Nascar Race Today

In one of the wildest races of the year thus far, Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 car took the checkered flag and won the 2014 Aaron's 499 Sprint Cup Series race at the always unpredictable .

Let the celebration begin for @dennyhamlin and his No. 11 @JoeGibbsRacing crew! -KC http://ift.tt/1iTrwF3

- Miss Sprint Cup (@MissSprintCup) May 4, 2014

WINNER!!! Congratulations @dennyhamlin! #Aarons499 #DreamsComeTrue http://ift.tt/1fKjXX0

- TalladegaSuperS (@TalladegaSuperS) May 4, 2014

Hamlin had raced at the front of the field all day (led 12 laps) and managed to steal the show by jumping in the right line to the lead on the final restart. The caution waived on the last lap, but he had already earned his spot as the winner.

.@dennyhamlin tells @FOXSports: "We really just want to win races, regardless of the implications of the Chase." #NASCAR

- FOX SPORTS: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 4, 2014

As for the rest of the top five, Greg Biffle finished second, Clint Bowyer was third, Brian finished fourth and AJ rounded out the top finishers.

Here is the entire finishing order for Sunday's race at .

Source: NASCAR.com

Race weekend kicked off with 's new style of qualifying that featured a group of Richard Childress Racing drivers and affiliate cars running together. The group's approach to the knockout qualifying format resulted in the first three rows being comprised of affiliated cars.

As with every race, the lead 't last long and the track soon began shuffling drivers continuously. Whether it was Joey and the No. 22 car, Biffle and the No. 16 or one of the other top drivers who managed to string together a few consecutive laps led, the -plate race managed to even the playing field.

There were few cautions through the first 100 laps (Brad and the No. 2 car did bring out the yellow flag early, but it was a one-car accident), and that resulted in several rounds of green-flag .

Through the first 100 laps, there were 25 lead changes.

Before Sunday's race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke to Michael Vega of The Boston Globe about his team's desire to improve his overall performance this season:

We as a team, I think, improved our emphasis on our plate cars to be able to improve their performance. I think that started to show in the last 12-16 months. When [crew chief] Steve [] and I first started working together our focus was more on improving ourselves as a whole.

We really 't focus on the plate stuff as much as we needed to improve everywhere. We had to kind of put our emphasis on the plate tracks on hold for a while to try to get our team in the right direction. I think that started to happen to where we were running well enough everywhere [that] we could start to put a little more care and preparation into our plate track cars. That is definitely showing the results.

The race remained relatively calm-a term scarcely used at -for another long green-flag stretch, but on Lap 135, chaos broke loose. After got loose in front of the field, he collected 11 other cars in a huge accident.

Top drivers like Trevor , Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Paul Menard were involved in the wreck.

Gordon commented on the crash during the Fox broadcast, via .com:

Jeff Gordon on lap 136 crash: "We'll get it fixed.. but we're going to get a terrible Talladega finish. There's no fixing that" #NASCAR

- Jeff Gordon Online (@JGinfo) May 4, 2014

The race once again heated up as the laps began ticking away. On Lap 176, Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 car were involved in another big crash that included defending race champion David Ragan, Kurt Busch, and others.

WWE legend Shawn Michaels talked about Sunday's race:

Listening to @NASCAR on the radio & #Talladega sounds like it's getting crazy awesome coming down to the finish!! #NASCAR

- Shawn Michaels (@ShawnMichaels) May 4, 2014

The late caution brought the field back together and made for an exciting run to the checkered flag. Another crash with just six laps left (the seventh yellow flag of the day) once again reshuffled the field and opened the door for Hamlin's win.

2014 NASCAR Sprint Series Standings

Source: NASCAR.com

*Updated as they become official.

After another great race at , the Sprint Cup Series schedule moves on as drivers and their teams head to Kansas Speedway next week for the 5-Hour Energy 400 Benefiting Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

The next race will take place on Saturday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on Fox.

Matt Kenseth was the 2013 spring race champion and also won the pole for that event.

Hamlin will be traveling to Kansas this week with momentum on his side. Despite struggles early in the season, he drives stronger as the season progresses and will do the same as the Sprint Cup Series hits its summer stretch.

With fewer cautions expected at next week's race, look for drivers like Johnson, Gordon, Earnhardt Jr. and Biffle to contend for a victory at Kansas under the lights Saturday night.