The victory was Gordon's second of the season and 77th of his Nextel Cup career - sixth all-time. It is the second time Gordon has won a race at Talladega under caution flag and the first one (2004) nearly caused a riot because the fans thought that Dale Earnhardt Jr. should have been declared the winner.

"I can't thank everyone on this Dupont Chevrolet team enough," said Gordon's crew chief Steve Letarte. "Green-white-checker at Talladega is always nerve- wracking."

Phoenix winner and points leader Gordon brought the field to the green flag for 188 laps of high-speed restrictor-plate racing. He led just one lap before the fun started. On the first lap 41 of 43 cars changed position and the fun would continue for at least 187 more laps.

Gordon returned to the lead on lap six by going to the top of the track and getting help from behind. Then Marlin with help from Gordon's teammate Johnson got the inside line working and Marlin edged ahead of Gordon. Johnson got around Marlin and he hooked up with Gordon to take the lead on lap 20.

But the lead continued to be handed from car to car. Jeff Green, Tony Stewart and Marlin took turns at the front.

Through the first round of green-flag pit stops and Gordon returned to the top spot.

Early problems sent Carl Edwards, Dale Jarrett and Robby Gordon to the garage. Also in trouble was Stewart who was penalized for speeding on pit road.

After 60 laps Gordon was still the leader having led 24 laps since the green flag dropped. A lap 73 debris caution, a real one, got Stewart back on the lead lap and back into the race.

Gordon was ahead after 80 laps too, but the rumbling heard in the grandstands was because Earnhardt Jr. cracked the top-five for the first time.

Two laps later Clint Bowyer, who scraped the wall earlier, spun and slammed the outside wall ending his day. The caution, not long after the last pit stops, created a varying number of strategies. Some drivers stayed out while others came in for fuel only and still others got tires too.

While Gordon, Johnson and Marlin were mainstays in the top-10, Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin earned lead-lap bonus points as there were 12 different leaders and 26 lead changes just halfway through the race.

Casey Mears joined his Hendrick Motorsports teammates at the front and the team held the top-three positions as the field cracked the 100-lap mark.

Earnhardt Jr. dropped back through the field with 70 laps to go and indicated to his crew that he was running hot. He would problably stay near the back, to stay cooler, until the final push at the finish.

Earnhardt Jr. and Kenny Wallace made their final green-flag stops with 64 laps to go, but right after they finished, Mears was spun by his teammate Johnson as he was trying to get down pit road. It brought out the caution flag. As with Gordon last week, It left Wallace in the lead. Earnhardt Jr. would have been there too, but his crew chief elected to come back in and change all his tires.

Lap 131 saw a "big" accident involving a number of contenders. It appeared to start when Tony Raines moved up into Johnson and while trying to avoid Raines the No.48 Chevrolet hit Ricky Rudd. Also collected was Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton and Joe Nemechek.

After the cleanup, there were 32 cars on the lead lap and any of them could win the race. Hamlin went immediately to the front as did Matt Kenseth and David Stremme. Earnhardt Jr. also returned to the top-10, but Gordon and Johnson were hovering around 20th.

Hamlin and Stremme were still one-two with 30 laps to go as the field strangely went single file.

Montoya and Newman bent some sheetmetal on lap 162 when it appeared that the Colombian had a tire go flat. The caution flag meant that everyone could make the finish on fuel, but many teams wanted to come in for fuel just in case. That list included Gordon and Stewart. Hamlin and the remainder of the top-10 stayed out, refusing to give up the lead.

The race restarted with 23 laps to go.

They stayed in single file formation, with Hamlin leading. Stremme, however, fell out of the top-10 while Jamie McMurray slid into second place.

Another caution flag for debris, set up the wild side-by-side finish.

The green flag dropped with just 10 laps remaining. With eigght laps to go, Johnson, Stewart and Gordon went to the bottom of the track. Johnson didn't like it and went back to the top, but Stewart and Gordon stayed together like glue.

With seven laps to go, Earnhardt Jr. made his move followed by a host of drivers. McMurray went down low and picked up Earnhardt to take the lead, but "Junior" was sitting pretty in second place. A seventh caution flag came out with four laps to go and it appeared that Gordon had edged past both McMurray and Earnhardt Jr. for the lead.

NASCAR checked the tape and Gordon would restart with the lead and two laps to go once the track was cleaned up.

With the race going "overtime" Hamlin had to pit for fuel or risk running out on the track. He would restart 26th.

Who else would be hurt by the extra miles?

The race restarted with Gordon, McMurray, Johnson and Kurt Busch the first cars in line. As the green flag dropped Gordon stuck to the bottom, and Johnson stayed with his teammate. McMurray was stuck at the top and fell back.

Then, all hell broke loose about mid-pack and NASCAR brought out the flag ending the race.

Gordon cruised to the checkered flag at about 60 m.p.h.

"As much as Jimmie pushed me, I knew that he was going to be the toughest guy to beat on that last restart," said Gordon.

Kurt Busch, David Gilliland and McMurray completed the top-five.

Gordon will leave Talladega with a 203-point lead over Burton who finished 34th. The next race in the series is set for Saturday night, May 5th at Richmond.

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