21 different drivers led at least one lap among the first 187 in the NEXTEL Cup Series event at Talladega on Sunday afternoon. Surprisingly, Jeff Gordon was not among that front-running club.

Luckily, a 500-mile race at Talladega requires 188 laps. Guess who led the final circuit?

With a savvy veteran touch accented by a pinch of youthful aggressiveness, Gordon won at the Alabama track on Sunday for his fifth win of the season, the 80th win of his career, and his 12th win in a restrictor-plate race, making him NASCAR's all-time leader in that category.

Last-lap pushes by fellow Chevrolet driver Tony Stewart and Toyota's Dave Blaney helped the 15th-year driver and four-time champion move around Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson for a dramatic victory that looked as it could have at least 10 worthy takers as the final laps ticked off.

The Penske Racing cars of Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman appeared to have the advantage with five laps to go, holding the lead as the field thinned out coming off of the race's final restart. However, the Hendrick Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson was pushed in a line by teammates Gordon and Casey Mears, and soon after it was a triad of Bowties that held the lead.

Tony Stewart brought his No. 20 Chevrolet into the mix, moving Mears out of the way and eliminating him from contention, but Johnson maintained his grip on the race lead with four laps to go.

Stewart tried to move to the outside, where he met the line of Penske Dodges trying to recover. The combined power of Newman and Busch helped the teammates deposit Stewart back in the field, and suddenly there were two Hendrick cars on the inside and two Penske cars on the outside.

A team-on-team shootout for the win in the Car of Tomorrow's first superspeedway event had been set up.

Johnson maintained the lead, but it appeared the whole way that Gordon's lack of a move for the lead was a move in itself, a sort of strategy that even the most casual observer would expect from the veteran driver of the DuPont/Pepsi Chevrolet.

As television commentator Rusty Wallace exclaimed, "The heck with relationships right now," it was clear that Jeff Gordon had his teammate right where he wanted him.

The white flag fell, and Gordon moved high after the lead pack rounded Turn 2. Kasey Kahne moved up to push Stewart along the wall, and in turn Stewart pushed Gordon past Johnson to give the No. 24 the lead for good. Gordon's win was his sixth at Talladega, perhaps even more incredible when considering Gordon's starting position: 34th.

Asked how he pulled out the win, Gordon could only reply, "I have no idea!"

Gordon then embraced crew chief Steve Letarte. "This guy builds an awesome race car and has put together a heck of a race team," Gordon said of Letarte.

"We just wanted to play it safe until it really counted."

Johnson finished second, followed by Blaney, Denny Hamlin, and Newman. Mears took sixth, Kurt Busch was seventh, Stewart was eighth, and Tony Raines and Reed Sorenson completed the top 10.

The remainder of the Chase competitors finished in the following positions: Clint Bowyer, 11th; Carl Edwards, 14th; Kevin Harvick, 20th; Matt Kenseth, 26th; Kyle Busch, 36th; Martin Truex Jr., 42nd; Jeff Burton, 43rd. Truex and Burton both fell victim to the engine woes that plagued the DEI-RCR engine partnership program throughout the day, likely putting their championship hopes to bed.

Jacques Villeneuve finished 21st in his NEXTEL Cup Series debut, and polesitter Michael Waltrip ended up 25th after a blown tire and a subsequent crash into the wall ended his day late.

Hamlin was the biggest gainer in the Chase standings, moving up three spots. However, he is only in ninth place with six races to go. Kyle Busch, Truex, and Burton all fell two spots.

Here are the standings of the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup with six races remaining in the 2007 season, one of which will be the November 11 Checker Auto Parts 500 Presented by Pennzoil at Phoenix International Raceway:

Point Standings (through 30 of 36 races)

The next action in the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup will take place at Charlotte on Saturday night. The race telecast begins at 4 p.m. (Mountain Standard Time/Phoenix time) on ABC.

With just five weeks remaining until the green flag, get your NASCAR tickets for the Checker Auto Parts 500 Presented by Pennzoil at PIR today! Call 1-866-408-RACE (7223) or visit www.racetickets.com!