When trouble struck as the white flag was waving, Denny Hamlin was in the perfect position. He was out front and stayed there until NASCAR threw the yellow flag for debris scattered across the frontstretch. This is the No.11 team’s first victory of the season and the one likely providing a Chase berth.

A mix of drivers led the race early. Paul Menard, Danica Patrick, and Jeff Gordon all shared the top spot before the first caution on Lap 14.

Just as Brad Keselowski took the lead, he attempted to clear Danica Patrick in the bottom lane. However, Keselowski wasn’t completely clear. When he moved down the track, he got into the No.10 car and was tapped around. Keselowski drifted back up the track a few seconds later, but miraculously, he only made slight contact with other cars.

Two “Big Ones” occurred in Sunday’s race.  The first struck on Lap 136. As the cars roared through turn 4, Keselowski got loose and spun around in the middle of the pack. He collected many other cars, 12 in total. Drivers involved included Trevor Bayne, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Brian Scott, Alex Bowman, Michael Annett, Paul Menard, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson.

“(The car) broke loose and spun out on me” was how Keselowski described the start of the incident to FOX. Keselowski’s car suffered heavy damage and retired from the race.

The second “Big One” of the day occurred with 14 laps to go. Jimmie Johnson’s car broke loose going through turn 4 and spun around. Other drivers reacted to Johnson’s spin and were also collected in the wreck. Those drivers include Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, David Ragan, Reed Sorenson and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Denny Hamlin led as the final restart which commenced with two laps remaining. As the cars raced to the white flag, contact between Ryan Newman and Alex Bowman in the tri-oval sent Bowman and Justin Allgaier spinning. Debris flew off of Allgaier’s car and landed in the middle of the racing surface. This forced NASCAR to throw the yellow flag to end the race under caution.

Hamlin was out front at the time of the caution and was deemed the victor. This was his first Talladega victory and his first points paying win at a restrictor-plate track.

Greg Biffle claimed second place followed by Clint Bowyer, Brian Vickers and AJ Allmendinger to round out the top five. Paul Menard, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Larson and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished in positions sixth through 10th, respectively. Jeff Gordon retains the Sprint Cup Series points lead by three points over Matt Kenseth.

The wild and unpredictable Talladega prevailed on Sunday afternoon. Three-wide racing was featured throughout as fans stayed on the edge of their seats all afternoon. Despite the race ending under caution, anyone could have scored the victory as there were a total of 188 lead changes.

The Sprint Cup Series will be at Kansas Speedway next weekend for the inaugural night race at the speedway.

With Brian Scott’s pole for Sunday’s Aaron’s 499, the question is raised on whether or not he could make it in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS).

On one hand, he’s an unproven driver with only a pair of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series wins to his name. The wins came several years apart and for different teams, and in both instances he wasn’t close to becoming a championship contender.

In his sixth season of running in the NASCAR Nationwide Series competition, he remains winless in 151 career starts. He earned a pair of runner-up finishes in 2013, coming close to victory at Indianapolis in July and dominating until the latter stages at Richmond in September. Other than that, he’s been the subject of “rich kid” fodder from the naysayers.

He made his Sprint Cup Series debut at Charlotte in October of 2013, starting a respectable 19th and finishing 25th. He’s been running a limited schedule in 2014, including a decent run in February’s 500-mile race before crashing out. His runs at Phoenix and Fontana were sub-par, although Fontana was mostly due to a crash with Aric Almirola.

Now Scott’s stock is on notice, thanks to his NSCS pole at Talladega.

This could be attributed to the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) affiliation that Circle Sport Racing has. Prior to qualifying at Talladega Scott’s qualifying performances have been mediocre to downright poor. But considering Talladega is the most unpredictable track on the circuit Scott’s chances of finishing well were pretty even with the rest of the field.

But a strong finish at Talladega doesn’t mean much because Talladega is such a wild card. If Front Row Motorsports, an underfunded team, can finish first and second in a race at Talladega, then anything can happen there. Therefore it would be hard to determine whether or not Scott’s finish was based on skill, luck or both.

Then again, Scott has been doing quite well with RCR. In the 2013 Nationwide Series campaign Scott had a career season, finishing seventh in the points with one pole, three top-fives and 13 top-10s.

Had Kyle Busch competed in fewer events, including Indy and Richmond, then Scott would have posted two wins instead of going winless again. His performance in 2013 indicates that he just might post a victory in 2014.

If he’s to run well in the Sprint Cup Series, he needs to bolster his resume in the Nationwide Series. As it stands right now, Scott is only riding around. If he wants to do well in the Sprint Cup Series he needs to show that he can get the job done elsewhere.

Once he does that, then he should do fine once he lands a respectable Sprint Cup Series ride.