Earnhardt takes win at Talladega

Charging from 27th place on the grid to fifth in the first six laps of the Winston 500, Earnhardt took his 74th career win.

'I'm surprised,' said Earnhardt. 'I didn't feel I had a dominant car today. In the spring race, I felt dominant...not today.'

Dale Jarrett tried to find his way back to the front, to no avail.

He only needed to finish 8th in the race to clinch the title, and his second place to Earnhardt secured that.

Ricky Rudd finished a strong third, after starting outside the front row.

In first round qualifying, Rudd held the provisional pole through nearly 20 other attempts at the pole until Joe Nemechek took to the track and bested him by just 0.066s.

Rounding out the top-10 were Ward Burton, Kenny Wallace, Tony Stewart, Jeff
Burton, Bobby Hamilton and Kenny Irwin.

Earnhardt needs 11 more career wins to surpass Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip, each with 84, to move into third place in the All-Time race winners standings.