SB Nation Atlanta - NASCAR At Talladega Superspeedway: Jimmie Johnson Edges Clint Bowyer For Win

VIDEO: Jimmie Johnson's Photo-Finish Aaron's 499 Win At Talladega

2011-04-18T00:30:18Z

Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. combined to pull off the slightest of victories in the 2011 Aaron's 499, with Junior nudging the winner ahead of Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon. The finish tied Ricky Craven's 2003 Darlington win for the closest in NASCAR history, with some expressing concern that the winning duo passed below the yellow line on their way to the finish line.

After the jump, video of the photo finish at Talladega Superspeedway:

After the finish, a cool moment between Johnson and Earnhardt, captured by SB Nation's Jeff Gluck:

He leaned into the car and shook Johnson's hand, and the winning driver handed the fourth-place driver the checkered flag.

"Man, I don't want that," Earnhardt Jr. said.

"Well, I gotta give you something for the push and working with me!" Johnson replied.

"No, that's what teammates do," Earnhardt Jr. said.

"Just take the damn flag," Johnson said, laughing.

Earnhardt Jr. took it reluctantly – but happily – and said though he didn't agree he deserved it, he'd find a place for it in his trophy case.

"I appreciate it and I'll get him to sign it," Earnhardt Jr. said. "It'll be the one checkered flag I got that ain't mine."

For more on Talladega, check out our Aaron's 499 StoryStream at SB Nation Atlanta and SB Nation NASCAR, and visit NASCAR Ranting And Raving.

NASCAR At Talladega Results: Jimmie Johnson Wins Thriller By .002 Seconds

2011-04-17T20:49:28Z

Jimmie Johnson has won one of NASCAR's most thrilling races of all-time as eight cars crossed the finish line almost simultaneously.

The five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion used a push from Dale Earnhardt Jr. and edged out Clint Bowyer to win the Aaron's 499, his second victory at the Talladega Superspeedway. Jeff Gordon finished third, followed by Earnhardt, Bowyer's drafting partner Kevin Harvick, Roush-Fenway teammates Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle, and Gordon's wingman Mark Martin.

Johnson's margin over Bowyer was .002 seconds, while the margin between Johnson and Martin, the race winner and eighth-place finisher, was .145 seconds. The margin of victory ties the record for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' closest finish, when Ricky Craven nipped Kurt Busch at Darlington in 2003.

It had been 15 races since Johnson's last win, at Dover last September, and this is the 54th win of his career.

Carl Edwards unnofficially maintains the point lead by five over Johnson.

NASCAR At Talladega: Kyle Busch Crashes With Fewer Than 50 Laps Remaining

2011-04-17T19:48:58Z

One of the contenders throughout the Aaron's 499 has crashed 49 laps from the end.

Kyle Busch was turned by teammate Joey Logano exiting the second turn and slammed into Matt Kenseth before both cars hit the outside wall hard. A.J. Allmendinger also spun in the incident. Busch, who had led three laps but had been near the front all day, won yesterday's Nationwide race aftere being involved in a crash. The left front of his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was badly damaged in this incident, however. Kenseth's Ford is in the garage area.

The crash occured as Dave Blaney's No. 36 Tommy Baldwin Chevrolet, barely an afterthought in most races, led the pack. There have been 65 lead changes among 23 different leaders. The records, both set in the 2010 Aaron's 499, are 88 and 29, respectively.

Several drivers, including pole-sitter Jeff Gordon and teammate Mark Martin, have spent most of the race running near the rear of the field. The same self-preservation method got Gordon a win at the fall race in 2007.

NASCAR At Talladega Update: Big Crash At Lap 90 Takes Out Trevor Bayne, David Ragan, And Others

2011-04-17T18:55:49Z

The Aaron's 499 has had it's first multi-car accident on lap 90, and Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne is among the drivers involved.

The wreck appeared to start when Kurt Busch turned teammate Brad Keselowski across the backstretch into Marcos Ambrose. Bayne, David Ragan, and Kasey Kahne also became involved. All five drivers had led the race and figured to be potential contenders for the victory, but each car sustained heavy damage. Ragan's Ford was already aflame as his engine was failing when the wreck took place, but he bounced off of Ambrose and hit the outside wall head-on before being slammed by Kahne. Kahne's Toyota fireballed after the accident, but he was able to park the car and safely get out.

Busch also triggered the first caution of the race on lap 28 when he turned Landon Cassill exiting turn two, collecting Brian Vickers.

The two-car t andem of Ryan Newman and Kyle Busch were leading at the time of the accident. Teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson had also spent an extended period at the front of the field after a cycle of green flag pit stops that concluded at lap 75.

Dawsonville's Bill Elliott, who started the No. 46 Whitney Motorsports Chevrolet, has stepped out of the car in favor of the team's regular driver, J.J. Yeley. Elliott qualified the machine in order to make sure it got into the race, thanks to his past-champion's provisional.

VIDEO: Gene Chizik Meets Michael Waltrip's Auburn Car At Talladega Superspeedway

2011-04-17T18:39:40Z

Auburn Tigers football coach Gene Chizik served as the grand marshal at today's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, proving the event's second-most visible Auburn presence. This means he did the "Drivers, start your engines!" thing while talking up Cam Newton's NFL Draft prospects.

He was outdone, of course, by Michael Waltrip's No. 15 Toyota, done up with Auburn logos -- perhaps the first time an expensive vehicle decorated in Auburn colors has been driven around Alabama without having Trooper Taylor inside of it. Chizik on the vehicle, followed by video:

How awesome. I mean, we just unveiled the car, it's the first time I've seen it. The Auburn brand is out there big and bright for everybody to see. It's really, really a neat deal. I'm just honored that Michael Waltrip, with all of the history that family has in racing, that the Michael Waltrip racing team has taken this on and Michael himself is driving the car.

For more on Auburn, head to Track Em Tigers.

NASCAR At Talladega Update: Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer Lead After 47 Laps

2011-04-17T18:14:40Z

At one quarter distance of the Aaron’s 499, Richard Childress Racing teammates Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer held the top spot. The two car tandem, however, has created an ever-changing picture at the front of the field.

The drivers have been averaging a lead change every other lap. Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon have both led a handful of laps, but no other driver has led more than five laps today. To the contrary, there have already been 16 different leaders and 25 lead changes. The all-time record for lead changes, 88, was set in this race a year ago.

The race’s first accident occured on lap 28 when Kurt Busch turned Landon Cassill sideways. Cassill hit Brian Vickers, turning Vickers into the outside wall. Vickers’ car was damaged significantly and sent to the garage, while Cassill required repairs to his Chevrolet and fell off the lead lap.

Early exits from the race were start and park teams Joe Nemechek, Steve Park, and Kevin Conway.

NASCAR At Talladega Superspeedway: Engines Have Fired, Let's Go Racing

2011-04-17T17:09:04Z

Five-hundred of the most intense miles of racing all year are right around the corner. The engines have fired at Talladega Superspeedway, and the Aaron's 499 will be starting in a matter of moments.

The two-car tandem racing has ramped up the tension at a track that already provided drivers with their most white-knuckle moments of the year. Now, one driver is being pushed, trying to hold his car straight, while the driver behind him is effectively running blind, unable to see through the spoiler of the car in front.

All of that could be a recipe for disaster at the place where disaster already lurks around every turn.

Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson share the front row, while Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. hold row two. Rick Hendrick hasn't won at Talladega since Gordon swept both races in 2007, but from 2004-2007, his cars won five of the eight races. Earnhardt, who was with DEI at the time, won five times from 2001-04, but hasn't won since and is riding a 100-race winless streak.

Talladega is reknowned for first-time winners. There have been ten at the 2.66-mile behemoth, and seven of them never won again. Can a driver record his first victory in about three hours? If so, time will tell whether it is also his last, but the euphoria of conquering NASCAR's best drivers and it's most unpredictable track will be long in fading away before he worries about that.

Tighten up your belts and strap down your computer as SB Nation Atlanta follows all the action. As it says right on the walls, this is Talladega.

NASCAR at Talladega Superspeedway Starting Lineup: Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson Take Front Row

2011-04-16T18:34:33Z

For only the third time in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history, a single organziation has swept the first four positions in qualifying at a single race.

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. claimed the front two rows for tomorrow's Aaron's 499 at the Talladega Superspeedway. Gordon, who toured the track at 178.248 MPH, recorded his first pole of the season and the 70th of his illustrious career. He now has sole possession of third on the all-time list after breaking a tie with Cale Yarborough and ranks behind only Richard Petty (123) and David Pearson (113).

The fastest non-Hendrick machine was Paul Menard, who's Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet timed in fifth-quickest. Landon Cassill, driving James FInch's Hendrick-powered Chevrolet, was sixth fastest. The rest of the top-ten was filled out by Unadilla's David Ragan in a Roush-Fenway Ford, the Penske Dodge of Kurt Busch, Brian Vickers' Team Red Bull Toyota, and Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne and his Wood Brothers Ford.

Michael Waltrip, making only his second start of the 2011 season, was 12th-fastest in his self-owned Toyota. He led the go-or-go-home contingent. Also making the field on speed were Joe Nemechek, Travis Kvapil, Kevin Conway, Steve Park, Dave Blaney, and Andy Lally. Mike Skinner had the eighth-fastest time among the go-or-go-home cars, but because BIll Elliott required use of a past-champion's provisional to get Dusty Whitney's No. 46 Chevrolet into the field, Skinner failed to qualify along with Tony Raines and Michael McDowell.

Elliott, running this week in place of Whitney Motorsports' regular driver, J.J. Yeley, had the slowest time of the 46 cars at 169.983 MPH.