TALLADEGA, Ala. — For 173 laps the competitors in Sunday's Aaron's 499 Sprint Cup race were playing high-speed Russian Roulette — and getting away with it. The final 15 laps at the Talladega Superspeedway, however, saw the odds catch up to the field.

Two huge accidents and three other caution periods ensued, and when the smoke had cleared and the car parts cleaned up, Kyle Busch was left celebrating in victory lane. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver parlayed a pair of strong pushes to first take the lead, then to hold it before the mayhem broke out in earning his second win of the season.

The race, after two separate wrecks on the final lap, actually ended under caution as at least a dozen damaged cars were strewn around the track.

“First Jeff Gordon, then Juan Montoya gave me awesome pushes, then I just kept blocking them as I needed to to stay up front,” said Busch, whose previous best Talladega finish was 11th. “This is unreal. I don't think I've ever finished one of these, at least in a car that wasn't torn up.”

Montoya held on for second, followed by Gibbs' Denny Hamlin, David Ragan, Brian Vickers, Travis Kvapil, Casey Mears, Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

That top-10, as well as the others which preceded it, changed — sometimes dramatically — over nearly every lap. Unlike last fall's COT debut at Talladega, Sunday's race was extremely competitive after NASCAR slowed the cars via a smaller restrictor plate. Twenty drivers took turns at the front of the field and rarely was there not one large pack of cars going three and four-wide.

“That was amazing,” Hamlin said. “If you didn't like that race, you just don’t like racing. For sure, it was the best race we've had this year. At times, there was some single-file racing, but it busted loose with 25 to go. It was still good up to that point, but it was crazy after that. I really commend NASCAR for the changes they made to this car for the superspeedway racing.”

The close racing, however, finally caught up to the competitors on lap 174 when, while racing four-wide, a six-car wreck broke out when Stewart's car started bouncing around in the middle of the pack. His car hit Bobby Labonte's and Earnhardt's before the cars of Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch and Jamie McMcurray were collected. Stewart, who led race's most laps (61), went straight to the garage.

“I went to the second lane there, and I thought we were going to be all right, but that hole started closing up,” said Stewart, the six-time Talladega runner-up who finished 38th. “That's just what happens at these races. If it was my fault I'm sorry, but I've seen the replay and I don't think I did anything wrong.”

Following a restart with five to go after the damaged car of Labonte cut a tire, the action picked up even more. Michael Waltrip restarted with the lead, but lasted just a lap before Busch used a Gordon shove to take the lead. It was Montoya who did the pushing on the next-to-last lap as he, Busch and Hamlin broke away while Gordon quickly faded.

As the leaders passed the start/finish line for the final lap, Michael McDowell spun out, but the race stayed green as he managed to get out of the way. It was green only for a few seconds before a wreck that involved 11 cars erupted on the backstretch, causing the race to end under caution. Among the drivers involved were Johnson, who finished 13th, and Waltrip, who wound up 27th. Gordon slipped all the way to 21st, while Jeff Burton finished 12th to maintain his points lead.

“Juan Pablo was my savior today,” Busch said. “He pushed me all the way to the front with a great shot. He got us all the way to the first two spots. The 55 (Waltrip) and 48 (Johnson) did the same thing. On the restart we shifted the 55 out. Gordon got behind me somehow, and he helped push me past the 48, which was cool. Then Juan shoved the 24 (Gordon) out of line, and it was us and Denny at the end.”

Hamlin was left wondering what might have happened if the final lap had gone green.

“Well, I know I would have dictated who was going to win,” he said. “With a teammate out front, I think Joe Gibbs Racing might have frowned on it if I had pushed Juan to the lead, but I think I would have tried to push him to the outside, then I would have made it three-wide with a chance to go for the win.”

As if the race needed more drama.