Vickers takes controversial first win.

Brian Vickers claimed his long awaited first Nextel Cup victory in Sunday's UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega but only after a last lap collision with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson.

Heading into the 188th and final lap of the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway Vickers sat in third place behind Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr, who had led the previous ten laps as the rest of the leaders tried to decide when to make their move.

Coming down the back straight for the final time Johnson ducked low to try and pass Earnhardt Jr with Vickers in tow trying to push his teammate into the lead. However when Johnson and Earnhardt Jr bobbled Vickers' momentum carried him into the back of Johnson's car, which in turn went sideways into Earnhardt Jr causing both to crash.

As the two erstwhile leaders spun into the inside grass, hitting each other several times before coming to rest, a rather startled Vickers motored on unhindered as the yellow flags came out and the race ended under caution.

Up to that point Earnhardt Jr looked primed for yet another restrictor plate win as he recovered from a mid race puncture that dropped him off the lead lap and then somehow managed to avoid the biggest crash of the day on lap 137 as he made his way back up the leaderboard.

Taking the final restart of the day in the lead, Earnhardt Jr was philosophical about the crash, which dropped him to 21st in the finishing order although thanks to point leader Jeff Burton's own late race puncture, Dale Jr still gained ground on the points lead.

Johnson, who needed a good finish to get his title challenge back on track, was livid at his soon to be ex-teammate, who was greeted with a chorus of boos from the pro-Earnhardt Jr fans when he entered Victory Lane. Johnson was classified 22nd and is 150 points behind Burton with six races remaining.

The resurfaced Talladega circuit was universally praised by all the drivers and made for a largely safe yet spectacular race. Cars looked visibly more stable on the track whilst at the same time three and four wide racing was still commonplace. More than half the field, 23 drivers in fact, took turns at leading and there were nearly 70 official lead changes.

Earnhardt Jr led the most laps with 37 although Hendrick Motorsports seemed to be the strongest team overall. However while nobody would begrudge Vickers his first win, his inadvertent contact with Johnson has probably cost the #48 driver his shot at the 2006 title for although Burton's problems and subsequent 27th place finish allowed all nine of his points rivals back into contention Johnson has now failed to finish in the top ten in any of the four Chase races so far.

One driver who managed to bring his title hopes back from the dead on Sunday was Kasey Kahne who finished second to Vickers and gained nearly 100 points on Burton in the process. Although Kahne is still nearly 200 markers out of the points lead he will carry far more momentum into the next race than any of his Chase rivals.

Kurt Busch finished third for his best result in a while, while Matt Kenseth used a fourth place finish to close within six points of the title lead. Martin Truex Jr completed the top five for DEI while Kevin Harvick recovered from suffering damage in the lap 137 wreck to take sixth.

Jeff Green and Bobby Labonte finished seventh and eighth with Mark Martin a solid ninth and Carl Edwards, who triggered the lap 137 turn one crash when he made contact with Casey Mears, rounded out the top ten.

The biggest crash of the day swept up Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon but while Harvick and Hamlin were able to continue Gordon's day was effectively over and he finished 36th.

Gordon was the only Chase contender to finish lower than Burton, who had been enjoying a consistent top ten day despite the constant shuffling of the running order. But while Burton seemed to have a decent top ten car Gordon's #24 Chevrolet looked every bit a potential winner until he found the broadside cars of Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray and Mears sitting in his path.

The next stop on the championship tour is the Lowe's Motor Speedway next Saturday night, a track that Jimmie Johnson has made his own in recent seasons.