Truex takes another Talladega win

Truex has now won the last three Busch rounds held at Talledega. The result was particularly appropriate for the Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver on what would have been the late Dale Earnhardt's 55th birthday.

"Three in a row for us - it's a very cool thing to happen on this day," said Truex. "It seemed like the car could do anything it wanted.

"The cautions at the end really helped because it took about three or four laps for the guys to gang up and get a run on me. For the last couple of laps, I just had to make it wide, and it worked."

The race ended with a three lap sprint to the flag after polesitter J.J. Yeley's incident in turn four brought out a late caution period.

Harvick secured second place with a late surge following a last gasp pit stop for fresh tyres and to clean his windscreen (which had been covered in oil), having barely featured in the top five before the final dash.

He beat Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers, Clint Bowyer and Greg Biffle, who had all, along with Carl Edwards, provided Truex's main competition during the second half of the race.

Despite Talladega's reputation for multi-car carnage, the race ran relatively cleanly. The pace car was not required until lap 42, when three cars at the rear of the field tangled.

Tony Stewart had been one of the main protagonists in the early stages, leading the most laps in the first half of the race.

But the reigning Nextel Cup champion was also responsible for the biggest accident of the day, when he rolled down the front straight after pulling across in front of Kenny Wallace.

Stewart's Chevrolet came to rest upside down, but he escaped without injury. Remarkably, only one other car (the unlucky Danny O'Quinn) was collected in the incident.

"I thought I had enough room to get down but I didn't and I just clipped him (Wallace) on the right front," said Stewart. "It wasn't his fault at all, it was mine. I just came down, caught him, got sideways and then upside down."

Aaron's 312 result:

Pos  Driver              Make       Laps
 1.  Martin Truex Jr.    Chevrolet   117
 2.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   117
 3.  Kyle Busch          Chevrolet   117
 4.  Brian Vickers       Chevrolet   117
 5.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet   117
 6.  Greg Biffle         Ford        117
 7.  Mark McFarland      Chevrolet   117
 8.  Johnny Sauter       Chevrolet   117
 9.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet   117
10.  Carl Edwards        Ford        117
11.  Scott Riggs         Dodge       117
12.  Mike Wallace        Dodge       117
13.  Kenny Wallace       Ford        117
14.  Michael Waltrip     Dodge       117
15.  Jay Sauter          Chevrolet   117
16.  John Andretti       Ford        117
17.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge       117
18.  Jason Leffler       Chevrolet   117
19.  Jon Wood            Ford        117
20.  Burney Lamar        Chevrolet   117
21.  Tim Sauter          Chevrolet   117
22.  Ken Schrader        Ford        117
23.  Aaron Fike          Dodge       117
24.  David Green         Ford        117
25.  Tracy Hines         Dodge       117
26.  Stacy Compton       Ford        117
27.  Todd Kluever        Ford        117
28.  Mark Green          Dodge       117
29.  Steadman Marlin     Dodge       117
30.  Denny Hamlin        Chevrolet   116
31.  Stephen Leicht      Ford        115
32.  Kertus Davis        Chevrolet   115
33.  Ashton Lewis        Ford        115
34.  J.J. Yeley          Chevrolet   110
35.  Paul Tracy          Chevrolet    98
36.  Jamie McMurray      Dodge        97
37.  Regan Smith         Ford         97
38.  Danny O'Quinn Jr.   Ford         68
39.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet    66
40.  Donnie Neuenberger  Chevrolet    42
41.  Derrike Cope        Ford         42
42.  Justin Ashburn      Chevrolet    36
43.  Randy MacDonald     Chevrolet     1