Jamie McMurray scored his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory of the season on Sunday after surviving a wild and crash-filled closing segment of the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
McMurray was in front when the race was sent under caution for a multi-car accident on the frontstretch to officially score the victory for the Roush Fenway Racing No. 26 team.
“I saw the guys wreck behind me and I didn’t know if you had to take the white in order for, I wasn’t real sure what the rules were, and the 9 went to the outside because he saw the same issue, but I just moved up and kind of tried to block him," McMurray said. "As soon as I crossed the start-finish line I shut the engine off and pushed the clutch in and coasted around as far as I could. What an exciting day. We had a lot of fans out here today and, certainly, thanks to them."
The last-lap melee came during a green-white-checkered finish that was set up after the race was red flagged for a wild crash on the backstretch that saw Ryan Newman fly into the air and land on his roof.
The accident also involved Marcos Ambrose and Kevin Harvick but after getting cut out of his car, Newman was uninjured in the violent incident.
“Sore,” Newman said after he crawled out of the car. “Just really disappointed. We had that race back there in the spring and complained about cars going over … I wish NASCAR would do something. It was a boring race for the fans. That's not something anybody wants to see.”
Once the track was cleared and the race went back to green, McMurray stayed in front of the field. But with the checkered flag closing in, Kurt Busch was tagged coming out of turn four and spun setting off a chain reaction wreck that before it was over involved nearly a dozen cars and saw Mark Martin flip over.
The race was called official at that point and McMurray had his second career restrictor plate victory.
McMurray, who ended an 86-race winless streak with his third career win, is still without a ride for next season and the win could help him seal the deal for an offer in the upcoming weeks.
Kasey Kahne finished second for his second top-five finish in 12 starts at Talladega.
“We had a good handling car, but lost the draft a couple of times," Kahne said. "We needed to be in the middle of the draft. (Brian) Vickers was pushing me really hard there before the caution. I was just in the right place at the right time."
Rookie Joey Logano came home third top five of his freshmen season.
"It was a good run -- battled hard all day," Logano said. "These races are interesting. You ride around in the first part and you just really make sure you don't wreck, that's the main thing."
Greg Biffle rebounded from a pit road penalty on lap 92 to finish fourth and Jeff Burton rounded out the top five.
Jimmie Johnson ran in the back of the pack for most of the race and made his move late to finish sixth. The finish extended his points lead and he now leads Mark Martin by 184 points. Juan Pablo was the only driver to gain a position in the top five, he now sits fourth.
After running two and three-wide in the opening laps the pack lined-up single file for the a majority of the middle part of the race.
NASCAR warned the teams in the driver's meeting that they would be watching for excessive bump-drafting in the turns.
"We will not allow doubling up, pushing, locked-up, bump-drafting or whatever you call it in the turns,” NASCAR president Mike Helton said. “All the way through turns 1 and 2, all the way through turns 3 and 4, you will not be allowed to push someone, bump-draft them or shove them through the turns.”
Even with a portion under single-file the race saw 25 different leaders, which is tied for fourth-most all-time in the Cup Series.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series now heads to Texas Motor Speedway for next Sunday's Dickies 500.
