Kyle Busch recovered from an early miscue during green flag pit stops when he missed his pitbox and fell a lap down and an incident with Jamie McMurray which almost claimed the two driver's cars to win at Talladega for the first time in his young career. As teammate Tony Stewart, who has finished 2nd at Talldega 6 times and won the Nationwide race, led the most laps, Busch was working his way up the running order before finally taking the lead on lap 184, holding off late charges from Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya.

"I don't think I've ever finished one here yet without some sort of damage. We still had damage, but it wasn't enough to keep us from Victory Lane."

Busch was leading on the final lap when Michael McDowell spun at the end of the tri-oval, however no caution was thrown due to McDowell being behind the pack and out of harms way. However, just seconds after McDowell got his car pointed in the right direction, another incident occured in turn 2, this melee collected several cars, finally bringing out the yellow flag.

Meanwhile, behind Busch was Montoya, who had his best finish since the Brickyard 400 last August.

"I didn't want to finish second," Montoya said. "It's hard. I would think I would have tried to make a move coming out of four."

The chance would never come when Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jamie McMurray tangled in turn 2, sparking the race-ending wreck that claimed 11 cars. However, the strong run put Montoya into the top-12 in points, the final cut-off spot for the Chase.

The final wreck wasn't the only spectacular crash seen during the event. With 14 laps to go, Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart and Joe Nemechek all tangled, resulting in Bobby Labonte spinning in front of the field, involving 6 cars, including Stewart's totalled Toyota. Stewart spent the most time out front, only to leave with more disappointment from Talladega, but Stewart know's that just plate-racin'.

"That's what happens late in these races," Stewart said after climbing from his car. "If it was my fault, I'm sorry. But by looking at the video, I don't think I did anything wrong."

After it was all said and done, it was a common sight as Kyle Busch stood in victory lane, something he has done a total of 7 times this year in Nascar's top-3 series.

After the week off and allowing Nationwide Series to enjoy the spotlight the Sprint Cup Series is back in action at the largest track on the schedule, the 2.66 mile Talladega Superspeedway. The likelihood of the big one taking out contenders, picking who will win is difficult, but I'm going to try.

1. Jeff Burton

Came from a low starting position and a mid-race spin to finish 6th, continuing his run of consistency. He looks as though he could be a driver to beat for the championship this year.






2. Carl Edwards

He recovered from a pit road penalty to finish 4th at Phoenix, showing he can perform on all the tracks, not just the 1.5 milers. Talladega isn't Edwards' best track, however, as he has an average finish of 21.7 and has only led 9 laps in his 7 career starts.






3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

He was competing with Mark Martin for the win late at Phoenix before finishing 7th after pit stops, as he inches closer and closer to his long awaited first win of 2008. And there is no better place than Talladega, where he has 5 wins, thanks in large part to what he learned from his father, who won 10 races at the track.





4. Kyle Busch

Busch had another top-10 at Phoenix, then went on to win his third strait Nationwide Series race at Mexico. If that success is going to continue at Talladega, Busch is going to have to do something he seldom does at the Alabama track: finish. In six starts, he has run all 188 laps only once, back in 2006 when he finished 11th, his best finish at the track.





5. Greg Biffle

Biffle bounced back from poor runs at Texas and Martinsville to finish 9th at Phoenix. However, Talladega could spell more trouble for the Biff, where in ten starts he has never finished in the top-10.

6. Kevin Harvick

Harvick's finish at Phoenix was lower than he deserved, as Happy Harvick had run in the top-10 all night long before running out of gas in the final laps. Harvick should be back out front at Talladega, however, where he has an average finish of 13.3.

7. Tony Stewart

Stewart's finish was also lower than it should have been at Phoenix after stalling on pit road in the final laps. However, he should be a threat to win at Talladega, though he has never won in 14 cup starts. However he has finished 2nd not once, not twice, but 6 times. Doesn't hurt that he earned his first victory at the track in the Nationwide Series this weekend.






8. Denny Hamlin

Hamlin finished 3rd at Phoenix for his 4th strait finish of 6th or better. In four starts at Talladega he has only 1 top-10, but he runs out front often, especially last year when he led 88 laps in the two races run.

9. Jimmie Johnson

Johnson earned Hendrick Motorsports it's first victory of the 2008 season, and he could make it back-to-back at Talladega, where he finished 2nd in both races last year and won here in 2006.

10. Clint Bowyer

He continues to impress after finishing 2nd at Phoenix thanks to fuel strategy. However, his average finish at Talladega is outside the top 30.








Other Notables:

11. Jeff Gordon- managed a top-15 at Phoenix after his miserable at Texas, and he is a favorite for the Talladega race, with 6 career wins at the track including both races last year.

12. David Gilliland- All of a sudden, this young driver has three top-15's in the past four races, and Yates has always had a strong plate program, which could lead to more success for David.

13. Michael Walrtip- All four of his career Cup victories have come on plate tracks, Waltrip could have a strong run at 'Dega.

14. Martin Truex Jr.- Earned just his second top-10 of the season at Phoenix, but could get his third at Talladega has run up front, thanks to lessons learned from former teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.

15. David Stremme- Will fill in for the injured Dario Franchitti at Talladega. Stremme had driven for Ganassi before being released in place for Franchitti, could be an opportunity to show that move was a mistake.