By Eric Johnson - 143,000 seats. A grandstand over a mile long in length. 33-degree high banks as tall as a three-story office building. 2.66-miles in length. Built in 1969, Talladega Raceway truly is, both literally and figuratively, a larger than life “only in America” racing venue. And the NASCAR Nextel Cup racing that takes place on its billiard-table-smooth asphalt surface is, well, larger than life, as well. Sunday’s 188-lap, 500-mile-long race, as it always does at Talladega, came down to the last 50 laps, a maniacal mad dash to the finish with three columns of cars racing within inches of each other at 186 miles per hour.

And with all this comes crashes; lots of crashes; big crashes — hence the term synonymous with Talladega, “The Big One”, a nickname given to the sheet metal wrinkling, wall thumping late race crashes that serve as the exclamation mark to NASCAR’s most spellbinding and dramatic (and popular) race.

Oh - and as if the place needed another log thrown on the fire — Talladega marked the debut of the new Car of Tomorrow on a Superspeedway. So, with an atmosphere of tension, nerves and the great unknown as thick and ubiquitous as the Alabama heat and humidity, it was time to race into the great wide open.

With 50 laps to go in the UAW Ford 500, 27 cars were running in three columns — 10 on the outside column, nine in the middle and eight in the inside — and the race for the prize was on. Leading the way were Brian Vickers (Toyota), Elliott Sadler (Dodge), Kasey Kahne (Dodge) and Tony Stewart (Chevrolet), all riding the 2.66 Talladega high line in a flying wedge. 145 laps in, the first “Big One” — the one everybody had been holding their breath for — manifested itself when the rear end of Bobby Labonte’s #43 car skipped out on him on the high banking, thus setting off a major crash that turned the automobiles of Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup competitors Kyle Busch Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth into a smoking heap of crushed metal and boiled rubber.

“I knew coming here that Talladega was going to be our Mulligan,” sighed Busch back in the pit area. “We even circle it on the calendar because we know there is always going to be a big wreck here.”

And so it all boiled down to the last 20 laps. Back in the pack — both drivers outside of the top 10 at that point of the race — Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson communicate via their in-car radios and tried to decide when the time to make a charge for the front of the pack was right. A black art, witchcraft sort of deal, both Johnson and Gordon are true masters at using the turbulent air churned up by 40 cars weighing 3,500 ponds and going nearly 190 miles per hour to their advantage. Known as “the draft”, the air, when used at an optimum level, can provide a mind-boggling amount of momentum.

After a crash suffered by Kyle Petty resulted in a lengthy caution period that burned off a number of slow speed laps, with only eight laps remaining the race went back to green, anyone who had enough car and moto mashed the gas pedal into sheet metal and went for it. Initially, it was the Dodge Avengers of Penske Racing teammates Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch leading the way, but then, with six laps left to go, Gordon and Johnson made their move. Also aided by teammate and comrade Casey Mears, Johnson led the way with the nose of Jeff Gordon’s #24 Chevrolet — literally beneath the rear bumper of Johnson’s car — pushing him further into the lead.

It appeared that Johnson had the race won, but at the beginning of the white flag lap and with 150,000 fans on their feet and screaming so loud the racket could be heard up in Birmingham, Gordon gambled, pitched his car up high, and to his luck, Tony Stewart was there to help push him into rarified air and past Johnson’s car. Johnson would find his way back to Gordon’s bumper and the two flashed past the finish line with a one-two punch, a truly masterful display of teamwork, timing and talent.

“I have no idea!” shouted Gordon when asked how he scratched and clawed his way to the front of the field and onto victory, his second Talladega win of the 2007 as he also won at the Alabama crucible earlier this spring. “I went up high and the number 20 [Tony Stewart] was there, drilled me, and pushed me right to the front. I was able to put my rear bumper in front of the right front fender at the right time. That’s how it works here.”

His 80th NASCAR Nextel Cup career victory, Gordon now also enjoys a four-point lead over Johnson in the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup. The barnstorming circus that is NASCAR will now see its race teams pull up stakes in Alabama and head immediately north for round five of The Chase at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina in one week’s time.