Kyle Busch wins Cup at Talladega

Busch went a lap down after he pitted under green and missed his pit stall, having to return to get serviced a lap later. He spent a long time waiting for a caution period that would give him the free pass to get back on the lead lap, his break finally coming several laps later.

After that, 'Rowdy' made his way through the field and found himself leading the race when the last caution came out with only five laps remaining.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who became his drafting partner in the closing stages, was glued to his rear bumper waiting for the right moment to launch his attack, but a multi-car wreck on the last lap forced the race to end under caution, giving Busch his maiden win at Talladega.

"Montoya, man he was pushing," Busch said. "He didn't want to get off the back bumper of this thing so that was pretty awesome. I've got to thank him and thank Jeff (Gordon) and those guys - they really hung with us.

"I moved up to block them a little bit and was able to keep them behind me and we were able to get through traffic. Without those guys pushing and staying locked to my bumper it wasn't happening."

Montoya had his best race of the year at Talladega and one that he probably could've won. The Colombian made a smart move when he chose to draft with Busch after the Gibbs' driver nearly wrecked following contact with Jamie McMurray.

Busch was left alone on the outside line after the incident, but Montoya transferred his momentum to the No. 18 Toyota, pushing both of them towards the front. The Ganassi driver was a major player all day and gave his team a morale boost after the bad news of Dario Franchitti's injury.

"I really helped Kyle," Montoya said. "When you could get into someone's bumper, you could push him all the way around the lap and make up a bunch of ground. It was good and I got up to second and then dropped to fifth and got up to second again. It was a pretty cool and interesting race."

Montoya's race, as Busch, was not without incident. Montoya tapped the rear of Paul Menard's DEI Chevrolet, sending him into a spin after David Stremme - filling in for Franchitti - bumped him from behind when Montoya was slightly off-line from the queue of cars running at the bottom of the track.

Denny Hamlin finished the race third behind Montoya, leading a good number of laps through the 500 miles of drafting. David Ragan was a solid fourth and clearly the best of the Roush Fenway contingent in a day where the team's leaders faded with front-camber issues that caused Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth to blow one tyre after another.

Brian Vickers finished fifth, claiming his best result of the season thus far and putting three Toyotas among the top-five. However the most dominant of the Camrys was Tony Stewart who led nearly a third of the distance before a damaged right front tyre sent him against the outside wall while running up front.

He was making a good recovery later until he tangled with Bobby Labonte and Dale Earnhardt Jr - who was also one of the fastest cars all day - eventually losing any chance of victory in the incident that involved seven cars, only thirteen laps before the chequered flag.

"I was hating it there for Tony (Stewart) that he got that flat tyre and got in the crash and all," Earnhardt said. "I was upset because we had worked so hard there at the end to stay together. It would have been a nice finish and he would have finished up there with me there at the end."

However the 'big one' of the day came on the last lap as some tried to make desperate moves to make up spots. McMurray and David Stremme seemed to ignite the chain reaction that involved eleven cars, including points leader Jeff Burton and reigning champion Jimmie Johnson.

Despite that, Burton remains at the top of the drivers' standing, followed only thirteen points behind by Kyle Busch.

Pos  Driver               Make        Laps
 1.  Kyle Busch           Toyota       188
 2.  Juan Montoya         Dodge        188
 3.  Denny Hamlin         Toyota       188
 4.  David Ragan          Ford         188
 5.  Brian Vickers        Toyota       188
 6.  Travis Kvapil        Ford         188
 7.  Casey Mears          Chevrolet    188
 8.  Ryan Newman          Dodge        188
 9.  Clint Bowyer         Chevrolet    188
10.  Dale Earnhardt Jr    Chevrolet    188
11.  Robby Gordon         Dodge        188
12.  Jeff Burton          Chevrolet    188
13.  Jimmie Johnson       Chevrolet    188
14.  Paul Menard          Chevrolet    188
15.  David Gilliland      Ford         188
16.  Scott Riggs          Chevrolet    188
17.  Jamie McMurray       Ford         188
18.  Greg Biffle          Ford         188
19.  Jeff Gordon          Chevrolet    188
20.  David Reutimann      Toyota       188
21.  Sterling Marlin      Chevrolet    188
22.  Regan Smith          Chevrolet    188
23.  Kasey Kahne          Dodge        188
24.  Kevin Harvick        Chevrolet    188
25.  Joe Nemechek         Chevrolet    188
26.  Michael McDowell     Toyota       188
27.  Michael Waltrip      Toyota       188
28.  David Stremme        Dodge        188
29.  Elliott Sadler       Dodge        188
30.  A.J. Allmendinger    Toyota       188
31.  Patrick Carpentier   Dodge        186
32.  Kyle Petty           Dodge        186
33.  Aric Almirola        Chevrolet    186
34.  Bobby Labonte        Dodge        183
35.  Sam Hornish Jr       Dodge        180
36.  Jon Wood             Ford         179
37.  Martin Truex Jr      Chevrolet    174
38.  Tony Stewart         Toyota       173
39.  Kurt Busch           Dodge        173
40.  Carl Edwards         Ford         153
41.  Matt Kenseth         Ford         150
42.  Ken Schrader         Chevrolet    141
43.  Reed Sorenson        Dodge          4