RELATED: Full race results | Series standings | Chase Grid
Breaking down the full field for the Hellmann's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway:
1. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford, Team Penske. Not even dragging his jack around for one lap could keep Logano out of Victory Lane. Logano grabbed the lead five laps after the engine of teammate Brad Keselowski's dominant No. 2 car expired and he didn't let it go, leading the final 45 laps. Grade: A
2. Brian Scott, No. 44 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. In his 49th start, Scott snagged the best finish of his career -- and first top 10 -- with a brilliant run. It also was the best finish for RPM since Marcos Ambrose placed second at Watkins Glen more than two years ago. Grade: A+
3. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin was penalized for speeding on pit road (again) and advanced to the next round of the Chase by the slimmest of margins (about two feet). Hamlin didn't make it easy on himself, but he's moving on -- and his No. 1 track, Martinsville, is up next. Grade: A
4. Kurt Busch, No. 41 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Steady Busch flew under the radar into the Round of 8. Well, until his postrace dust-up with teammate Kevin Harvick. Grade: A
5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Stenhouse's fourth top 10 in seven starts at Talladega is also his sixth this season, a personal best. In addition, it was his fourth top five this season, one more than in his previous three full-time seasons combined. Grade: A
6. Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing. Larson posted his best finish at Talladega since finishing ninth in his first race there in May 2014. Grade: A
7. Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick was running behind Joey Logano on Logano's "jack lap" and caught a huge break when the jack remained attached to Logano's car and didn't fly into him. Grade: A
8. Aric Almirola, No. 43 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. Finally! Almirola's streak of starts without a top-10 finish ends at a career-high 32. Grade: A
9. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. How close was Dillon to advancing in the Chase? The difference was the one point Denny Hamlin earned by finishing .006 seconds ahead of Kurt Busch. Grade: A
10. AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Chevrolet, JTG Daugherty Racing. Allmendinger posts back-to-back top-10 finishes for the third time this season despite having an average running position Sunday of 25.8. Grade: A-
11. Ryan Blaney, No. 21 Ford, Wood Brothers Racing. Blaney ran with the leaders all afternoon, and his 7.6 average running position was third best. He also led laps for the second time this season. Grade: A
12. Chase Elliott, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Elliott needed a win to advance in the Chase and did everything he could -- his average running position of 7.3 was second to Kurt Busch's 6.9 -- but he was hemmed in at the end and couldn't challenge the front-runners. Grade: A
13. Paul Menard, No. 27 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Menard posted his best finish since his last top 10, in July at Indianapolis. Grade: B
14. Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Newman, whose average running position of 27.3 was highest among drivers finishing in the top 20, ran one lap in the top 15 -- his last. Grade: B-
15. Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Biffle was strong early and led 13 laps, but his day took a negative turn when he brought out the second caution on Lap 114. A coming-together with Jeffrey Earnhardt and Casey Mears sent all three cars into the inside wall. Grade: C
16. Michael McDowell, No. 95 Chevrolet, Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing. Three of McDowell's five best finishes this season have been on restrictor-plate tracks (10th and 15th at Daytona). Grade: A
17. Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Bayne was two cars behind Kasey Kahne when Kahne spun on Lap 182. Bayne was able to check up and avoid running into the back of Jamie McMurray. Grade: B-
18. Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. In a season of small victories, Bowyer posted his 10th top-20 finish of the season. Grade: B-
19. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing. McMurray's day was saved when he didn't plow into Kasey Kahne's spinning car immediately in front of him on Lap 182. Grade: B-
20. Danica Patrick, No. 10 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Patrick now has finished 20th to 24th in half of this year's races (16 of 32). Grade: C
21. Landon Cassill, No. 38 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. Cassill made a great save with 20 laps to go when his car went veering down the track after he tried to fill a gap in front of David Ragan and received a nudge from behind. Grade: B
22. Chris Buescher, No. 34 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. That Buescher finished the race is the story here. He had DNFs for crashes in the season's first three restrictor-plate races. Grade: B
23. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Johnson did his best to help teammate Chase Elliott, but in the end, wherever the No. 48 finished was never an issue. Johnson's ticket into the next round of the Chase was punched two weeks ago. Grade: S (for Smart, Safe and Satisfactory)
24. David Ragan, No. 23 Toyota, BK Racing. Ragan posted his best finish at Talladega since finishing sixth in the fall race three years ago. Grade: C
25. Regan Smith, No. 7 Chevrolet, Tommy Baldwin Racing. Smith posted his second-best finish in restrictor-plate races this season. He finished eighth in the Daytona 500. Grade: C
26. Ryan Reed, No. 99 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Nice Sprint Cup debut for the 23-year-old. Grade: B-
27. Matt DiBenedetto, No. 93 Toyota, BK Racing. Great effort by DiBenedetto, who raced even though he was in the throes of food poisoning. Grade: C+
28. Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. If you are going to be critical of what Gibbs drivers Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch did Sunday -- playing it safe by driving together in the back of the field -- would you have been critical of any of the three if they had mixed it up in the peloton, crashed and failed to advance in the Chase? You can't have it both ways. Grade: S (as in See Jimmie Johnson)
29. Carl Edwards, No. 19 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Ibid. Grade: S
30. Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Op cit. Grade: S
31. Bobby Labonte, No. 32 Ford, GO FAS Racing. Our TBJT (Throw Back to Junior Theme) Latin bibliography references end with Labonte, who completed his four-race, restrictor-plate run for the second consecutive year the same way he began the season – with a 31st-place finish. Grade: C-
32. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Driver Tony's 70th superspeedway restrictor-plate race finished quietly. Can't say the same for Owner Tony. Grade: D
33. Michael Annett, No. 46 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Annett stayed out during green-flag pit stops and led six laps, one fewer than he led in his first 101 Sprint Cup starts. Grade: C+
34. Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 83 Toyota, BK Racing. Earnhardt's Lap 114 tangle with Greg Biffle also collected Casey Mears. Despite significant damage, Earnhardt posted the first lead-lap finish of his career (20 starts). Grade: C
35. Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Kahne went for a spin on Lap 182, and his run of good finishes -- six top 10s in his previous seven races -- spun out, too. Grade: D
36. Alex Bowman, No. 88 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Bowman's tweet said it all: "3rd with 5 to go and we finish 36th ... damn speedway racing." Grade: D
37. Reed Sorenson, No. 55 Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports. Sorenson finished 13 laps off the pace in his first start at Talladega in two years. Grade: F
38. Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford, Team Penske. Keselowski had the dominant car and led a race-high 90 laps, but he held the point for too long after debris blocked part of his grill. A slick, orchestrated move with Ryan Blaney removed the debris, but it was too late. Moments later, his engine started smoking and his day, and championship hopes, came to an end on Lap 145. Grade: F
39. Casey Mears, No. 13 Chevrolet, Germain Racing. Racing can be so cruel. For the second time in three weeks, something bad happened to Mears for no other reason than he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. This time, he was two lanes below Greg Biffle and having a beautiful day when Biffle turned into Jeffrey Earnhardt and also collected Mears. The three slammed into the inside wall, but only Mears could not continue and was gone after 113 laps. Two weeks ago, Mears received a "U" grade for Unfortunate. This week? Based on his grade at Charlotte -- and if you caught all four clues -- you know the answer. Grade: U2
40. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Toyota, Furniture Row Racing. When Truex's engine blew on Lap 42, his championship hopes ended as well. It's a shame Truex won't be able to contend for the championship, but we haven't heard the last of Truex this season. Finishing with the most victories would be huge. Grade: F