Talladega is said to be the wild card in the Chase for the Cup, and that certainly held true today.  This race set a record for most different leaders, caused problems for 3/4 of the Chasers, had more lead changes than I've ever seen, and even stirred some controversy at the end.  We saw everything including the kitchen sink.

The surprise pole sitter Travis Kvapil led the field down for the green flag and led the first 8 laps.  On lap 9, Carl Edwards took the lead, followed by Brian Vickers on the very next lap, and this would set the tone for what was to come.  Vickers would hold the lead for 4 laps before Aric Almirola took the lead.  Jimmie Johnson then dropped so far back that he lost the draft and was very far off the pace.  Meanwhile, going the other direction, David Ragan got to the lead on lap 17 after starting in the rear.  He actually led the next 9 laps before Dale Earnhardt Jr. followed suit, going from worst to first by lap 26, but not before lapping Jimmie Johnson.  Travis Kvapil then takes the lead back, but yields again to Junior as the field laps Robby Gordon.  Robby gets the free pass on the very next lap when caution is thrown for debris.  Mike Wallace stays out to lead a lap under caution.  If you're keeping track, that's already 7 different leaders and 8 lead changes, and that was just the official tally at the start/finish line.  Also during the caution, Carl Edwards stays out to lead again while Kenny Wallace is penalized a lap for going 100 mph down pit road!  When Edwards pits, that gives Jeff Gordon the lead who won the race off pit road.  By the time the field made one lap under green following the first restart, Jeff Burton was in the lead, but he would get passed on the very next lap by Matt Kenseth.  That's 10 different leaders, and we're only on lap 40!

Vickers then retakes the lead 3 laps later, only to have it taken away on the next lap by Elliott Sadler.  Caution is then thrown for debris on lap 45, and Jimmie Johnson gets the free pass.  When the yellow flies, Casey Mears is now your leader.  When the field comes down pit road, Kevin Harvick stays out to lead.  Is everyone still keeping track?  Harvick is the 13th different leader on lap 47.  We're only 1/4 of the way through the AMP Energy 500 at this point, and we're already halfway to the record for most leaders in a race here, which is 26.  During pit stops, Ryan Newman stalls on pit road and behind the wall he goes with engine problems.  Newman is the first casualty of the day and would finish 43rd.  Sadler wins the race out of the pits, but 2 laps after the restart Kyle Busch takes the lead, but that lasts only a lap as his brother Kurt takes it away the next time by.  Jamie McMurray then gets up front as the trouble starts for the Chasers.  David Reutimann cuts a tire and spins out.  As Jeff Gordon turns to avoid him, he turns straight into the outside wall on the backstretch.  Jimmie Johnson has a splitter brace break when the tire carcas from the 44 gets stuck on the front of his car.  During this caution, we find out it's a team problem for Penske, as Kurt Busch is on pit road with the hood up.  Kurt would finish 13 laps down in 21st.  We'll get to how he finished so far up in the order despite being all those laps behind further down the wrap-up.  2 laps after the restart, Denny Hamlin takes the lead, only to lose it a lap later to Kasey Kahne, who then yields the next lap to Reed Sorenson.  Who's still keeping track?  I will tell you there were 66 official lead changes today.  This is lap 62 and we're already at 19 here.  On lap 64, Martin Truex Jr. becomes the 20th different leader of the race.  Remember that record of 26?  Yeah, it's on pace to be shattered.  Dale Jr. then takes the lead away from his old teammate and strikes it lucky, as a wreck happens directly behind him.  Brian Vickers blows a right front tire while racing for second, smacks into Truex, and starts a disaster in the tri-oval...it's the big one.  No Chasers were involved this time, but the wreck did involve Vickers, Kahne, Truex, McMurray, Terry Labonte (who spun without damage), Mike Skinner, David Gilliland, Tony Raines, and Aric Almirola who didn't really get any damage either.  To clean up the mess at the start/finish line, NASCAR put the red flag out for 17 minutes.

When the red flag is lifted, the field hits pit road, but Scott Riggs stays out to lead a lap.  Dale Jr. brings the field down for the restart after Riggs hits pit road.  Juan Pablo Montoya passes Junior right after the restart, but Denny Hamlin leads the lap by the time they get to the start/finish line.  Montoya then gets forced out of bounds on the backstretch but somehow doesn't cause a wreck and gets right back in line where he was.  A lap later, Jimmie Johnson takes the lead, who then trades the lead with Junior for the next 2 laps.  2 laps after this, Tony Stewart takes the lead.  A few laps later, Mike Wallace blows a tire and doesn't cause a wreck, but Michael Waltrip gets hit with the flying tire carcas from the #33 a la Jimmie Johnson with Reutimann's tire.  Greg Biffle stays out to lead a lap under this caution, that's new leader #24.  Mike Wallace is held a lap for excessive speeding, but he takes his car to the garage anyway.  Gordon comes back out on the track 33 laps down as the field goes back to green led by Kyle Busch.  4 laps later, Dale Jr. pushes Bobby Labonte to the lead, then dives underneath him for the lead off turn 4, but Denny Hamlin officially leads the lap at the line.  Then the lead starts changing faster than a cheetah on steroids and we're just passing halfway.  On lap 98, Denny Hamlin blows a right front tire while leading on the bottom of the track and makes a bee line for the turn 2 wall.  Hamlin would be transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.  Meanwhile, Kenny Wallace stays out to lead a lap.  We're now one shy of the record and we're at lap 100.  Scott Riggs brings the field down for the restart but loses the lead immediately to Paul Menard, and there it is, the 26th different leader of the day with 83 laps to go.  As the lead continues to shuffle among drivers who have already led, a Goodyear representative says "well I dunno, we're lookin' at them there tires and tryin' to figure out what's wrong."

Then Jeff Gordon starts trailing smoke.  Under this caution Joe Nemechek stays out to lead a lap, and there goes the record ladies and gentlemen, with 46 laps to go we've just had out 27th different leader of the day.  The lead continues to change after the restart, and Michael Waltrip becomes leader #28 just as Kevin Harvick spins out. He doesn't hit anyone or anything, but this was just the beginning of Harvick's troubles.  Under this caution Juan Pablo Montoya finally leads officially for the first time today, that's 29.  Then with 14 laps to go, it's the second big wreck of the day, and this time it's a wreckfest of Chasers.  Carl Edwards turns Greg Biffle into teammate Matt Kenseth.  All the Roushketeer Chasers slide up the track in front of Dale Earnhardt Jr.  In the melee, Kevin Harvick gets smacked around as does Kyle Busch, Terry Labonte, Montoya, Waltrip, Sorenson, Nemechek, Dave Blaney, and pole sitter Travis Kvapil.  The red flag is displayed again.

After the restart, Tony Stewart shows the way.  Jamie McMurray then cuts a tire and spins with just 4 laps to go, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.  The race would go 2 laps over its scheduled distance to 190.  On the final lap, Regan Smith looked to make a move on Tony Stewart, but got pushed below the yellow line.  Smith was the first to take the checkered flag.  However, the rule is whether you're forced down there or not, you can't advance your position.  Smith stayed below the line to make the pass on Stewart.  NASCAR deemed the pass illegal, and Tony Stewart, after finishing 2nd at Talladega 6 times, finally went to victory lane for his first win of 2008.  Jeff Burton finished 4th and Clint Bowyer, who was the only Chaser not to lead a lap, finished 5th.  Those 2, along with Stewart, were the only 3 Chase drivers to not have problems today.  Jimmie Johnson did add slightly to his points lead, but it's still not very much.  Here are your standings...

1. Jimmie Johnson 5718
2. Carl Edwards -72
3. Greg Biffle -77
4. Jeff Burton -99
5. Clint Bowyer -152 (+2)
6. Kevin Harvick -171 (-1)
7. Tony Stewart -203 (+4)
8. Jeff Gordon -232 (-2)
9. Matt Kenseth -245
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -249 (-2)
11. Kyle Busch -331 (+1)
12. Denny Hamlin -335 (-2)

Next week the Chase heads to Charlotte for Saturday night under the lights.  Until next time, I'm your NASCAR VP saying  this was one hell of a race!

BK over and out