Emotional Earnhardt Jr. wins at Talladega

Dale Earnhardt Jr. kept his car at the front of the pack for the final half of the race to hold-off team-mate Jimmie Johnson to win at Talladega Superspeedway.

At a race track where drafting is usually everything, Earnhardt Jr. was so fast that no one seemed keen to move out of line behind him.

It was only on the final lap that Johnson looked to the inside, but quickly jumped back behind as NASCAR’s most popular driver sailed through to victory. Less than a week after what would have been his late father’s 64th birthday, it was a clearly emotional Earnhardt Jr. during his victory lap and post-race celebrations.

It was Earnhardt’s first win at Talladega since 2004 and is his sixth overall at the 2.66-mile track, tying him with Jeff Gordon for most wins by an active driver there.

Importantly it was Earnhardt Jr.’s first win of the season and all but secures his position in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Even with a front grill full of debris and his water temperature rising, Earnhardt Jr. led the most laps (67), followed by Johnson (50 laps) and pole-sitter Jeff Gordon (31 laps). Gordon’s race finished with him involved in a final lap crash and he finished 31st.

Johnson finished second, followed by Paul Menard, with Ryan Blaney coming home an impressive fourth place after running up front for the entire race.

Another good run came from Sam Hornish Jr., who scored his best result since taking over from Marcos Ambrose to finish in sixth.

The only major incident occurred on lap #47 when a number of cars were involved in a back-stretch crash which involved amongst others Trevor Bayne, Joey Logano, Greg Biffle, Kyle Larson and David Ragan.

VIDEO: Final Lap

VIDEO: Emotional Earnhardt Jr. in Victory Lane

VIDEO: Big Crash

RESULTS: Geico 500 – Talladega Superspeedway

POS.	CAR #	DRIVER	MANUFACTURER	STARTING POS.	LAPS	LAPS LED	FINAL STATUS	POINTS	BONUS POINTS
1	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	Chevrolet	4	188	67	Running	48	5
2	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	5	188	50	Running	43	1
3	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	7	188	0	Running	41	0
4	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	3	188	0	Running	0	0
5	78	Martin Truex Jr	Chevrolet	36	188	0	Running	39	0
6	9	Sam Hornish Jr	Ford	12	188	0	Running	38	0
7	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	18	188	0	Running	37	0
8	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	24	188	1	Running	37	1
9	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	17	188	5	Running	36	1
10	98	Josh Wise	Ford	34	188	1	Running	35	1
11	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	27	188	0	Running	33	0
12	41	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	19	188	1	Running	33	1
13	35	Cole Whitt	Ford	41	188	2	Running	32	1
14	23	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	42	188	0	Running	0	0
15	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	28	188	0	Running	29	0
16	7	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	37	188	0	Running	28	0
17	47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	31	188	0	Running	27	0
18	83	Matt DiBenedetto	Toyota	43	188	0	Running	26	0
19	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	6	188	6	Running	26	1
20	38	David Gilliland	Ford	39	188	1	Running	25	1
21	10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	25	188	0	Running	23	0
22	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	15	188	0	Running	22	0
23	51	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	35	188	1	Running	22	1
24	34	Chris Buescher	Ford	38	188	0	Running	0	0
25	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	8	188	0	Running	19	0
26	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Ford	29	188	1	Running	19	1
27	32	Bobby Labonte	Ford	32	188	1	Running	18	1
28	13	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	11	188	1	Running	17	1
29	46	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	40	188	0	Running	15	0
30	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	10	188	0	Running	14	0
31	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	1	188	47	Running	14	1
32	19	Carl Edwards	Toyota	22	188	0	Running	12	0
33	22	Joey Logano	Ford	21	186	0	Running	11	0
34	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	2	158	3	Running	11	1
35	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	14	157	0	Engine	9	0
36	55	Michael Waltrip	Toyota	23	151	0	Running	8	0
37	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	20	147	0	Running	7	0
38	18	David Ragan	Toyota	9	123	0	Running	6	0
39	40	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	30	91	0	Accident	0	0
40	62	Brendan Gaughan	Chevrolet	33	90	0	Accident	0	0
41	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	26	46	0	Accident	3	0
42	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	13	46	0	Accident	2	0
43	33	Brian Scott	Chevrolet	16	18	0	Engine	0	0

 STANDINGS

POS	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	DNF
1	Kevin Harvick	394	Leader	10	2	7	9	0
2	Martin Truex Jr	354	-40	10	0	2	9	0
3	Jimmie Johnson	342	-52	10	2	6	7	0
4	Joey Logano	335	-59	10	1	5	8	0
5	Dale Earnhardt Jr	319	-75	10	1	5	6	1
6	Brad Keselowski	305	-89	10	1	3	6	1
7	Jamie McMurray	297	-97	10	0	2	4	1
8	Matt Kenseth	292	-102	10	1	3	5	0
9	Kasey Kahne	286	-108	10	0	1	4	1
10	Denny Hamlin	281	-113	10	1	3	4	0
11	Paul Menard	280	-114	10	0	2	2	1
12	Aric Almirola	279	-115	10	0	0	0	0
13	Jeff Gordon	277	-117	10	0	1	6	1
14	Ryan Newman	271	-123	10	0	4	6	0
15	Kurt Busch	255	-139	7	1	3	3	0
16	Danica Patrick	253	-141	10	0	0	2	0
17	Clint Bowyer	249	-145	10	0	0	2	0
18	Carl Edwards	240	-154	10	0	0	1	0
19	AJ Allmendinger	229	-165	10	0	0	2	2
20	David Ragan	224	-170	10	0	1	1	0
21	Casey Mears	217	-177	10	0	0	1	1
22	Greg Biffle	210	-184	10	0	0	1	0
23	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	207	-187	10	0	1	1	1
24	Kyle Larson	207	-187	9	0	0	3	2
25	Austin Dillon	203	-191	10	0	0	1	2
26	David Gilliland	200	-194	10	0	0	0	0
27	Justin Allgaier	193	-201	10	0	0	1	2
28	Sam Hornish Jr	182	-212	10	0	0	1	0
29	Trevor Bayne	177	-217	10	0	0	0	1
30	Tony Stewart	174	-220	10	0	0	1	3
31	Cole Whitt	168	-226	10	0	0	0	1
32	Brett Moffitt	151	-243	8	0	0	1	0
33	Alex Bowman	131	-263	9	0	0	0	1
34	Michael Annett	116	-278	10	0	0	0	1
35	Josh Wise	100	-294	9	0	0	1	2
36	Matt DiBenedetto	90	-304	7	0	0	0	0
37	Michael McDowell	79	-315	5	0	0	0	0
38	Jeb Burton	51	-343	7	0	0	0	1
39	Alex Kennedy	40	-354	5	0	0	0	0
40	Bobby Labonte	38	-356	2	0	0	0	0
41	Brian Vickers	32	-362	2	0	0	0	0
42	Michael Waltrip	26	-368	2	0	0	0	0
43	Reed Sorenson	22	-372	2	0	0	0	0
44	Mike Wallace	8	-386	1	0	0	0	0
45	Ron Hornaday Jr	2	-392	1	0	0	0	1
46	Ryan Blaney	0	-394	4	0	1	1	2
47	Brian Scott	0	-394	3	0	0	0	1
48	J.J. Yeley	0	-394	9	0	0	0	1
49	Regan Smith	0	-394	4	0	0	0	0
50	Chase Elliott	0	-394	2	0	0	0	0
51	Matt Crafton	0	-394	1	0	0	0	0
52	Johnny Sauter	0	-394	1	0	0	0	0
53	Chris Buescher	0	-394	5	0	0	0	0
54	Landon Cassill	0	-394	10	0	0	0	4
55	Brendan Gaughan	0	-394	5	0	0	0	1
56	Ty Dillon	0	-394	1	0	0	0	0
57	Mike Bliss	0	-394	6	0	0	0	0
58	Joe Nemechek	0	-394	1	0	0	0	0
59	Jeff Green	0	-394	1	0	0	0	0
60	Joey Gase	0	-394	1	0	0	0	1
61	Travis Kvapil	0	-394	0	0	0	0	0
62	Tanner Berryhill	0	-394	0	0	0	0	0
63	Justin Marks	0	-394	0	0	0	0	0