Amp Energy 500 Notes 'n' Quotes

Amp Energy 500

Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway

At the end, he was there: When the race was past over (191, as opposed to the scheduled 188), Jamie McMurray’s happened to be at the front of the field. Not many saw him take the white flag (the checkered flew under caution) because of the 13-car pileup taking place behind him.

Must be clean living: Jimmie Johnson, who spent much of the day back in the pack, managed to escape the last-second madness with a sixth-place finish, which, in turn, allowed him to extend his Chase lead to 184 points. That’s the biggest margin in the history of the Chase.

The mighty fall: Only three Chase drivers survived to finish in the top 10. Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart; Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin were all outside the top 25.

Notable numbers

1 – McMurray’s top-five finishes (and wins) this year.

2 – Times Joey Logano finished in the top 10 at Talladega this year.

9 – Laps led by Dale Earnhardt Jr.

32 – Laps led by McMurray, the most of any driver.

58 – Lead changes.

Quotable quotes

“I thought we were in trouble being conservative, and we almost were. Chad (Knaus’s) decision to come to pit road and take fuel is what made the difference. This was all Chad.” – Jimmie Johnson (sixth).

“The car doesn’t have a scratch, not a tire mark on it, and that’s how you rate a good day at Talladega.” – Greg Biffle (fourth)

“I guess I'm kind of glad we ran out when we did, because we at least were able to get back out there and destroy our car.” – Jeff Gordon.

“I hope everyone enjoyed the show. I don't know what it looked like.” – Mark Martin.