The Chase Point Standings: Race #7 of 10
1 Jimmie Johnson 6,248
2 Mark Martin -184
3 Jeff Gordon -192
4 Juan Pablo Montoya -239
5 Tony Stewart -279
6 Kurt Busch -312
7 Greg Biffle -340
8 Ryan Newman -402
9 Kasey Kahne -414
10 Carl Edwards -437
11 Denny Hamlin -448
12 Brian Vickers -551

After a lengthy red flag period causes by Ryan Newman flipping his car in a major crash on lap number 183, once the race went back to green and eight laps later, Jamie McMurray won the Amp Energy 500 on the otherworldly fast and intimidating 2.66-mile tri-oval that is Talladega Superspeedway. By all accounts the race was deemed a “snoozer” as a few hours before it went green. What caused basically 450 miles of mind numbingly boring racing came at the behest of NASCAR president Mike Helton who banned any sort of bump drafting and who demanded to “see daylight” between the cars in the 33-degree banked turns. End result: Amazingly long periods of single-file traffic and no driver willing to defy NASCAR's order not to bump through the corners. Nonetheless, what ultimately happened on the superspeedway was a melee in the last 50 miles, upwards of 35 cars fighting tooth and nail in a frenzied effort to get to the front. Ryan Newman's nasty crash with five laps to go left him upside down in the grass, and NASCAR stopped the cars with a red flag as safety workers required 13 minutes to cut him from the car.

That set up a two-lap sprint to the finish, and that was halted when championship contender Mark Martin went flipping across the track in his own spectacular crash. The race ended under caution, with McMurray in Victory Lane for the first time in 86 races. Jimmie Johnson, meanwhile, came EVER so close to securing his NASCAR-record fourth-consecutive championship due to the late race fray. Cleverly, Johnson spent most of the race hanging way back in the rear of the pack. Johnson was mired back in the mid-20s when Newman crashed. Crew chief Chad Knaus sensed a lengthy delay and quickly called Johnson in for gas -- a decision that may have clinched the title. When cars ahead of him in the running order began to run out of gas because of the red-flag delay, Johnson and the #48 Chevrolet kept climbing up the scoring pylon. The final finishing order showed him in eight. As he insisted, Johnson eventually was credited with a sixth-place finish by NASCAR, and leads the Chase by 184 points with just three races remaining.