quickly distanced himself again to take the checkered flag.

"I've run with C.J. for a long time, and we've had some good battles," Woodruff said. "And right now, he's fast."

Woodruff held off Velasquez for second, earning $1,500. But Velasquez was more than happy to pocket the $1,000 he got for finishing third.

"After all the struggles we've been through the past month, I think this made it pay off," the Turpin, Okla., racer said.

Utica's Jon Johnson, C.J.'s father, was fourth after starting eighth, and Jetmore's Ray Seemann was fifth.