Jamie McMurray Wins At Talladega

It was one of the cleanest races I can recall at NASCAR’s longest track. There was a minor crash early in the race, then 103 consecutive green flag laps until rookie Austin Dillon lost control in the second turn of the final lap and was struck from behind by Casey Mears.

It brought out the yellow and checkered flag together, with Jamie McMurray crossing the finish line first for his seventh career victory – his first since 2010 and his second at Talladega.

Fan favorite Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led 38 laps and settled for second place. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Paul Menard and Kyle Busch completed the Top 5.

Jimmie Johnson led a race high 47 of the 188 laps. He finished 13th, but it was good enough to leap past Matt Kenseth into the points lead in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship

Kenseth finished 20th after leading 32 laps and trails Johnson by 4 points.

Kyle Busch moves up from fifth to third in the standings, 26 points back.

Four more races left in the season. Next week it’s Martinsville, followed by Texas, Phoenix and Homestead.