TALLADEGA, Ala. — It was undoubtedly the most beneficial ninth-place finish in the history of the Talladega Superspeedway. It was also nearly one of the biggest upsets in NASCAR history.

Regan Smith’s last-second pass of Tony Stewart was ruled illegal because he went below the out-of-bounds yellow line, leaving Stewart with his first career Talladega win and putting an end to a 43-race winless streak.

“This is about one of four places I haven’t won yet in a Cup race, so you talk about places I wanted to win, this is it,” Stewart said.

But while Stewart was celebrating, the real winner was Jimmie Johnson, who, in a matter of seconds, saw his shot at a Sprint Cup championship three-peat take a major turn forward. In a wreck that involved half the Chase field and 11 total cars with just 15 laps to go in Sunday’s Amp Energy 500, points leader Johnson somehow made it through the carnage that took out his two closest contenders, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle.

As a result, Johnson, who was up just 10 points over Edwards and Biffle coming in, heads to Charlotte with a 72-point lead over Edwards. Biffle is 77 out, followed by Jeff Burton 99 back. The rest of the field is more than 150 points out.

“This was the track I feared the most, and to come out with a top-10 when the guys around me had problems, it was a big, big day for us,” Johnson said. “But, I know I don’t have a big enough lead to coast. I still have to out-perform those guys.”

Paul Menard earned a career-best second, followed by David Ragan, Burton, Clint Bowyer, Bobby Labonte, Scott Riggs, Robby Gordon, Johnson and Elliott Sadler.

In a race which featured a NASCAR record for different leaders (26), had 55 lead changes, tire issues and two huge accidents, Johnson managed to stay relatively clean in adding to his championship lead with six races to go. The turning point came on lap 174 when Edwards got a little over-aggressive in bump-drafting with Roush Fenway Racing teammate Biffle.

Edwards’ bump at the end of the backstretch sent Biffle sideways and led to the pileup which also included title contenders Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth. With Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin already out with via earlier accidents, Johnson had a choice: either play it safe and take the big gain or go for the kill and the win.

Unfortunately, the decision was out of his hand due to an engine which did not perform well all day.

“I wish I could have been more competitive on that last restart, but I just had no speed,” Johnson said. “Earlier in the race I couldn’t even hang onto the draft, so I was in the back, kind of in the eye of the storm all day. Somehow I managed to squeeze through the trouble.”

One driver who had no intention of playing it safe was Stewart, who came in 11th in points and riding his worst career losing streak. Once the race restarted with 11 laps to go following the second red-flag period of the race, Stewart, who had just inherited the lead prior the big wreck, started sniffing the win. When Jamie McMurray’s car spun with a flat tire with four laps to go, it set up a two-lap shootout, with Stewart restarting first ahead of Dale Earnhardt, Inc., teammates Smith, Menard and Aric Almirola.

After an uneventful first lap, Menard started pushing Smith, who dove low around the final turn. Stewart squeezed him down below the yellow line, but Smith completed the pass. However, as his crew celebrated on pit road, NASCAR officials ruled Stewart the winner and relegated Smith to 18th, the last car on the lead lap.

“We came off four, and I was right where I wanted to be on the race track.” Smith said. “I shot to the outside, he went up to block. I went to the inside and he forced me down to the line. They always tell us in the driver’s meeting if you get forced to the inside, then you can go for it, especially on the last lap. I feel we won this race.”

Stewart knew the DEI trio would make a run.

“On the last restart I didn’t want to get too big a gap between me and the DEI cars, but I almost did,” Stewart said. “He got a good run and I had to protect it. I’ve lost Daytona 500’s and races here at Talladega because guy’s blocked. The nice thing is I was on the right end of it this time. Make no mistake, I’ve got no regrets about it. I did the only thing I could do to win the race.”

Kyle Busch finished 15th, Harvick 20th, Biffle 24th, Kenseth 26th, Earnhardt 28th, Edwards 29th, Gordon 28th and Hamlin 39th.

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