Talladega NASCAR: David Ragan leads amazing Front Row one-two

During the green-white-chequer two-lap dash to the finish, Ragan and team-mate David Gilliland hooked up and timed their run to perfection as dusk fell over the superspeedway.

Together they blasted by Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth, who between them had dominated a race that featured two huge crashes and a long rain interruption.

Edwards held on for third, ahead of part-time racer Michael Waltrip, Jimmie Johnson and Regan Smith.

Having led the vast majority of the laps, Kenseth fell to eighth at the flag.

Denny Hamlin returned to action for the first time since his back-breaking crash at Fontana in March. He lasted 23 laps behind the wheel of the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota before handing over to Brian Vickers as planned pre-race.

Vickers worked his way into the top 10 when he was involved in the first big multi-car accident.

The incident was sparked when Marcos Ambrose bumped Kyle Busch into Kasey Kahne, who spun the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet into the outside wall and back into the pack.

A number of potential race winners - Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle - sustained heavy damage in the accident, which involved 13 cars in total.

The race was then red-flagged with 63 laps to go as a rain shower drenched the track. Following a lengthy delay it resumed, but Juan Pablo Montoya was out of luck again as his Ganassi Chevy refused to fire up. A new ECU was installed and he rejoined the fray three laps down.

As the race entered its final phase there was another huge crash, this one caused when Ricky Stenhouse Jr made it four-wide as he attempted to pass JJ Yeley. There simply was not room and Yeley was tipped into the unlucky Kurt Busch, who was launched into a series of rolls.

He crash-landed on the roof of Ryan Newman's Stewart Haas Chevy, causing havoc among the following pack. There was a scrapyard's worth of bent metal, but all the drivers escaped unharmed.

Results - 192 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                         Time/Gap
 1.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford               3h26m02.000s
 2.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford                   + 0.213s
 3.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford                + 0.227s
 4.  Michael Waltrip     Waltrip Toyota                   + 0.293s
 5.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet               + 0.307s
 6.  Regan Smith         Phoenix Chevrolet                + 0.403s
 7.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota                   + 0.416s
 8.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford                + 0.416s
 9.  Scott Speed         Leavine Ford                     + 0.489s
10.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                       + 0.492s
11.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet               + 0.518s
12.  David Stremme       Swan Toyota                      + 0.594s
13.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr  Roush Fenway Ford                + 0.616s
14.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                       + 0.645s
15.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Ford                      + 0.730s
16.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet                + 0.750s
17.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet               + 0.755s
18.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota                   + 1.018s
19.  Josh Wise           Front Row Ford                  + 25.197s
20.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota            + 30.895s
21.  Michael McDowell    Parsosn Ford                      + 1 lap
22.  Landon Cassill      Circle Sport Chevrolet            + 1 lap
23.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet       + 1 lap
24.  Casey Mears         Germain Ford                      + 1 lap
25.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet      + 3 laps
26.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet              + 4 laps
27.  Tony Stewart        Stewart-Haas Chevrolet           + 5 laps
28.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet              + 5 laps

Retirements:

     Terry Labonte       FAS Lane Ford                    185 laps
     Kurt Busch          Furniture Row Chevrolet          182 laps
     JJ Yeley            Baldwin Chevrolet                182 laps
     Ryan Newman         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet           182 laps
     Danica Patrick      Stewart-Haas Chevrolet           182 laps
     Hamlin/Vickers      Joe Gibbs Toyota                148 laps*
     Joey Logano         Penske Ford                      143 laps
     Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford               141 laps*
     Kyle Busch          Joe Gibbs Toyota                138 laps*
     Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota                       128 laps*
     Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                      53 laps
     Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet               47 laps
     David Reutimann     BK Toyota                         43 laps
     Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet                42 laps
     Trevor Bayne        Wood Brothers Ford                22 laps

* Running again at chequered flag