Chase still up for grabs

TALLADEGA, Ala. — It was wild, all right, it just wasn't decisive.

NASCAR's three title contenders left Talladega Superspeedway with their championship chances intact, as Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick remained locked at the top of the tightest points fight in seven years after a typically chaotic race.

Clint Bowyer edged Harvick, his Richard Childress Racing teammate, in a photo finish Sunday to win the AMP Energy Juice 500. But Harvick was just fine settling for second because it's the big picture that matters now.

Johnson, the four-time defending champion, left Talladega with a 14-point lead over Hamlin and Harvick was 38 back. There are three races remaining in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

“We've gone through seven races, and you can throw a blanket over the three of us,” Harvick said. “It's really going to just come down to dotting the Is, crossing the Ts, keeping that performance level where it needs to be.”

“It's going to be an awesome championship battle all the way to Homestead, and I'm really looking forward to it,” Johnson echoed.

All three went to Talladega hoping it wouldn't be the wild card of the 10-race Chase.

Although it was wild, it didn't disrupt the Chase.

The race was marked by 87 lead changes, second most in NASCAR history, and a multicar accident that sent AJ Allmendinger's car flipping across the track as the leaders roared toward the white flag.

NASCAR threw the caution for Allmendinger's accident, and nobody had any idea who was out front when the yellow waved.

It took several minutes of reviews for NASCAR to declare Bowyer the victor. He jumped the gun with celebratory burnouts, then stuck his hand out his window for a congratulatory high-five with Harvick, who waited in his parked Chevrolet for the NASCAR call.

While Bowyer celebrated in Victory Lane, the title contenders tried to make sense of the day. Johnson hovered around a TV monitor in the infield media center to watch replays of the final two laps, while a wide-eyed Harvick was later distracted by another view.

“Oh, I didn't know somebody flipped,” he said.

That's how it usually goes at Talladega, and the drivers went into Sunday with strategies to avoid the mayhem.

For Johnson and Hamlin, it was riding around the back most of the day then hooking up with a teammate for help for a final push.

Bowyer has been stalled in last place in the 12-driver Chase field, eager to prove his team is better then where they are ranked. Although he's still 12th after Sunday's win, he's only 50 points out of seventh place.

“To be able to win, it is redemption,” Bowyer said. “It finally puts that behind me as a racecar driver, as a person, and us as a race team.”