Kevin Harvick made the winning pass in the No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet just feet before the start-finish line to capture the victory in the longest race in Talladega Superspeedway history. The race, scheduled for 188 laps, made history being the first to utilize all three attempts at a green-white-checkered to decide the winner on the 200th lap. The previous records for both number of lead changes and number of drivers leading throughout the race fell as well with 29 race leaders swapping the top spot 88 times.
Harvick, who started fourth on the field set by the rule book as a result of qualifying being canceled, led just two times for a total of two laps in the Aaron’s 499. The trip to victory lane jumped Harvick two spots in the standings to second, 26 points out of the lead. The win is Harvick’s 12th in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition.
Harvick led a contingent of four Team Chevy drivers in the top-five finishers in today’s race.
Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet, finished second just 0.011 second behind Harvick. McMurray led four times for 27 laps and moved up four spots in the standings to 17th place.
Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Tums Chevrolet, finished third after leading once for three laps. Montoya also moved up four spots in the standings to 20th position.
Mark Martin, No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, finished fifth. He led once for one lap and moved to fifth in the standings after nine races.
Clint Bowyer, No. 33 B&T Chevrolet, finished seventh to move back in to the top-12 Chase standings, now sitting in 11th place.
Mike Bliss, No. 09 Phoenix Construction/Graceway Chevrolet, finished 10th in the final order.
Points leader Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, was credited with the 31st finishing position after being involved in a multi-car accident on lap on lap 195 during the second green-white-checkered attempt. Johnson led seven times for nine laps.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet is eighth in the standings with at 13th place finish. He led five times for a total of eight laps.
Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, finished 22nd after receiving damage in a late-race accident. He led four times for four laps during the day and is 10th in the point standings.
Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, was also the victim of late-race crash damage and finished 32nd to drop to 12th in the point standings order.
Denny Hamlin (Toyota) completed the top-five finishers.
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 2 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 3 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 4 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 5 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 6 6 David Ragan Ford 7 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 8 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 9 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 10 9 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 11 99 Carl Edwards Ford 12 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 13 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 14 0 David Reutimann Toyota 15 82 Scott Speed Toyota 16 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 17 16 Greg Biffle Ford 18 34 Travis Kvapil Ford 19 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 20 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 21 9 Kasey Kahne Ford 22 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 23 71 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 24 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 25 98 Paul Menard Ford 26 37 Robert Richardson Jr. Ford 27 26 David Stremme Ford 28 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 29 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 30 38 Kevin Conway * Ford 31 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 32 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 33 19 Elliott Sadler Ford 34 12 Brad Keselowski Dodge 35 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 36 20 Joey Logano Toyota 37 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 38 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 39 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota 40 13 Max Papis Toyota 41 36 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet 42 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 43 66 Dave Blaney Toyota
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